Moving to columbus - need advice

[PerryMason614]

Originally Posted by Rosebush1

$325k will not buy anything in New Albany this year. A few years ago this was a doable price point.
Maybe it would buy something off Hamilton road, one of the smaller homes in the Preserve. This is Columbus with New Albany schools. Two story homes in there are selling like hot cakes up into the mid 300's.

That's exactly what I was getting at. That area is a good choice, in my opinion. I live within the Columbus City Limits and as long as you live in a nicer area they do a decent job taking care of things. They still don't plow the streets, but they also don't let it descend into being a slum.

I was also going in the direction of someone being black looking at Berwick or in the Sunbury Road area, or someone being Jewish looking in Bexley, or someone being Indian (dot) looking into Dublin, Etc.

If you're Catholic and/or want to send your kids into Catholic/private schools, a lot of people live within the Columbus city limits/Columbus School District for the lower taxes. They spend the tax savings on private school tuition.

But to me it's still all about being located close to work. I like driving, but extending your daily commute any longer than it has to be is a waste of time.

[wrightflyer]

Originally Posted by PerryMason614

Grove City - Drive outside the landfill on a sultry evening. That's all you need to know.

Here are my picks for your price point in no particular order:

Pickerington
Gahanna
New Albany
Jefferson Twp./Blacklick - Gahanna Schools, not Liberty Union
Northern Westerville (in Delaware County)
Powell
Sunbury

In Ohio, city boundaries and school district boundaries do not coincide.

Agreed with the landfill comment, but there are plenty of areas in Grove City that would avoid the landfill issue. If the OP chooses Grove City, the only high school zone (of the four current high schools in South-Western Schools) I would consider is anything zoned Grove City High School. Westland HS and Franklin Heights HS are probably on a whole worse than the better performing Columbus Public Schools. Still, there are better suburban districts and especially high schools in the metro.

Pickerington = Check. Perhaps the far NW corner of the district, which is or borders right on Columbus limits, is probably a little more run down in apparance than other portions. Still a solid area. The Columbus side has had crime issues, especially close to the soon to close (IMO) Eastland Mall and South Hamilton Road corridor.

Gahanna = Check. A solid choice, especially if you like one high school for the entire school district. Likely won't grow much further, as development has peeked with some exceptions in neighboring Jefferson Township (which primarily shares schools with Gahanna, forming the Gahanna-Jefferson Local Schools). Keep in mind South Hamilton Road in Gahanna is much nicer than South Hamilton Road in Columbus near Eastland. North Hamilton Road, near Morse, is a major commercial corridor that extends north towards the next area, New Albany. Keep north of Granville Road / Havens Corners Road as the flight paths can bring noise to the areas south of there (towards I-270's east-west jog). Also, avoid the areas close to Morse and Cherry Bottom or Styggler, mostly because the waste water plant can kick up a smell. Once past Academy Park, you should be good.

New Albany = Check. As was mentioned, the only area you'd probably be able to afford is around The Preserve. Check the school here, as it may also feed to Westerville (good) or Columbus (likely avoid less going private). The entire area along this stretch of North Hamilton Road is Columbus City limits. Expect major development to continue up here for commercial and multi-family apartment complexes. With Hamilton Quarter ready to build and Big Lots soon moving its HQ across town to Hamilton and OH-161, you'd be hard pressed to find a reason not to buy here. The only downside may be its amalgamated nature of the surrounding neighborhoods (Columbus City with CPS, Westerville and New Albany Schools). Also, homes may be smaller or less updated for the price per square foot due to the demand up here.

Jefferson Township / Blacklick (Gahanna-Jefferson Schools) = Check. Newer development here, and may be good price per square foot. Much of the same amenities as Gahanna, but further from the Easton and L Brands Complexes. Broad Street has rapidly developed to become a large commercial corridor. Expect traffic if using Broad Street to reach I-270. I'd say the airport noise is as much of an issue here as the southern fringe of Gahanna, if not more so. Just check a map to see how close you are. And planes tend to take off to the west, so landings at night can become bothersome as planes make approaches over parts of Blacklick. However, this may be offset due to good school district and good prices per square foot, especially with newer homes than most of Gahanna.

Perry, did you mean Licking Heights Schools? Not sure where Liberty Union came from?

Licking Heights Schools, which covers a good portion of the Blacklick mailing address, is not bad, but scores are lackluster and the district suffers from overcrowding more so because levies can be hard to pass. Homes are also very cookie cutter (in both LH and G-J schools if in the Blacklick area).

