Columbus Ohio real estate

 

This is a Re-Blog.  I did not write this. Lola Audu a broker in the state north of us did.   For some reason I have a mental block about what the term "social graph" means.  I first saw Lola's post on Facebook but later found it published on  ActiveRain a real estate network on Facebook.  The first words in Lola's original title are the words "Social Graph."

I was not sure if Lola  was talking to consumers or others in the real estate industry,  I decided the title works for talking to consumers:

"Social Graphs... Why a BETA Search in Google or Facebook Might be HOW You Find Your Next Real Estate Agent!"

I want to talk to consumers about how real estate is changing because of Google, Facebook, etc. I am talking to you, the Central Ohio real estate consumer in sharing what Lola has to say because the concept of the Social Graph is important but evades me.

Thanks to Lola Audu  for allowing her post to be Re-Blogged.

 

Columbus  ...  WalkScore.com's scores used to be "as the crow flies."  Recently I thought there had been a change in at least one address I care about, on WalkScore.com

The home at 301 Girard Rd. Columbus Ohio 43214 in the Delawanda Park neighborhood lost a point in the change to WalkScore.com  The Walk Score for that north Columbus address is now 71.  A Walk Score of 71 is still considered 'Very Walkable'  byWalk Score.  301 Girard Rd. is very walkable.

Worthington WalkScore

I wrote a old post long ago about Olentangy Hills, a neighborhood in Worthington having a  great WalkScore.  You can walk to Worthington Square, downtown Worthington, offices on W. Wilson Bridge but walking to the Marcus Cinema from Olentangy Hills would be tough (crossing 270.)  The WalkScore.com change should reduce that Olentangy Hills addresses' Walk Score and make it more realistic.  Olentangy Hills is just south of W. Wilson Bridge Rd.  There are neighborhoods in Worthington with good Walk Scores,  Most Old Worthington addresses have good Walk Score.

Clintonville is a very walkable Columbus neighborhood.  Weinland Park, Victorian Village and Downtown are on a list with America's most walkable neighborhoods, on WalkScore.com

How walkable is your Columbus neighborhood.  Do you see a difference since the change?

Walk Score

 

 

2009 is almost over.  If there is a move in your future, whether it is relocating from Columbus, a transfer to Columbus or just moving a block away Washington DC real estate agent Cindy Jones shared some good tips on cutting the clutter.

Cindy's tips can be good even if you are not moving. 

Happy 2010!

 

In "How far will my salary go in another city?" on CNN.com there is a great little calculator that compares costs from city to city.   Compare Columbus' cost of living to another city.

Cost of Living Calculator on CNN.com

Relocating to Columbus from another city?  Try it!

Relocating from Columbus?  Try it!

Just curious?  Try it!

It is not just cost of housing... it's cost of food, cost of housing, cost of transportation, cost of utilities,  cost of healthcare!  Columbus' cost of living is surprisingly low....

Comparing Columbus to expensive places like New York City and San Francisco is fun...

for example "If you move from Columbus OH to San Francisco CA..."

"Housing will cost:  216% more"

but comparing Columbus to other Midwest cities.... like Chicago... is fun too...

"If you move from Columbus OH. to Chicago IL..."

everything costs more, more, more in Chicago.

and other Ohio cities...

It's kind of hard to believe

"If you move from Columbus, OH to to Youngstown/Warren, OH..."

"Housing will cost:  17% less"

Only 17% less?

Utilities will cost 18% more in Youngstown than in Columbus...

I did Cleveland, Cinci, Akron, Dayton, Milwaukee/Waukesha WI, Minneapolis MN, Detroit MI, Raleigh NC, New York City (more than one... big difference between Queens and Manhattan...)

I was curious how Columbus' cost of living would compare.

Lots of fun comparisons.

The CNN.com site says: "Costs include housing, utilities, transportation and health care. Data is generated from an average of the past four quarters ending March 2009."

 

Maureen McCabe Real Living HER Worthington

We have rivers, two of them, but does that make Columbus a "river city"?

Forbes.com called Columbus Ohio a river city in it's recent article when they named our fair city "Columbus Best Place to Grow Old"

The Best Place to Grow Old article by Maurna Desmond  says: 

"... Columbus, Ohio. This river city tops our list of cities where your nest egg goes farthest, thanks to reasonably priced housing relative to income and a 4.5% inflation rate that allows a buck to stretch a little further than other quickly growing areas."

"This river city..." I thought right away. "Is Columbus a river city?" Really? A river runs through Columbus, actually two rivers and they become one. Does having a river make a city a river city? Does big river, small river matter?

I think of Cincinnati when I think of a river city, not Columbus. Photos of the Columbus skyline usually show the city from across the river, this one is shot from Confluence Park.  "Don't let the river fool you!" is across the railroad bridge. Photos of the Columbus skyline from the south also often show the river.

Truth in advertising? Moving to Columbus? There are two rivers, but they may be decorative, same principle as decorative fireplace?

A comment on Forbes.com echoed what I said kinda...  I had not really given navigable much thought.

