Move to the Dayton area....? (Columbus, Cincinnati: sales, condo, mortgage)

[ohio_peasant]

The practical consequence of the 1974 tornado in Xenia is a regrettably tawdry downtown, owing to 1970s construction to rebuild what was destroyed. Comparable towns in Ohio have a pleasant, compact downtown core; Xenia has this only in sporadic parts. The swath NW of the downtown crossroads is especially ugly strip-mall type, with most buildings now abandoned, and some razed. Things were actually better 20 years ago, but have since declined. Compare for example to Yellow Springs, or even to Fairborn. The comparison is unfavorable to Xenia.

In recent years, there’s been half-hearted attempt to rebrand Xenia as a bicycle nexus. Traffic has been rerouted (by one reckoning, for the worse) to accommodate more bike lanes. Several of the “rails to trails” paths connect to Xenia, although the connection through the middle of town is… awkward. Now there’s even a micro-brewery near one of those paths… a nice touch, evidently inspired by Yellow Springs. But it feels like an ersatz and ill-fated attempt.

The big problem is lack of jobs. A town of this type needs to either be a satellite of a bigger city, or to have its own organic job-center. Given the competition, Xenia is too far from Dayton, to really be bedroom community for it. And oddly, it is not a popular bedroom community for Wright-Patterson. But it doesn’t really have its own major plant or warehouse or something like that, either. It doesn’t have a college associated with the town, or an agricultural distribution center, or something by a GM or a Cargill, let alone by a Pfizer or a Fifth Third Bank. The lack of jobs weighs heavily on the community.

[KathrynAragon]

Perspective is interesting. I'm looking at it from coming from Texas and I don't see what you're seeing at all. For starters, I don't think Xenia is "too far from Dayton to really be a bedroom community for it." Dayton's spread is large - I mean, I might not move to Xenia and work on the west side of Dayton or downtown or whatever, but the metro area is widespread. Note - I prefer bedroom communities to larger metros anyway, and a 20 minute drive doesn't faze me a bit.

I regularly drive to Dallas/Fort Worth from the Tyler, TX metro area - it's 1.5 to 2 hours depending on where you're going and at what time or date. But I distinctly remember visiting family in the Dayton area a couple of years ago and driving to Columbus, and one family member kept apologizing over and over again about "how far away" Columbus was from Dayton and about how long the drive was. It was an hour and a half. Nothing to me. I mean, I wouldn't want to COMMUTE an hour and a half every weekday but the occasional drive was absolutely nothing to me. Remember, I'm retired. If I work anyplace anywhere anytime, it will be part time. Pretty sure I won't have to deal with a long commute anywhere.

Xenia's unemployment rate is below that of Ohio in general - it's 5.1 percent (Ohio's is 5.7 percent and the overall Dayton metro area is a bit higher than Xenia's too, at 5.2 percent). It's also below the national average, which is over 6 percent.
https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.oh_dayton_msa.htm

And I found the downtown area to be pleasant.

I do think that the local economy is important and I don't want to move anywhere that's stagnant. I'm used to the bustle and vibe of Texas, which is a comparatively young, and up till the coronavirus, had a very low unemployment rate and a booming economy, which like many places has suffered (but should bounce back eventually). It's just hard to forecast the economy long term, so I'm grateful that I don't have to make major decisions right now.

You know what - it's fine that we see things from different perspectives. I think if you don't like Xenia, don't live there and don't visit there. If you like it, consider living there or visiting there. Everybody wins! But right now, the unemployment rate in Xenia is lower than in the Tyler TX area where I currently. Thankfully I can bide my time and continue to gather information about various locales.

[ohio_peasant]

It is entirely possible to find oneself having made careful plans, doing detailed research, and yet, to end up living in a place that doesn't agree with one. This happens often for example with immigration. The prospective immigrant spends decades researching and preparing, making applications, visiting the consulate and so forth - then finally making the leap, landing, and soon becoming beset with regrets. This is my retort to the usual quip, that if one doesn't like a place, all that one has to do, is to avoid living there. In sum: easier said than done.

One exhibit is over on the Los Angeles forum. The example is some fellow who was born in 1940, served in the military, settled upon discharge in the LA area in 1970, and since say 1980 has been complaining about how the locale has become "communist" and so forth... a lament much predating the current political malaise. Why wouldn't our hero just move? Well, why indeed... roots, inertia, sheer crabby petulance and pessimism.

We easily become rooted, even if the soil is poor. Or perhaps the soil is entirely OK and faultless, but our root-system is peculiar and ill-suited to the soil.

What we can perhaps do, is to sharpen our preparatory efforts. It looks like Katherine of Aragone's experience is condign with the tenor and layout of Xenia. This is good (but not perfect) indicator of a happy relocation. Best wishes to her!

