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Hi! My husband and I are moving ourselves and our 4 boys - entering grades 10th, 7th, 4th, and pre-school - to the Columbus area this summer. We have 2 horses so we are looking for acreage (minimum of 5 acres) on which to have our horses. We would love to have more acreage for the boys to explore, hike, and have an ATV. Our budget is $450,000. My husband's office is in Grove City but we are open to areas further from his office because we are not finding much nearby. Schools are super important, obviously. We love Hilliard and almost bought a home there (looked at one with 5 acres and one with 7 acres) but hesitated because it is such a low lying area and the properties we looked at were pretty wet (yes, we know that is not year round but horses would ruin the property in the months it is wet), neither had a barn (and we looked at pricing and the regulations and it seems a bit costly and a pain to have to build one ourselves), and we also do not like the taxes. We might still make an offer on a house there but first we wanted to explore other options as we feel like we are settling for a less than perfect fit.
There is not a lot on the market so that limits our options but we have looked in Pickerington and find it to be a nice area although we did not like it as well as Hilliard as Pickerington seemed to have more traffic and less parks although the schools were amazing. We looked in Ashville and I did not like it; much too rural. Lancaster is too far away and I do not like it. We did not look at a house that was pretty much perfect for us in Ostrander as we felt it was too far away and we are kicking ourselves over not doing so now as it is under contract.
We are now looking at Pataskala and Granville. Granville, especially, is appealing to us with it's stellar schools and more rural setting yet it seems to have many amenities that would be great for a family with children. But I am worried we will be too far from downtown Columbus to really enjoy living near a "big city". (We are moving from Parkersburg, West Virginia). What exactly will we be missing by not living closer to the downtown area? Does it make sense to move to a larger city and not live near enough to it to enjoy all it has to offer? What activities might our children do that requires being close to downtown? Granville would have soccer, swimming, school sports, etc. Are there activities that teenagers living in suburbs near Columbus do in downtown Columbus that teenagers in Granville don't do such as rock climbing wall or something similar? Not sure if anyone can answer this questions for me. My boys have been involved in swimming and soccer but are not hardcore with any sports.
Pataskala is closer than Granville but it does not have schools that rate as high and seems more rural. Does anyone know how life is in Pataskala with children?
We have considered Delaware but my understanding is my husband's drive south to his office would pretty much be a gridlock. We are also considering Westerville but nothing has really caught our attention there. We only have until July 15 to move from our home so that means we need to find a place and get it under contract within the next 1-2 weeks (we have been looking for about 2-3 weeks). The lack of houses meeting our criteria on the market has really caused us to expand our search area. But will we regret choosing a house further from downtown Columbus?
Out of all your picks, Westerville was the best.. New Albany great schools big Horse community.. Selling our big 3300 sq ft home on 4 acres in Pataskla has a sand horse arena and barn asking 400k.. Schools not so good here, we pay for private school. I do think you can pay the New Albany school tax and kids can go there. New Albany is down the road from Pataskla
Thanks for the information, 2 Da Beach. I guess the fact that you are looking to move maybe says something about how Pataskala was not working for you and your family? I will have to look into paying the tax for out of district schools; thank you!
These 3 (4 with Gahanna) are very similar, in that they are mostly middle-class suburbs with low crime, good schools, and a lot of bang for the buck:
Hilliard -- I live in Old Hilliard (downtown area) and I can vouch it is a nice area with very good schools. I don't think it is a particularly low-lying area, so I imagine the drainage problem is more of an isolated thing with the property you were looking at. It will be a 15-20 minute commute to Grove City and is roughly 20 minutes to downtown.
Westerville -- Very similar to Hilliard in terms of demographics, schools, and accessibility to downtown. You're also close to both Polaris and Easton, the two largest malls/shopping areas in the suburbs. Lots of dining and shopping options there. But you are on the exact opposite corner of the outerbelt from Grove City. During rush hour, you're looking at probably a 40+ minute commute.
Pickerington -- Also similar to Hilliard and Westerville in a lot of ways. 256 is a great shopping/dining area and the schools are good. Probably at least 30 minutes to Grove City though.
Also consider Gahanna. Probably only looking at about 25-30 minutes to Grove City and it's the closest to downtown since you can hop on I-670 and go straight into the city. Might be some decent rural properties on the edge of their school district.
The other options:
Granville -- I LOVE Granville. Such a beautiful, quaint little town. However, your husband's commute will be nearly an hour on bad traffic days and you're not really very close to downtown Columbus. Newark is next door and is probably similar to Parkersburg in terms of amenities.
Pataskala -- I don't know much about Pataskala, so I won't add much except to say your commute to Grove City and downtown will be on the long side.
For your land requirements, I would also take a look at Canal Winchester and the Lithopolis/Carroll areas (Bloom-Carroll Schools). Lots of lovely acreage out there, several metro parks (Metro Parks - Central Ohio Park System - Homepage), good schools, and a very reasonable commute to Grove City and downtown.
robertfoshizzle, thank you for the detailed response. We would prefer to be closer to Columbus but we seem to have missed the best time to buy as most houses that meet our needs sold quickly a month or two before we started looking so now we are looking further out in hopes of finding exactly what we want. Someone who moved to our area from Granville has her house for sale and it sounds like a great match for us with around 18 acres set up for horses, a large house, and set up for the agricultural discount on taxes. We will be looking at this house this week but if it is the "perfect" house for us, will we regret living that far from Columbus? I know that now most of our lives revolve around going to school or local recreation sports and that will likely continue in a new town but I guess I'm afraid I don't know what I will be missing by living further away from Columbus. I suppose there will be fewer dining out options. Just driving into town for Jeni's ice cream might be less likely to happen if we lived in Granville. Maybe I would be more likely to shop in the North Market if I lived in Hilliard or Westerville. Or maybe we would be perfectly happy in Granville and enjoy our short drive to Columbus periodically to explore. I just don't know! lol Part of what makes Granville especially attractive to us is the fact that it's high school is ranked 24 in the entire state of Ohio. Even Hilliard and Pickerington with their excellent with distinction districts do not have high schools that come close to this high of a rank. But life is about more than school.
