Columbus, Ohio

And you do such a good job of it!

The Ohio rest stops on I-90/80 are pretty good, at least when compared to Pennsylvania and Indiana. Very reasonable tolls, too.

I bet that helps a lot.

Tons!

Clintonville
I live in Clintonville (have all of my life), and love it. I grew up in a house one street over from E.N. Broadway, and now live more south in a big brick house practically right on High Street. I like the 1920's era houses, and their is a true sense of belonging to a neighborhood here. Also - I think that you are right, Clintonville is an up and coming neighborhood. There are plans to develop High Street and add more restaurants, shopping, etc. Property values have increased by over 50% in this area since I bought my house 7 years ago.

I'm thinking about moving, but only to have more land & start an organic farm. I'd have to find a very cool property to make it worth it though.

I'm not so crazy about Upper Arlington either. The schools are good there, though. Grandview I really like & you can find affordable houses there if you look. Grandnview is actually a seperate city, and has its own school system. Columbus public schools aren't great - I went to Catholic schools. If private schools are an option, there are quite a few in Clintonville.

Good luck!

my house! .

Welcome, zoeybug!

Great info - and what a nice house.

About ten or fifteen years back, there was a fairly large Indian population in the Clintonville area, and several small shops on High Street. The Indian popoulation in Franklin County has, however, largely moved to the suburbs. Many of the storefronts which they used to occupy are now vacant--it would be good to see other businesses move in.

Hi zoeybug,

Wow, I'm so glad to see you! Thanks for the info, much appreciated.

And GREAT house! (A bit startling, because one of the houses I've been looking at looks VERY similar -- did a double-take.)

General update for all y'all -- realtors say that we should make the serious house-hunting trip in mid-to-late April, so I'm going crazy on the researching side. Have found a bunch of school info online, have contacted several schools, got a GFE (good faith estimate) so I know what we can actually afford, everything's going forward on all cylinders. (Oh, E.G. officially accepted!)

Very interesting info about the 50% appreciation, zoeybug, thanks! Housing prices in the last 7 years have gone up a lot, in general, but still...

"oh. he accepted."

that's a bit of a throw-away line!



OH! He Accepted!!!!

Hee hee hee!

Er, yeah!!

Columbus, here we come!

See ya there!

Meetcha in the topiary garden?

Sure!

Oooooo, good!

Congrats to E.G! Hope you love Columbus.

Soz- Congrats to E.G., and best of luck to the three of you!

zoeybug- I can't see the pic of the house. Wassup? I just see a red "X". Everybody else seem to be able to see it!

I saw it before but not now, Phoenix.

hmmm.

(Thanks to Setanta, again -- I keep re-reading.)

you welcome

I'll be there in about 5 weeks. Here's hoping the weather is warm and sunny and NOT raining like last year.

Our realtors have been taking pics of various houses and neighborhoods and sending them on -- weather's gorgeous just now, lots of springy blossoms all over. One pic was pear trees in bloom. Ooh.

Next week is the week! I have about 6 houses in the top category -- look great on paper, if they look as good in person, happy to buy 'em -- and about 12 houses in the back-up category (could be great, possible weaknesses, need to get more info.)

Clintonville took a hit when I started researching schools beyond 5th grade. Ay-yi-yi. Not good. Two in the Columbus School District look good but are not in Clintonville, so we would have to rely on a lottery to get in. Really just one -- two have decent test scores, but one of 'em requires uniforms (blech) and just looks annoying. The other one looks good. But, ONE. That makes me noivous.

Still allergic to UA, but Grandview and Worthington and also Bexley are looking much better, 'cause of their stellar schools. We'll see. (Houses in the top 6 are from all of the above.)

Don't worry too much about schools past Grade 5, soz. A lot can happen between now and the time the sozlet is in Grade 5. The schools in one area may improve, those in another, decline. There is no sure bet in these things.

Just wondering. Is there a reason you have to buy a house right away? Why not rent for a year, get to know the town and the neighbourhoods, make the connections - then decide on where you want to buy. You'll probably have a better idea, as a family, what you'll want to do, a year from now - another kid, a return to work, a career return, all kinds of things can go through the hopper while you're getting a feel for Columbus.

If you decide on a return to work - what will be convenient for you and E.G. and the sozlet, location-wise, might not be what you would pick next week based solely on E.G.'s employment and what the schools might be like quite a few years down the road.