Northern Westerville (and even central Westerville) = Check. Good area. Not as familiar except the Old Town area (Westerville's cute downtown center). I'd say stay north of I-270 and stay inside Westerville Schools. Very large and sprawled out district (same for Dublin and Olentangy). Depending on where you are, prices can buy a lot or a little. There are three high schools, South, North and Central. Central is the newest and likely performs the best. Central is actually just above North, so the name is a misnomer of sorts. The district zoned based on demographics and socio-economic balances. So parts of the southern portions of Westerville Schools can go to Central (in the north) and vice versa for northern portions going to South. The large Somali diaspora in Columbus tends to concentrate in NE Columbus. Most attend Columbus Public Schools, but Westerville dips inside I-270 in parts, so Westerville has a large Somali population in its student body. Compared to wealthy parts of Westerville, primarily outside I-270 and north into Delaware County, the district saw the need to zone high schools the way they did. I applaud them for that foresight. Parts of far northern Westerville mailing addresses (usually within Galena Township) go to Big Walnut Schools. Not much talked about but very good district. As development reaches out there, I think you will see more people gravitate towards it. If they can keep up with growth by passing levies and bonds for new construction, they should be golden. A small portion is also zoned to Olentangy's school district as well, I believe. Biggest problems out here, especially going into Delaware County, is the traffic congestion on local roads getting to the highways.

Powell = Check. If you can find something here, and its works for move-in ready or needs minimal updates, grab it. Especially if you open around Polaris or in NW Columbus around Tuttle Mall or Dublin. Great schools (probably the best of the multiple large suburban high schools at the moment) is zoned for Powell. That would be Olentangy Liberty HS, I believe. Olentangy Schools are stellar. Thus why everyone seems to be moving there. They have also kept up with the growth by passing bonds and levies to maintain quality. A fourth high school, Olentangy Berlin HS is set to open by next school year. Biggest downside is your budget won't buy a lot here. Also, for what you can buy, it might be in Lewis Center. Basically one large suburban mass that has built up over the last 10-20 years. It has everything but an actual center.

Also, traffic traversing between Franklin County and Delaware County every day at rush hour can become tiresome and long. OH-315 is a nightmare. Sawmill isn't much better (probably has to do with avoiding the I-270/OH-315/US-23 interchanges under constant construction). US-23 is pretty crummy too.

Sunbury = Partial Check: Probably the next logical stop for Delaware County developers. I'd shy away unless you are working in the Polaris area. Getting off at US-36 at rush hour can take awhile. And even at 3:30-4:30 PM, NB I-71 can be stop and go even well north of the I-270 northern outerbelt. Same excellent Big Walnut Schools. More bang for your buck here, and if development continues to move north (and they ever finish the secondary exit near the outlet mall south of US-36), I would expect plenty of new development over the next 10-20 years.

[PerryMason614]

Originally Posted by wrightflyer

Agreed with the landfill comment, but there are plenty of areas in Grove City that would avoid the landfill issue.

I'm not convinced. I remember when I used to work downtown. On certain mornings, you could smell the rendering plant on Frank Road four miles away. I'm sure you can smell the landfill throughout Grove City for the very same reason.

Besides, if you're a professional person, chances are you value education and you're going to have bright kids. Why put them in a district like Southwestern, which is working class and doesn't place the same priority on education as some of the other districts do? Not knocking working class people, just stating fact. And I say that as someone who went through Groveport Schools, then a fine district, but decidedly agricultural and working class.

Originally Posted by wrightflyer

Perry, did you mean Licking Heights Schools? Not sure where Liberty Union came from?

Licking Heights Schools, which covers a good portion of the Blacklick mailing address, is not bad, but scores are lackluster and the district suffers from overcrowding more so because levies can be hard to pass. Homes are also very cookie cutter (in both LH and G-J schools if in the Blacklick area).

Yes, brainfart - I meant to say Licking something. Whatever the district there is, it's just another working class district and I would stay away. The cookie cutter homes in Blacklick are south of Taylor Road. Taylor doesn't go all the way east-west, but if you imagine Taylor crossing Jefferson Twp to maybe Kennedy, houses north of there are actually pretty nice.

See:
https://goo.gl/maps/Br8kA1LgWfs

[place]

Have Lewiscenter also in your list. it has very good schools and amenities.
As other op said , Westerville is also good.