 

Posted by marfff | 12/14/08 07:17 PM EST
“Thanks for discovering Columbus, but you have mischaracterized the city as a river city. Although two small rivers run through it, neither one is navigable. Long-time residents would never refer to Columbus as a river city”

 

 

 

Note in my banner... no river showing, same photo. The river is there but the space is too wide and short to show skyline and the river.

Photo credit, same photo from Derek Jenson as my header and my profile page. "The copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide. In case this is not legally possible:I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law." Thanks Derek

I wrote "If the California Cows Relocated to Columbus" for ColumbusBestBlog.com, my other blog. I could not post the YouTube to my WordPress.org blog. I tried and tried but could not so I posted it to my third blog, Discover Columbus, a RealTown Blog. I am not going to give a link to Discover Columbus because that blog has juice suddenly! Whatever RealTown did to the urls it worked. Of course it would be great with all that traffic if the images weren't red x's and if the links worked. Discover Columbus has had a long tradition of cow posts because people sometimes call Columbus a cowtown.

I wrote on Discover Columbus (well actually I wrote it on ColumbusBestBlog.com just couldn't publish it there... with the cow commercials):

"If California cows relocated to Ohio from expensive California markets they could probably buy up a lot of land somewhere in many of the Central Ohio counties including Delaware, Licking, Madison, Fairfield. Yes it is not as sunny here as California but land prices are much more reasonable, that should make for bovine bliss.

There are cows right in Columbus but they are part of the Ohio State University, in fact I sold a house near one of the OSU herds to a couple from California... people not cows. He was originally from Ohio, not Columbus but she is from L.A originally."

Yes we do have cow herds in Columbus because of OSU Ag School. There is a dairy cow herd and a beef cow herd in northwest Columbus.

I should not like the California Happy Cows commercials but I do. The commercials make it seem as if Midwestern cows should be UnHappy about the weather! They also stereotype Midwestern cows as all talking like the cows do in Fargo North Dakota and Minnesota.

Here's a little example of stereotyping of Midwestern cows, notice the snow.... here's a Midwestern cow relocating to California. Hope "Sadie" checked out prices and conditions before she set out on the journey...

OK visit Discover Columbus if you want to see Happy California singing... propaganda film! ;-)

If anyone in the ActiveRain WordPress group can give some hints on posting YouTube to WordPress.org blogs I am all ears. Carole Cohen in Cleveland posted an itty bitty pig YouTube video on ActiveRain. To me Cincinnati is pigs, not Cleveland.

It’s a great time to buy!

Buyers (humans):

Search Central Ohio Homes Online No Sign Up. EDIT link broke!

Find a Central Ohio Home with Maureen McCabe of Real Living HER. Find a Central Ohio Home. Another link broke!

Home owners:

Market Analysis Request. What’s your Columbus Ohio home worth? Market Analysis Request. Third link broke!

 

Edit September 2011 Due to huge changes to the Real Living site and the Real Living HER site there are a couple of links to my Real Living HER site which are redirecting to the Real Living HER site (the local brokerage site) rather than mine so I am breaking the links. The links have my name in them. Some old links survived the changes and are redirected to my site on Real Living HER but these were going to the brokerage site so I am breaking them. Links to search on my site are in the sidebar or below. Sadder still the video no longer works. The Youtube account that added the videos is gone.... life goes on.

Would Spiderman ever relocate to Columbus? Probably not but if Goran Utvic can speculate about Spidey moving to Chicago from New York... Goran wrote:  "If Spiderman decided that he no longer wanted to websling from the Empire State Building..."  I can wonder about Spiderman relocating to Columbus.

I wrote about it on ColumbusBestBlog.com Spidey would of course live in downtown Columbus so he could hang out at  Leveque Tower, the Art Deco "skyscraper" built in 1927.  The second tallest building in Columbus has the right  feel for the cartoon character.  I believe it is 47 stories tall.

If I can speculate about Spiderman moving to Central Ohio I can take it further and I did on ColumbusBestBlog.com in If Spiderman Moved to Columbus.   

Where would other cartoon strip characters relocate to in Central Ohio?  Where would Opus cavort? Which cartoon character would be likely to live in Worthington?  Which cartoon family would live in Dublin or Westerville? Who would relocate to Dublin or Westerville?   For the most part I kind of pictured most of the cartoon strip characters living inside 270 for some reason but in more suburban kind of neighborhoods.  Characters like Blondie and Dagwood, The Family Circus, Peanuts, Hi and Lois, Calvin and Hobbes...

Why would cartoon characters relocate to Columbus or Central Ohio? Maybe because of OSU's Cartoon Research Library.   This week is the Festival of Cartoon Art at OSU.  Maybe some of these characters will be in town for it. From the Cartoon Research Library website: "The ninth triennial Festival of Cartoon Art, October 26-27, 2007, will focus on the art of graphic storytelling."  

OSU's Cartoon Research Library turns 30   on Discover Columbus.

See you in the funny papers.

Photo credits:  The photo of the Leveque Tower is from Wikipedia. Photo shot by Derek Jensen (Tysto), 2005-October-03 who released the photo to the public domain, "I, the copyright holder of this work, hereby release it into the public domain. This applies worldwide.  In case this is not legally possible: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law."