Tipp or Troy (Columbus, Cincinnati, Dayton: for sale, real estate, how much)

[newtochiil]

We will be moving to the area this summer. We have two kids, 4th grade and Kindergarten. We toured the area and liked both Tipp and Troy. We liked Tipp because of the proximity of some of the neighborhoods to the downtown area. Although, it looks like the housing inventory in Tipp is non-existent. Any comments/advice between the two would be great...#1 on our list would be which would be the best schools for our kids. Any advice on the home-buying process in the area with the limited inventory?

-Where you are working? - SIDNEY
-How much you are willing to spend on housing? -- 425k
-How long of a commute you're willing to tolerate - 30 min
-If you have kids: Private school or public school? - PUBLIC
-What type of neighborhood environment you are looking for: small town feeling? small city excitement? suburbia delight? - AS MENTIONED ABOVE, WE LIKED THE SUBDIVISIONS IN TIPP WHERE YOU COULD WALK/BIKE TO THE DOWNTOWN. PREFER AREA WITH NEWER HOUSING.

[RDriesenUD]

Others will be able to help you, but look through these 2 threads.

Beavercreek vs Tipp City

Troy Ohio and surrounding towns

[RDriesenUD]

//www.city-data.com/forum/searc...rchid=15936382

[SWOH]

Originally Posted by RDriesenUD

Others will be able to help you, but look through these 2 threads.

Like me! I'm from the Tipp City/Troy area.


Let's start with schools.
The schools are about on par with one another... Tipp's generally rank a little bit better, but Troy offers more options. Both are good choices, as would be Newton, Covington, Bethel, Vandalia, and Miami East, all of which are nearby. But it sounds like the majority of those districts don't offer housing that meets your criteria.... or at least you've probably been led to think. I'll bring up a couple options to the contrary in these areas that are worth consideration.


Then housing.
You are right, housing inventory is relatively limited. Especially this time of year. Give it another month or two and a lot more options will be available.

But this is also inherent in the nature of your request. You would like a not walkable setting (i.e. a house in a subdivision) within walking distance to a walkable area. It's possible, but the odds of finding a place like that are slim because of the community design at the very least, not even factoring in compounding factors like older generations of suburban build, dividing artery streets, etc.


And then specifics.
So $425k budget, 30 min commute, good public schools, walkability in suburban environment.
My next question is, how many square feet do you need? Beds/baths?
If it's something like 4 beds/3 baths can probably achieve your housing goals with a smaller budget.


Overall, if you want to purchase a house for $425k in a walkable, family friendly community, then I recommend you look at Carriage Trails:
Carriage Trails | Neighborhoods and Nature | Dayton, OH

It's a community that has a Tipp City mailing address but is in Bethel Schools and Huber Heights city limits (so Huber Heights YMCA, Aquatic Center, stores, etc. are about a 3-5 minute drive or 10-20 min walk). The only real downside I see is the commute - it will be pushing 40 minutes to get to Sidney. But on the upside you're 10 minutes closer to everything Dayton, Columbus, and Cincinnati offers.

Here's one house that is currently listed:
Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 1 Homes - Zillow

And some options from the builders there. Inverness seems to be the most popular, followed by Ryan Homes:
Carriage Trails - New Homes for Sale - Dayton, OH - Inverness Homes USA
New Homes for sale at Carriage Trails in Tipp City, OH


Second option you probably haven't thought of would be living in a suburban area closer to a smaller town, like Covington, Urbana, Pleasant Hill, Versailles, Minster, or Russia.

For instance, a house in this development in Covington would probably meet your criteria well, but would be far under budget:
Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 9 Homes - Zillow

If you're willing to go a little older, maybe this place in Urbana:
Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 3 Homes - Zillow

Or smaller, try this place in Versailles:
Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 6 Homes - Zillow

Or if bikeability is ok, try out lake living near Minster:
Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 2 Homes - Zillow

Last but not least, if you really do want to stick with Tipp or Troy, for Troy I would highly recommend living somewhere near here to accomplish your goals:
Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 16 Homes - Zillow
Why? Because it's walkable to Troy High School and the aquatic center, downtown, a grocery store (history tidbit - the store referenced was the first grocery store to use a UPC barcode), Troy City Park, downtown, and the bike trails. A lot more walkable than other locations in Troy, or in Tipp. And if you want a new house, there are building them in Hunter's Ridge. I believe that would put you in Miami East schools though, although if you wanted to be in Tipp or Troy instead Open Enrollment is a possibility.