It sounds like from your posts that you will have to live at least 30-45 minutes out of downtown to get the land you want, if not farther. If you wanted to live in some of the areas you mentioned you could go into town for Red White and Boom, or COSI, or something of that nature, but you won't be in town every week I would wager. The main things you would be missing out on are restaurants, sporting events, festivals and whatnot. Normal things you would expect in a city that you won't get farther out. OSU hockey or the Clippers AAA baseball are great family events and cheap. There are also a lot of great metro parks and living closer to the city is going to make it easier to visit more of them. Inniswood is one of my favorites. There's also art events and things like First Friday's and the North Market which you mentioned. Everything in Columbus is going to feel like you are making a special trip for something as opposed to something you can just work into your day if you live farther away.
Granville is one of the prettiest areas in the metro and has some gorgeous homes and land. Honestly though, it seems like the answer to your 'would we regret it' question is yes. It's near the outskirts of the metro and doesn't even feel like part of Columbus. It's 20 minutes from there to even get to the closest suburb. Going to Jeni's for an ice cream cone is going to be 70 miles round trip. If you think Lancaster is too far out, it doesn't make any sense to me why you would even be considering Granville since it's pretty much the exact same distance from downtown. It's also going to be much farther from your husband's work. 40 to 50 miles each way depending on the route is going to be at least an hour each way plus extra time if there's construction or bad weather, one of which is almost always happening. It wouldn't be worth it to me.
Pataskala is okay. It has a small town feel and I like the older original part of town well enough, though as a whole it has grown quite a bit and is quickly turning into just another faceless suburb with a lot of cookie cutter housing developments with not much special about it. I-70 is the first freeway to back up in the mornings and that would be your husband's main route so that wouldn't be fun for him either. It's an okay area if you like the generic, still developing suburban feel and are okay with a little occasional extra noise from lower flying planes coming into the airport.
Is there a reason you haven't looked at the outskirts of Grove City? Plenty of rural areas still exist and the schools are fine there. It's very suburban as well, but at least has more to offer in it's downtown area and the schools offer many more opportunities than some of the places you mentioned. It's also only 20-25 minutes into downtown from the heart of GC in most conditions and you've got Batelle-Darby which is a great metro park right there to the west of GC.
I guess my top suggestions for you would be the outskirts of Grove City or Hilliard, the Canal Winchester or Lithopolis area, or the south side of Pickerington. West Jefferson would be great for the land aspect you're looking for and close easy access to Columbus, but it's more rural feeling and you would be dropping a bit in school quality. Land in most of these suggestions should also be a little cheaper than if you were looking in Westerville or up around Delaware.
We are moving to the beach in Florida is why we are selling, we love the property and area. We were thinking of renting the property because we hate to sell it.
Look into Columbus Academy private school.. For public schools on the east side New Albany can't be beat
2 Da Beach, guess that explains your user name! lol That is good to know that you do like Pataskala! We really liked the setup of a house there with a barn, large divided pastures, outdoor sand arena, hay field, and HUGE building that would be amazing for hay storage or even an indoor arena and it had 18 acres. But the house is small and the school district didn't seem worth living that far from town.
MissingIndiana, thank you for your response! The difference between Lancaster and Granville for me is Granville seems to have a much nicer community, prettier downtown and excellent schools in addition to having a house with acreage available. I did not like Lancaster at all. So, basically, for the benefits that Granville is offering, I guess I am willing to live further from town so if we love the house we look at Friday, then we would probably buy it. I appreciate you naming other activities we would be missing out on by living further out as that helps me figure out whether living 30 miles from town would work. I hate living so far from my husband's office but he is willing to make the sacrifice if we find the right place and he can work from home one day/week if he needs a break from the drive. Basically we have decided that if this house is a good fit, we would move to Granville and be happy but otherwise we would keep looking closer to town. The house that is available just sounds like too perfect of a fit (meets ALL of our criteria except proximity to Columbus) to pass by especially with the amazing schools and community of Granville.
As far as Grove City, no houses have been on the market in that area which interest us. I was under the impression that the schools were not that good but I will look more closely. Basically we look first at the school district as a whole and then at individual schools for their state testing results and score on greatschools.org as well as reviews on that website. I cannot say I have done more than a quick drive through of Grove City so perhaps I should look more closely if a house comes on the market there in the next week as we hope to have a house under contract within 1-2 weeks. Further, there's always the remote chance my husband's job could change (a promising job is available in Worthington) so would I want to live in Grove City if my husband did not work there? My guess is no.
We are looking at a house in Canal Winchester this Friday but I am not sold on the area. There seems to be a LOT of cookie-cutter suburbs around this house so that means LOTS of people crammed into a smaller area and that does NOT appeal to me (more traffic, more lines, just noisier and busier!). The actual high school for this house is Pickerington Central which is ranked at 857 for high schools in Ohio based upon state scores. Basically what we are finding on the market that meets our criteria are houses in less desirable school districts even within excellent school districts.
Have you looked at the Galena/Sunbury area? I don't think that drive would be much different than Granville and you would at least be closer to Polaris.
I just looked at a map and realized I was totally confused about where Grove City is, so disregard Sunbury.
What about the rural areas around Plain City in the Jonathan Alder school district? The commute wouldn't be bad and you would be closer to downtown and to everything in Dublin for kid activities?
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