Monthly Archives: August 2011

Central Ohio Schools’ Performance vs Property Taxes

Posted on 08/29/2011 | Leave a comment

On Wednesday I wrote an article about the recently released Ohio Schools Report Cards. I just updated the Tax Graph that shows the relationship of several school districts as per their property tax rates with an overlay of the recent ratings of the schools. All of the school districts that I normally cover in this blog are doing very well. Most notably, the Delaware school district improved from Effective last year to Excellent With Distinction for this year.

2010 Property Tax Rates for some central Ohio school districts

Click to enlarge, then click again to further enlarge

Each bar within the school district represents a taxing area within the district. Assessments are based on a dollar amount per $100,000 of assessed value from the county auditor (Delaware or Franklin Counties). Of course, property taxes are used for more than just schools, but school funding makes up a large portion of our property taxes.

To see how the school districts compared with last year’s Report Card ratings, read more here.

Call me if you have questions on interpreting the chart.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Delaware Ohio, Dublin Ohio, Franklin County, Galena Ohio, Hilliard Ohio, Homes, Housing stats, Lewis Center Ohio, Powell Ohio, Schools, Worthington Ohio

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Do animals have a 6th sense?

Posted on 08/25/2011 | Leave a comment

Since Tuesday’s East Coast earthquake, there have been reports of the National Zoo’s animals’ unusual behavior in advance of the quake. Reportedly the lemurs issued their warning a full 15 minutes ahead of the quake being felt by humans. You may remember the stories of the elephants in Indonesia trying to break free of their chains before the disastrous tsunami hit.

I experienced this first-hand around 1970-71 or so. We were living in Marysville at the time. I was at a friend’s home along with our Doxie, Max. My friend also had a dog plus two Siamese cats. In addition, she was babysitting another dog, whose parents were out-of-town on vacation. It was a gorgeous day so I had left all the windows open at our house. Our husbands were playing tennis at the club. Weather forecasting then wasn’t what it is now.

Suddenly all the animals began acting “weird”. The sky turned a strange yellow-green and the air became very still. We kinda just sat there, saying “what the heck?”. Then the skies opened up and the rain poured. After we ran around the house closing windows, we decided – based on the animals’ strange behavior – to head for the basement. When the storm was over, we went back upstairs only to see trees down everywhere. It was as if someone had taken a massive chainsaw and cut down trees all around town to about 15-20 ft high. Huge trees were snapped off like they were toothpicks. Our vacationing friends had two big trees fall on either side of their home but missed hitting the home. The whole town was a mess. The National Guard was called in to keep people from entering the town so residents could start the massive clean-up process.

Since then, I’ve always trusted what my dogs might be trying to tell me.

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Posted in Central Ohio

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Ohio Schools Report Cards are out

Posted on 08/24/2011 | Leave a comment

The new Report Cards for Ohio schools has been made public today. You can check your own school district at reportcard.ohio.gov for extensive details and explanation of the various grading criteria. The following are the new ratings for some local schools.

Delaware County

  • Olentangy – Excellent with Distinction
  • Delaware City – Excellent with Distinction *
  • Big Walnut – Excellent
  • Buckeye Valley – Excellent

Franklin County

  • Dublin – Excellent with Distinction
  • Hilliard – Excellent with Distinction
  • Westerville – Excellent with Distinction
  • New Albany (Plain Local) – Excellent
  • Worthington – Excellent

Union County

  • Marysville – Excellent with Distinction

* Congrats to Delaware Schools for improving from an Effective rating to Excellent with Distinction!

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Posted in Central Ohio, Delaware County, Delaware Ohio, Dublin Ohio, Franklin County, Galena Ohio, Hilliard Ohio, Lewis Center Ohio, Powell Ohio, Schools, Worthington Ohio

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Concrete leveling – a cautionary tale

Posted on 08/23/2011 | Leave a comment

Last November I wrote an article about and included a video of concrete leveling being performed at a seller’s home. Earlier this Spring, I had the same type of work performed on my own home. All went well with those two jobs.

However, a recent job did not end so well, so let this serve as a caution for you if you’re planning to have this type of work conducted. The caution concerns any drain tile that might be underground and running unseen underneath the concrete to be leveled.

Since holes are drilled into and through the concrete, if the workers should happen to drill through a drain tile, the concrete they later pump in, will fill the tile as well as under the concrete. Once the new concrete sets-up, the drain will no longer function and will have to be replaced or drilled out – which is very, very costly.

So – o – o, if you know of drain tile or suspect there might be tile located under the section of sidewalk to be leveled, be sure to alert the workers or mark it in advance. It will save you a lot of $$$$ later.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Fix-ups, Homes

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Good supply of Powell homes for sale

Posted on 08/18/2011 | Leave a comment

If you’re one of the many people who want to call Powell Ohio home, there is currently an ample supply of homes available for sale in all price ranges except the very low-end. The chart below includes all homes in the Olentangy school district for zip code 43065. It does not include homes that are short-sales, HUD or REO’s but rather homes that appeal to “typical” buyers.

Powell homes for sale today
  # Size Avg Price $/SqFt
Over $1 mill 11 6998 $1,807,172 $258
$500-999 55 5133 $688,888 $134
$400-499 40 3740 $456,736 $122
$300-399 53 3065 $348,176 $114
$200-299 45 2574 $266,866 $104
$100-199 4 1442 $178,125 $69

What this means for you is a strong likelihood that no matter what your criteria is for a home, there’s a good chance you’ll find one that is just perfect for you. Want to live around a golf course? There are three courses in the Powell area: Wedgewood, Kinsale and Scioto Reserve. Want trees or ravines? Yup, got those too. You can select a home that is close to a school. Some of the elementaries are within walking distance of homes. If you like, you can select a neighborhood that is within walking distance of downtown Powell and the community pool. There are homes with smaller lots or lots that are an acre in size.

If you would like my assistance in finding the perfect home, give me a call at 614-825-8860 and I’ll go to work for you.

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Posted in Buyers, Central Ohio, Delaware County, Golf Village, Kinsale, Home prices, Homes, Homes for sale, Housing stats, Powell Ohio, Scioto Reserve, Wedgewood

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It’s time for WOOFSTOCK in Worthington

Posted on 08/17/2011 | Leave a comment

All you dog lovers – or those wanting to be a dog parent – are invited to WOOFstock coming Sunday, Aug 28 at Camp Mary Orton in Worthington. It’s an afternoon of dogs, music, food and fun. Plus, maybe you’ll find a new forever friend from the adoptable dogs that will be there.

Columbus Dog Connection WooFstock in Worthington OH

Click to enlarge then click again for printing size

Camp Mary Orton is located off of Rt 23 (High St), north of I-270 and just north of the intersection with Flint Rd and just south of Northwoods Bl where the Huntington Bank branch is . The entrance is on the west side of Rt 23 and is somewhat concealed. Look for a drive that goes into the woods. Google Map

The flyer says it will be held ‘rain or shine’. Murph doesn’t do rain!

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Posted in Uncategorized

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