Otherwise, if you would like some Realtor recommendations, please direct message me.


Good luck!

[SWOH]

One last thought (and sorry the last post was so dense):

If you're ok with a little bit of road biking, your best option might be someplace in this development, like this house:

Real Estate & Homes For Sale - 12 Homes - Zillow


Why? Because it's an easy bike ride from here out to Swailes Rd, which is not bike friendly. From there, you have about 100 ft. of 25-A to contend with until you're to the Waco museum. From there, it's an easy bike ride on their trail over to the Great Miami Trail, which is an easy and fun way to get to Tipp or Troy. And the bike trails are VERY popular in Tipp and Troy, lots of people on them all the time.

Thinking back, this is probably your best option.

Either way, let us know how you feel about these and then I can give you some better pointers specifically for your needs.


Good luck!

[weatherphotographer]

Originally Posted by RDriesenUD

Others will be able to help you, but look through these 2 threads.

Beavercreek vs Tipp City

Troy Ohio and surrounding towns

I know, it seems like people come on here without even using the search, much less scrolling down. The Beavercreek Tipp thread was on page 1 lol

[IDtheftV]

Originally Posted by weatherphotographer

I know, it seems like people come on here without even using the search, much less scrolling down. The Beavercreek Tipp thread was on page 1 lol

Usually, I would agree, but there isn't a thread on Tipp City vs Troy. Those other two threads would be interesting and useful though.

[newtochiil]

SWOH - thanks for the great information. First off, good to know that we can look forward to more inventory coming available. We've thought about a new build, but it doesn't meet our timeline for the move and would rather not have to go through temporary arrangements. As for house size, we'd like 4 BR/3 bath. 3 beds up and 1 down in a finished basement with bathroom would be ideal.

When we toured the area, we didn't get a great vibe from Carriage Trails - it seemed like a massive development. We didn't spend enough time to see what was all around it, but we will look closer at it based on your comments.

We didn't get a chance to visit any of the other communities that you mention with good schools...I think we would default to the larger towns, but would have to check them out when we are in the area again. One question I have is in an area like Urbana - the greatschools rating is low, but that's all we have to go on..I take that with a grain of salt as our kids currently go to a school with a poor rating, but they are getting an excellent education. Is there any better sources of information regarding schools in the area?

I like the options you gave in Troy by Swailes Rd with the biking option - that would certainly meet our criteria. What are the specific subdivisions in that area? The biking option would really be a plus as we would take advantage of being able to bike to the trail system.

The area in tipp we liked were the subdivisions off Evanston rd.

[SWOH]

^Of course, always happy to help. Welcome to Dayton!

Carriage Trails - I understand entirely. It is a massive development, done in a quasi-McDonald's fashion. Also the majority of houses there currently are well below your price range. I suggested it because there are few better examples of walkable suburbia in the area, and they recently started building housing there in your price range. So IMO it would be worth another look, particularly in Inverness' The Lakes section, as well as Ryan Homes' new section, The Estates, but I think I have a better picture of what you desire in a community now and Carriage Trails might not be the best place for you.


As for schools, right now this is probably your best resource:
Pages - District-Search

Again, I'm not a fan of ranking schools - my views on that are in a different thread in this forum - but this is the method the State of Ohio chooses to use. It's far more accurate than "Great Schools", because on that website anyone can write in a review, which weighs heavily in their evaluation. So Timmy the third grader who got a detention for sticking gum in his teacher's hair can submit an evaluation just as easily (and readily) as a knowledgeable parent or teacher.

In particular the Performance Index is useful. Resident poster Dayton Sux did a nice list of school districts and their ratings within the past year, I might re-post it.

Either way, I apologize for the Urbana recommendation. I based it on secondhand verbal sources that had told me the district was really good. Maybe in comparison to Graham, sure, but you're better off cutting it from the list. Plus there was no housing that met your criteria. Sorry to send you down a wormhole there.



Otherwise, I think the subdivision in the specific location I posted is called Merrimont. The name is a holdover from the older community to the north, sharing the same road, called Merrimont Acres. So maybe no HOA? I don't know.

And I know the area to which you are referring. There are a lot of nice houses there. The main issues I see is that the houses there are very close to I-75 without a retaining wall to block noise. The Merrimont location at least has a retaining wall to block some sound. But they are nice houses, and relatively bikeable into Tipp City (but if you did desire to bike from your house into Tipp, I'd stay on the north side of Evanston). So the subdivisions you would probably want are Hampton Woods and Sycamore Woods.