Californian Seeking Advice Re: Suburbs of Dayton (Beavercreek, Grove City: section 8, for sale)

[esnead]

I grew up in Springboro. About a half hour south of Dayton. OK but growth has been rapid and city / schools have had a rough time adjusting. Check out Oakwood. (I live there) Just minutes from downtown. Very close to Univ. of Dayton. Top performing schools in the region. A little pricey for the Dayton area. Older homes, but definitely worth a look! If you will be working IN DAYTON... Oakwood would allow a short bus ride or a 5 minute commute!

[esnead]

Check out Oakwood. Oakwood city schools are top rated. Close and convenient to bus , shopping ... Great police. EMT etc. Don't know why Wrightflyer keeps leaving Oakwood out of recommendations! Great little city!

[wrightflyer]

Oh, I didn't mean to seem like I was leaving Oakwood out. I was just answering her question on Stonehill Village.

Oakwood is a wonderful place to live with a wonderful sense of community. esnead is on the money when she described Oakwood. I love the older (but expensive) homes. Centerville is also another town with top rated schools, plenty of school spirit, and decent homes at different price points. What it lacks though (and this goes for Beavercreek too) is the charm of Oakwood. Yeah, there is a center to Centerville, but its very small and still requires a car. Oakwood, you can walk/bike to most places.

[JefferyT]

Stonehill has some very nice site planning, with greenways, bikepaths, and parklands. Its is a very pretty part of Greene County with rolling hills and some bottoms along the creek and river valleys.

Just a really nice development.

It is somewhat close to WPAFB, but the roads to the base area are two lane until you get closer to the interstate interchanges, so traffic might become a problem as the area builds out.

But, yes, Stonemill will be great place if you want suburban living that is still somewhat out in the country, yet close to shopping.

[dlewandowski]

Thanks for the information on Stonehill. I can't seem to find any resale homes online, I wonder if there are any, or you have to build?
How far would you guess the commute would be to WPAFB? Would you suggest Oakwood or Stonehill?
Thanks,

[wrightflyer]

Depends on your taste. If you want new, then Stonehill. If you don't mind an older home or really love the character of older homes (circa 1920-1940's) then Oakwood would be your best bet.

There is one house in stonehill I know of that is going in the $360's, has 3 bdr, basement. Check coldwellbankerdayton.com and search under Beavercreek. They also have a map search through googlemaps. Most homes in Stonehill are new builds.

From Stonehill to WPAFB, I'd say 10-20 min on main roads (some 2 lanes) depending on traffic and what part of the base you work on. Oakwood would be 15-30min depending again on traffic and where on base you work. You'd have to take OH48 north to the highway (US35 to I675). Neither communte is much of a haul.

[midwestkid]

Originally Posted by YoMikey617

Unless you have a specific need to be north of Dayton I would pass up living north of town. Yes there are nice areas north of town... But aside from that it's really, REALLY boring up there. The shopping is subsistence level, it's an extra 40 minutes to Cincinnati, and... ...it's just really boring !!!

Northmont is a good district btw. But the upscale Northmont housing market is in serious decline. It's a good place to be if you're from north of town. But moving there from California ? You'll be miserable.

Boring?
Welcome to Ohio!
Really, though. Living north of town is quite nice. And it's not an extra 40 minutes to Cincinnati...I think that's a bit of an exaggeration. I'm sure it's not as quick of a trip from, say, Centerville, but still, it's not too bad. I never feel a need to go to Cincy all that often to be honest.
But south of town might be for you too.
Depends on what you're looking for.

[YoMikey617]

Originally Posted by dlewandowski

Hello,
We are relocating to the Dayton, Ohio area this summer and are looking at housing. We are considering the Centerville, Beavercreek and Oakwood areas. My husband will be working at Wright Patterson AFB. We want nice schools and a good community atmosphere.
I have been reading about a new development, planned community, called Stonehill Village. Does anyone know anything about it? Would love to hear from anyone that lives there. We think we are interested, but need to know more......
thanks!

I'm sure Stonehill is nice and Beavercreek's new housing market has always been a strong one. But with the mortgage and credit market mess getting worse by the week I'm not so sure I would build anything in a new development. I know several people trapped in new planned community developments and they have these awesome new houses... ...and they're surrounded by empty dirt lots, partially built houses deteriorating without their windows, and builders hiding the fact that they're about to go bankrupt. It's hard to imagine that the Nutter family would allow such a thing to happen... But then again if the family that built Levittown (Levitt and Sons) is going bankrupt anything's possible.

If you want newer housing... Bellbrook and Centerville are your best bets with Bellbrook being the more exclusive of the two. Miami Valley just built a new medical center at Wilmington Pike and 675 which even further boosts the real estate market in these towns.

Bellbrook has almost all brand new schools and the taxes are higher than Centerville's (due to a lower commercial tax base). Bellbrook is that more exclusive because practically everything is custom homes and there are very few apartments or rental oriented developments. Resale potential is also stronger than in Centerville.

Centerville has always been the strongest suburban district, and Centerville has always kept up with building new schools as they need them. Centerville doesn't have problems with passing tax levy's like Beavercreek and Springboro. Centerville is also rich with commercial tax revenue, so your property taxes are somewhat lower than Bellbrook's.

Oakwood is the best if you're looking for a walkable, old world, J.Crewish town with smaller schools and guidance counselors with connections to the best colleges (as in best liberal arts schools like Dennison, Amherst, Bowdoin...).
Perhaps the biggest plus with Oakwood is it's a walkable town... As in you aren't required to buy your kids cars when they turn 16. No cars, no insuring teen drivers, no worrying that your kid is going to drive cross town to meet the other kid they met off Myspace. Another huge plus that is rare in the Dayton area is that your kid isn't competing with kids from 7 elementary schools to play middle and high school sports or other extracurriculars.

[middyDJ]

Originally Posted by YoMikey617

I know several people trapped in new planned community developments and they have these awesome new houses... ...and they're surrounded by empty dirt lots, partially built houses deteriorating without their windows, and builders hiding the fact that they're about to go bankrupt.

I know what you mean about those dirt lots because I have seen those very same things going on down here in the northern part of Butler Co,. Made me wonder what was going on and why most of these new expensive homes are not being finished. Could it be because the builders are going under?

I do know the sheriff cracked down on Illegals here so that had something to do with the buildings. Someone mentioned before we have not seen the worst of things to come yet.

Btw Yomikey I'm still waiting on your reply to the comment about the D-mall being ghetto as you stated? I was just curious as to your reference to the place in the manner you said it.

[wrightflyer]

I'll have to ask my source at Nutter again, but the last time I went by Stonehill, houses where still being built, granted at a much slower pace then before. But everyone is building out at a much slower pace. I'll agree that not every new development (even in places like Bellbrook and Centerville etc) will make it. Right now, resale is probably a safer bet.

Besides being closer to it, how on earth does a hospital increase your market value? I don't normally see houses marketed as being close to MVH South or Kettering Medical.

One other thing about Centerville. I hate to paint with a broad brush, but when a group representing a city/school goes somewhere, they are ambassadors to that community. Now I don't know who runs the traveling student section for Centerville, but they need to put a lid on it. I am perfectly happy with cheering on your sports team (occasionlly jeering the other team) and school spirit, but when they start shouting "Boring, Boring!" at the home cheerleaders that's enough. What all schools need (and some at the elementary/middle levels here in Beavercreek have) are character building principals and maybe even civics classes. Booing the cheerleaders while they try to perform at half time is in no way a representation of classy citizenry.