Relocation/Big Lots Corporate/Other Questions (Columbus, Westerville: low crime, homes, neighborhoods)

[bballjennifer]

My wife potentailly has a job at Big Lots corporate office in Columbus. I have a couple questions.

1. is anyone familiar with the culture at the corporate office, or have any information on Big Lots in general?

2. We are a younger family and were told to live in Dublin or Powell. How far are these locations from Big lots office during typical rush hours.

3. Being from Chicago and living in WI, how do the columbus winters compare? A lot less snow? A little?

Any information you guys and gals can give is greatly appreciated!

Thanks
lou

[robertfoshizzle]

Originally Posted by bballjennifer

My wife potentailly has a job at Big Lots corporate office in Columbus. I have a couple questions.

1. is anyone familiar with the culture at the corporate office, or have any information on Big Lots in general?

2. We are a younger family and were told to live in Dublin or Powell. How far are these locations from Big lots office during typical rush hours.

3. Being from Chicago and living in WI, how do the columbus winters compare? A lot less snow? A little?

Any information you guys and gals can give is greatly appreciated!

Thanks
lou

1. I have a family member who has worked at Big Lots as a senior buyer for decades. If I talk to him soon, I will try to ask him what he thinks -- but I've never heard anything negative about working there from him or anyone else here.

2. I believe their facility is located off of Broad St. near the casino, which is on the west side of town. From Dublin, it would be a fairly reasonable commute -- maybe in the 15-20 minute range. I-270 traffic is generally worse the farther north you go, so while you may deal with some traffic close to home, it's usually not too bad between Broad St. and Tuttle. Powell is going to be a bit farther, and the traffic will be worse because the routes from that area to the outerbelt are all very congested during rush hour.

I will urge you though to not limit yourself to those two areas based off the suggestion of a friend. There are at least a dozen suburbs that have good schools, low crime, and good access to amenities. If you provide us a budget, the kind of home/lot you prefer, the types of activities and amenities you like to be near, etc. we can definitely suggest some other areas to look at. Considering where your wife will be commuting to, Grandview Heights and Upper Arlington come to mind (although both markets are pricey and very competitive).

3. You will definitely notice a difference in the winters here. We receive less snow and wind than most of the cities on the Great Lakes and the average temperatures are about 5 degrees warmer during the winter compared to Chicago.

[ohioaninsc]

1) Big Lots is one of our customers...at least for Transportation...they are very very price conscious...to the point that it drives their vendors insane sometimes...but they are at leat easy to work with...so from a vendor standpoint, they are ok...just frustrating to work with when they want both the lowest price and highest service...in transportation, the cheaper the price you pay, they lower the service levels you get.

2) Hilliard would make the most sense...great schools...no more than 10 minute commute. Although Dublin and Powell are good too. But warning...all 3 are typical suburbs...very much the same...no real style...mostly cookie cutter developments...no real walkable areas...so if you want a little more urbanity, don't fear going into the city...because Big Lots is right off 270 on the West side, its never that far from the center city area either. If you want to go further out and want of a rural feel...you can go out to London and you wouldn't be that far away either.

3) Columbus gets 28" of snow a year...I think Chicago gets about 45". Columbus never gets big snow storms...even this past winter, I think 7 or 8" was the most snow we got in a single storm. You'll never see anything over 10" here...I think we're too far away from the lakes to get them. Definitely far less windy than Chicago too

[bballjennifer]

2 Awesome responses!

Robert, My wife will be going into the buying area as well.

Being that we have a 7 year old and a 3 year old, the "boring" suburbs is probably for us. Our budget is probably between 250-350k.

I have never been to Columbus, so its hard for me to know whats where, so any other suburban areas with a 30 min max commute would work too. We just want to be somewhere that is safe, and has good schools. My daughter loves sports so that will be a factor as well.

The weather is sounding pretty tolerable actually, so thats good.

[ohioaninsc]

Originally Posted by bballjennifer

2 Awesome responses!

Robert, My wife will be going into the buying area as well.

Being that we have a 7 year old and a 3 year old, the "boring" suburbs is probably for us. Our budget is probably between 250-350k.

I have never been to Columbus, so its hard for me to know whats where, so any other suburban areas with a 30 min max commute would work too. We just want to be somewhere that is safe, and has good schools. My daughter loves sports so that will be a factor as well.

The weather is sounding pretty tolerable actually, so thats good.

Hilliard is the closest suburb...and has great schools...Dublin and Powell have slightly better schools...(not sure they are that much better than Hilliard) but you'll probably get slightly less for that type of money. Upper Arlington is also close, and will have some older homes that may have more character to them and also has excellent schools.
W/in Half an hr, you can also look into Worthington (again great schools)...Westerville....(both North, but further east of Dublin...commute would near 30-45 min from Westerville due to traffic...probably about 25-30 from Worthington).
To the south, Grove City would be very close, and that price could get a nice place...schools are still pretty good there too.

[robertfoshizzle]

Originally Posted by bballjennifer

2 Awesome responses!

Robert, My wife will be going into the buying area as well.

Being that we have a 7 year old and a 3 year old, the "boring" suburbs is probably for us. Our budget is probably between 250-350k.

I have never been to Columbus, so its hard for me to know whats where, so any other suburban areas with a 30 min max commute would work too. We just want to be somewhere that is safe, and has good schools. My daughter loves sports so that will be a factor as well.

The weather is sounding pretty tolerable actually, so thats good.

With your budget, you can afford to buy within any school district in the area, but there will be compromises to be made. You will need to decide what is most important among home size, lot size, proximity to downtown, proximity to work, and quality of schools. You will still get a lot for your money though, as home prices and cost of living are relatively low here (although property taxes are high).

I would suggest sticking closer to your job when you start looking at neighborhoods, then maybe fan out farther if you can't find what you're looking for. You really can't go wrong with Hilliard, Grandview Heights, Upper Arlington, Dublin, Worthington, or Powell. They all have good schools and low crime, but your budget will probably get you the most bang for the buck in Hilliard out of those choices. Westerville, New Albany, Gahanna, Pickerington, Bexley, and other areas fall into the good schools/low crime categories as well, but your commute will be fairly long. I would start looking north of I-70 and west of 315, then expand your search if necessary.

Another word of advice -- make sure you confirm with your realtor what school district a home is in. In Ohio (and especially in the Columbus area), municipalities and school districts don't always line up. For instance, Hilliard City schools is not only the city of Hilliard, but also parts of Columbus and Dublin as well.