Category Archives: Franklin County

Is Columbus in the “Technosphere”?

Posted on 01/09/2012 | Leave a comment

It is according to Forbes. Columbus has come a long way from being called a cow town – thanks to that OSU farm photo years ago – to now being suggested as one of the regions to watch in 2012 for technology growth.

Read the complete Forbes article

Here’s what Forbes said about Columbus (#4 heading, under Technosphere):

Unfortunately for the rest of California, and even more blue-collar Bay Area communities like San Jose and Oakland, high costs and an unfavorable regulatory environment will keep this bubble geographically constrained. Historic patterns, particularly over the past decade, suggest that as the core tech companies expand, they are likely to head  to business-friendly places such as  Salt Lake City, Raleigh and Columbus, Ohio, which have picked up both tech companies and educated migrants from California.

Recently Jerry Brown, the California Governor, appealed for more tax increases to assist their ailing economy. Governor Kasich tweeted that he welcomed California companies to come to Ohio where our business climate was now friendlier.

Having lived in central Ohio most of my life, and enduring the years that some media have made fun of us, I’m really proud to have this new designation from Forbes. How about you?

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Posted in Central Ohio, Columbus Ohio, Franklin County, Technology

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Luxury Home Sales Were Down in 2011

Posted on 01/04/2012 | Leave a comment

With so much discussion on the “have & have-nots”, I’ve updated my report on the Luxury homes that were sold in 2011. Bottom line, fewer such homes ($1 million plus) were sold this past year and the prices were lower of those that did sell.

million $ homes sold in 2011 in central ohio
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If you missed your opportunity to buy one of these stellar homes, there are plenty still available for sale:

  • New Albany SD: 14 homes for sale with an average price of $1,656,271. Most expensive home is priced at $4,300,000.
  • Dublin SD: 14 homes for sale with an average price of $1,753,355. Most expensive home is priced at $3,200,000.
  • Olentangy SD: 13 homes for sale with an average price of $2,124,900. Most expensive home is priced at $6,899,700 and it’s been on the market for 681 days!
  • Big Walnut SD: 5 homes for sale with an average price of $2,362,960. Most expensive home is priced at $3,995,000.
  • Arlington SD: 6 homes for sale with an average price of $1,533,166. Most expensive home is priced at $2,200,000.

Read 2010 luxury homes results.

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Posted in Buyers, Central Ohio, Delaware County, Franklin County, Home prices, Homes, Housing stats

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A Decade of Home Sales in Central Ohio

Posted on 01/03/2012 | Leave a comment

The end of the year means it’s time to look back to see how we did in our local real estate market. Average prices of single-family homes “seem” to have turned the corner in most school districts – some moreso than others.

2002-2011 Avg Prices homes sold for Jan-Dec in central Ohio

Click graph to enlarge, then click again

The discouraging news is the severe downfall in the number of homes sold since 2009. The data for the years 2010 and 2011 includes only “normal” sales and does not include homes sold as a short-sale or REO-owned.

2002-2011 No Homes Sold Jan Dec in central Ohio

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Having the real estate industry get back on its feet is critical to improving the employment rate since the NAR has calculated that one job is created for every 2-3 homes sold. Additionally, people need full-time jobs and decent paying jobs in order to afford a home. Gov Kasich has been laser focused to keep companies in Ohio or bring new businesses here. As such, the state’s unemployment rate has declined since he took office and that may be reflected in the uptick of the number of homes sold in 2011. Hopefully, we’ll continue to see number of homes sold continue to increase for 2012.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Delaware County, Delaware Ohio, Dublin Ohio, Franklin County, Galena Ohio, Hilliard Ohio, Home prices, Homes, Housing stats, Worthington Ohio

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Columbus OH celebrates bicentennial in 2012

Posted on 01/01/2012 | Leave a comment

downtown columbus ohioColumbus will kick-off a year-long 200th birthday bash starting in February. The city charter was signed Feb 14, 1812. Various celebration events have already been scheduled with The Columbus Historical Society and more will probably be added as the year goes on.

I’m not one of those people who is a great fan of studying history. When I was at the end of my 6½ years of night school at Franklin University, I only needed 2 more hours to graduate. The college offered one course that was only 2 hours credit. It was the “History of Columbus” and was taught by Ed Lentz, who at that time (1985) worked with the Columbus Historical Society. Our textbook was a book titled Columbus: America’s Crossroads that Mr Lentz had co-authored with Betty Garrett.

My expectations for the course were low and after going to night school for so many years, while working full-time and being a single Mom, I just wanted to ‘be done’! I’m sure many of you can relate.

