Empty Nesters - Where to Live in Columbus? (Westerville, Dublin: real estate market, condos)

[baseballmom94]

My husband and I have raised our family in Dublin for almost 20 years. We love everything about Dublin, especially the schools, but do not love the taxes as empty nesters with college kids who are no longer in the Dublin school system. We have been exploring where to build our empty nester home but are struggling to find an area with a nice wooded lot in the Columbus metro area that we will love as much as Dublin and will also offer a significant tax savings. With the increased cost of new construction, building a new home in Dublin will cause our taxes to increase from $15,000 to 22,000 per year. This is crazy!

We have considered going north to the Buckeye Valley school district but there are no lots in established neighborhoods. All of the country type lots require septic, water/sewer, etc.

We have also considered Westerville as taxes seem to be significantly lower but we don't know if we would like it there compared to Dublin. Even though they are only 25 minutes apart, it has a different feel to me.

Has anyone else gone through this empty nester transition and moved somewhere else within the Columbus metro area to get a tax break? Pros/Cons? Any ideas for available lots where taxes are lower than Dublin/Powell?

[Jbeechuk]

Everywhere in central Ohio, it seems property taxes are sky high. Living in actual Columbus will be cheapest, because their school system isn't great. Unless you buy a smaller home to save on your tax bill.

[sdbuck1]

German Village.

[baseballmom94]

Bringing this topic back up...still searching for the perfect empty nester location in Central Ohio. Prefer to stay on the northwest side. Any new ideas?

[kevinbelt]

Pretty much everywhere northwest is going to be higher taxes. If you don't mind going further out into the country, maybe look in Madison County.

[Rosebush1]

You will be hard pressed to reduce expenses if you build a home. The premium for anything new is through the roof and a new home seems to be taxed higher compared to an established home, even with the same tax rate. The auditor is putting a higher valuation on brand new.

[jorewa]

Grandview/far enough into UA to be city of Columbus? Clintonville?

ETA: just saw you want to build, nvm you can't really build in those places lol

[rulingtherooster]

baseballmom, how large of a lot are you looking for? Romanelli and Hughes has several new developments in NW Columbus. I'm most familiar with the one off of Francisco Road (between Kenny to the E, Reed to the W, Bethel to the N, and Henderson to the S), but I believe they have others north of Bethel along the Olentangy River Rd. corridor. This area is Columbus CSD, but the southernmost area feels like UA and the northernmost area feels like Worthington. We lived in the area for several years and greatly enjoyed the quiet and convenience to pretty much anything you might need.

[DonCorsonRE614]

Originally Posted by Rosebush1

You will be hard pressed to reduce expenses if you build a home. The premium for anything new is through the roof and a new home seems to be taxed higher compared to an established home, even with the same tax rate. The auditor is putting a higher valuation on brand new.

Baseballmom - Rosebush1 is right on the money: you are always paying much higher taxes for something new.
It really depends on what your budget is. Romanelli and Hughes and other developers are targeting empty nesters in that area that are downsizing from a $700k single family, to a $400k-500k attached luxury ranch condo. There are some of these in Powell and Dublin areas. There are also some detached condos in these areas.
But most developers of single family communities are targeting the move up buyer looking in good to prime school districts. They want to maximize their development dollar, and if they have no problem selling a $500-700k home, that's what they will sell.
So if you are looking for a home in a traditional subdivision setting, then it will probably be in a prime school district, at a higher tax rate.
On the NorthEast side, just outside of New Albany, there is an area that is very suburban that "feels" like New Albany, but lies in the Columbus school district. There are quite a few attached and detached newer homes, and some still being built. Just not as much of that on the NorthWest side.
My take on new construction on the northwest side that lies in the Columbus school district is that it is targeted towards the young professional crowd, with upscale townhome condos.

If you are not wanting to consider an attached condo or single family in a detached condo/patio home setting, AND you are trying to avoid a larger tax burden, I would maybe consider purchasing existing, and renovating to your tastes.

[Weaubleau]

As a empty nester who MIGHT want to move back to Columbus in the future for retirement, the frustrating thing about the real estate market is:


Where are there good urban or semi urban neighborhoods in Columbus that are not overpriced or have crime issues? As an empty nester, where can someone move that does not have a tax burden to support schools that we are not going to use, but not be a boutique area with inflated prices, like German Village, Victorian Village, or Grandview? Clintonville maybe? Bexley?