But do keep in mind, that top-level statistics such as unemployment-rate can be deceptive. What exactly are the available jobs? At what pay scale? Maybe people are strictly speaking employed, but underemployed. Maybe they are employed full-time, but doing worse than their fathers or grandfathers, because of de-industrialization and so forth. Is this fact, or myth? If myth, then dismiss it. If fact, then that's evidence of the stagnation of which I wrote.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by ohio_peasant

But do keep in mind, that top-level statistics such as unemployment-rate can be deceptive. What exactly are the available jobs? At what pay scale? Maybe people are strictly speaking employed, but underemployed. Maybe they are employed full-time, but doing worse than their fathers or grandfathers, because of de-industrialization and so forth. Is this fact, or myth? If myth, then dismiss it. If fact, then that's evidence of the stagnation of which I wrote.

This could be true with any unemployment rate anywhere. That's why it's important to look at overall cost of living and median income as well, among many other factors.

[KathrynAragon]

Dang, y'all - it's cold as heck in the winter in Ohio!

[midwest1]

I just moved from the Chicagonarea to Middletown...which an earlier poster compated to Xenia.

You might want to give Middletown a look..just as close to Dayton but closer to Cincy Hamilton Aistin Landing Liberty Center Cincy airport Kings island, West Chester Miamisburg Lebanon and it sits on a gorgeous stretch of the Great Miami River. The bike trail is being extended through Franklin all the way to Dayton to the North and the Ohio River to the south. The city has been undergoing a mini-renaissance. Housing prices are on the upswing.

Middletown itself has tons of different types of housing/neighborhoods and the topography is quite hilly with veautiful views ofvthe Miami River Valley.

Wherever you end up good luck.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by midwest1

I just moved from the Chicagonarea to Middletown...which an earlier poster compated to Xenia.

You might want to give Middletown a look..just as close to Dayton but closer to Cincy Hamilton Aistin Landing Liberty Center Cincy airport Kings island, West Chester Miamisburg Lebanon and it sits on a gorgeous stretch of the Great Miami River. The bike trail is being extended through Franklin all the way to Dayton to the North and the Ohio River to the south. The city has been undergoing a mini-renaissance. Housing prices are on the upswing.

Middletown itself has tons of different types of housing/neighborhoods and the topography is quite hilly with veautiful views ofvthe Miami River Valley.

Wherever you end up good luck.

Thank you! And I will definitely look into Middletown! And Lebanon as well.

[woxyroxme]

Originally Posted by KathrynAragon

Thank you! And I will definitely look into Middletown! And Lebanon as well.

You don’t give a lot of indication of what exactly you are looking for and what your priorities are but if you are considering areas that far out of the Dayton area you may want to look around Waynesville. It’s a very nice smaller town and life would be a lot less problematic, clean, quiet and safe. It would be a 8 mile drive to the Walmart supercenter and Kroger marketplace without actually having to drive into Lebanon.

Lebanon was a much better place 40-50 years ago and some of the things that have been done around here defy any logic or common sense.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by woxyroxme

You don’t give a lot of indication of what exactly you are looking for and what your priorities are but if you are considering areas that far out of the Dayton area you may want to look around Waynesville. It’s a very nice smaller town and life would be a lot less problematic, clean, quiet and safe. It would be a 8 mile drive to the Walmart supercenter and Kroger marketplace without actually having to drive into Lebanon.

Lebanon was a much better place 40-50 years ago and some of the things that have been done around here defy any logic or common sense.

Thank you for your feedback! I will check into that town as well.

I don't consider a drive of under 30 minutes to main shopping areas to be problematic. I much prefer to live in a bedroom community of a larger city than in the city itself.

My kids are all grown but of course I don't want to live in an area with high crime or bad schools.

I want to pay lower utilities and taxes than I'm currently paying in Texas. My home here is about 2600 square feet and has a pool, a hot tub, it's on over half an acre, in a gated community, etc. The taxes and utilities and MAINTENANCE are just more than I prefer. Also, there's really nothing keeping me here after a couple of years. My kids are all grown and scattered, none live here now, and the closest one lives 5 hours away (driving) and he is very interested in moving to the Chicago area anyway.

My daughter and her husband love the Dayton/Cincinnati area and plan to settle there when he gets out of the AF. Of course, that depends on whether he can find a job in those areas but I do think he can (hospital administration). So I'd like to be within a four hour drive of them. Preferably less, like an hour or under.

[woxyroxme]

If you are looking for a newer McMansion development then you will find them in the Beavercreek and Springboro areas, actually there are these types of developments going in to many of the cornfields of Warren County.

If you are looking at living in a town itself it would be different, I live off a heavily traveled street and there is no shortage of loud vehicles going by late into the night, rednecks in mufflerless lifted pickup trucks and dudebros in modded ricers with fartcan exhausts and bass cannons in the trunk. Many people also think it’s alright to throw trash out of their car windows as well.