As it turned out, this course was extremely interesting as was the “textbook”. Sized like a coffee table book with LOTS of photos, it’s not like a regular history book. It was fascinating to read about some of the early leaders and to realize how many of the streets are named after them. It covers the early development of areas such as Clintonville, Victorian Village, Italian Village and of course, German Village. Companies, like Lazarus, Big Bear, Bank One, Borden, that played an important part in developing Columbus are also portrayed. Unfortunately many of the companies featured are no longer in existence. Columbus served a key role in the Civil War and the Underground Railroad.

As Columbus gears up for its celebration, I highly recommend securing a copy of this book. If you’ve lived around Columbus most of your life, I’ll bet you’ll be surprised at how little you really know about the city. Trust me … it’s easy reading.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Columbus Ohio, Franklin County

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Post election info. Read it and weep???

Posted on 11/11/2011 | Leave a comment

Business First published an article on the 2011 School District Rankings as released by the Ohio Department of Education. Their website includes a searchable database for readers to look up their specific district or compare it to other districts.

Local Schools Rank Within the State

2011 Ohio School District Rankings
Rank District Students Index $/Student
40 Dublin 13,614 106.94 $13,013
41 Olentangy 16,263 106.93 $9,465
49 New Albany 4,191 106.63 $12,249
124 Hilliard 14,945 103.53 $11,398
138 Worthington 9,098 103.15 $13,305
168 Big Walnut 2,797 102.35 $9,261
175 Marysville 5,345 102.16 $9,467
190 Westerville 14,105 101.92 $10,890
226 Bckye Valley 2,344 101.10 $9,938
266 Delaware 4,942 100.34 $10,009

Salaries of Some School Positions

You can also search by school for the salaries that are paid by district. The highly controversial SB5 (Issue 2) was about helping local governments decide how to best spend their budgets rather than having the public sector unions dictate salaries, benefits and pensions. The voters repealed the bill and now with many school levies having failed, schools and local governments are looking for ways to cut expenses to meet their budgets.

Out of curiosity, I checked the Business First database for salaries for the school district I live in – Delaware. Delaware was a district whose hefty levy passed. My findings:

  • 2 Superintendents: one earning $121,290; one earning $112,019
  • 1 Assistant Superintendent earning $109,535
  • 8 Principals with salaries between $109,535 to $77,411
  • 6 Assistant Principals with salaries between $78,584 to $69,673
  • 2 Directors earning $105,165 and $98,920
  • 3 Supervisors earning between $101,106 to $65,784
  • 12 Remedial Specialists with 5 earning in the $70,000′s.
  • 11 Counselors earning between $78,887 to $51,044
  • 291 Teachers with 66 earning in the $70,000′s; 66 in the $60,000′s; 57 in the $50,000′s; 53 in the $40,000′s; 39 in the $30,000′s; and 19 below $30,000
  • 30 Clerical workers earning between $60,377 to $20,106

You might want to check YOUR district before the next election asking for more money from the voters.

Copyright © 2011. Elaine Reese, Real Living HER. Reproduction of any portion of this blog post or the images is prohibited by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. If this post is being viewed on any site other than www.ReesesPiecesOfRealEstate.com then the material has been stolen without permission. Violators will be reported.

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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, Surveys, Worthington Ohio

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Good News On Central Ohio’s Unemployment Rate

Posted on 10/25/2011 | Leave a comment

September unemployment rates are out and Central Ohio performed slightly better than the State as a whole. Five of the eight counties in Central Ohio fell in September. Rates FELL in Franklin (7.7%), Fairfield (7.4%), Licking (7.8%), Morrow (8.2%) and Pickway (8.9%). Delaware remained FLAT at 6.3%. Rates ROSE in Madison (8.7%) and Union (7.7%).

The September rate for all of Ohio is 9.1%, but the rate FELL for 73 of the 88 counties. Delaware was one of six counties having a 7% or below rate.

Unemployment & Rates for Central Ohio

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This graph shows the number of unemployed people in Delaware and Union Counties. Between 2000 thru 2008, the rate of unemployed people was at or below 5% which I believe is considered “OK” for the economy. Then in 2009 the rate spiked and increased again in 2010. For Delaware County, even though the rates hovered between 3-4%, the number of unemployed increased but so did the population of Delaware County during those years, as the southern portion of the county grew tremendously.

Employed vs Unemployed for 2010

  • FRANKLIN COUNTY: in 2010, 573,600 were employed, 53,500 were unemployed, 8.5% rate.
  • DELAWARE COUNTY: in 2010, 85,700 were employed, 6,600 were unemployed, 7.1% rate .
  • UNION COUNTY: in 2010, 23,700 were employed, 2,200 were unemployed, 8.4% rate.

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Posted in Central Ohio, Delaware County, Franklin County, Surveys

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