About Darke County, OH

Clients relocating to Dayton have a wide variety of choices when it comes to home styles and location. People looking online for historic homes often ask me about one area in particular- Grafton Hill. The homes is this neighborhood are exquisite, and the area has some unique amenities of which the residents can take advantage.

Grafton Hill is one of nine designated Historic Districts in Dayton Ohio. Loosely surrounded by Forest, Grand, Salem, and Plymouth Avenues, this is a small area of extraordinarily grand homes. Distinctive homes, homes that are beautifully built, the Jacobethan, Tudor, and Craftsman styles are represented.

Historic homes are not a match for every buyer. Sometimes it takes an owner with vision and some construction skills to maintain an historic home. Occasionally the home requires loving care that might not work well with every lifestyle. But if you are looking for a magnificent home that can match your taste, your style, your devotion to quality, Grafton Hill might be a particularly fine choice.

Contact me and let’s talk it through.

Originally posted on TheBrickRanch.com

Looking for something to do in Dayton? Love live music? Check out gruvr.com

gruvr is a cool live music map that lets you see who is playing where. This is a link to the Dayton map, but you could check out Cincy, Columbus, Indy by changing the radius. In case you are wondering, Dayton's music scene is thriving- they currently list about 40 concerts within 9 miles of Dayton for the next week. A wide variety of music, and venues are represented- so there is something for everyone.

In addition to the map, they list links to those bands that are playing in Dayton, and links to tickets for the concerts. You can also type in a band and see where it's playing, and get an RSS feed for your favorite band.

A Dayton favorite is Cincinnati's own Over The Rhine. This is a video them doing Leonard Cohen's Halleujah. No it's not original, but it's the best video of Over The Rhine I could find, it's a lovely song, and it showcases them nicely. So enjoy, check gruvr for time and location, and go see them live.

Originally posted on TheBrickRanch.com

WalkScore.com just released their list of the 40 most walkable cities, and no drum roll needed, Dayton was not on it. We are not surprised, are we? Not really, because so much of Dayton is made up of a lot of suburbs, which is another post for another day. However, you may want to add WalkScore to your list of online tools when looking for that perfect Dayton home.

The information provided from WalkScore looks at how close community resources and amenities are to a specific address: How far to a theatre? Restaurants? Shops? With gas prices putting the hurt on many people, this information is useful. Let's take a look at the two homes I included in a post about real estate tools for consumers: 117 Pleasant Chase in the Windpointe subdivision in Englewood, and 7212 Charlesworth Dr in Huber Heights, and for contrast, let's add a third- 215 Ice Ave, EXiT Realty Central's loft listing in downtown Dayton.

WalkScore for: 117 Pleasant Chase- Oops. Nada. This subdivision might be too new for WalkScore to have data yet.

7212 Charlesworth Dr. 45 out of 100- That's "car dependent" which isn't necessarily a bad thing, depending on your needs.

215 Ice Ave #104- 97 out of 100! A "walker's paradise". Dayton may not have made the Top 40 most walkable cities list, but obviously there are properties in Dayton that do make the grade. If you are looking for walkable areas in Dayton, this condo in the Ice Lofts, is a beautiful property to consider.

The cool thing about WalkScore is that it gives you a list of close-by amenities on the left, and they show the locations on the map. If you choose, you can change the map and see everything in Google Street Views. If you are relocating to Dayton, or transferring to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, and need to get a feel for what's what and where's where, then this is one more tool to help you check out the neighborhood.

If you live in Montgomery County Ohio, your home was reappraised in the summer of '08. What happens during a tax appraisal, and how does it affect you?If you live in Montgomery County Ohio, your home was reappraised in the summer of '08. What happens during a tax appraisal, and how does it affect you?

From the Montgomery County website:

During a reappraisal, every neighborhood is reviewed and adjustments are made to county records based on data collection efforts. To determine the value of a property, current property data will be verified, sales throughout the county will be researched, properties of similar types will be compared, current construction costs will be examined and rental income will be researched. After thorough analysis, a market model will be developed to establish property valuation.

A more consumer oriented site, Your Home Your Value, says this:

With reappraisals that happen every six years, state registered appraisal firms’ employees physically visit each home in the county to update property characteristics over approximately a two-year period. These field appraisers attempt to make contact with the property owner to discuss the property characteristics, such as land size/type, building size, age, type, quality, condition, room counts and other relevant data.

Because of the changes in the real estate market, your reappraisal might be a bit out of kilter with what you were expecting. You have the right to challenge your reappraisal, but only until October 23rd. Here's how:

Montgomery County Auditor... announced that his office will extend informal reviews for the reappraisal an additional three weeks. Informal reviews have been ongoing since September 8th and were set to conclude on October 3rd. Those informal reviews will now be extended until at least October 23rd.

The informal reviews are an opportunity for property owners who disagree with the new tentative value of their property to schedule an informal meeting with one of the county's hearing officers. Auditor Keith has encouraged residents to take advantage of this opportunity and participate in the reappraisal process.

"We are extending the informal reviews for three more weeks to ensure everyone has an opportunity to contact us and be heard," (the Auditor) said.

Informal reviews will be extended at sites in Dayton, Englewood, Germantown, Huber Heights, Kettering and Miami Township. An updated listing of all locations and dates follows. To schedule an informal review, property owners may call (937) 278-3800.

Find out more at the Montgomery County Reappraisal pdf.

Two terrific festivals take place in the Greater Dayton, Ohio area this weekend that should be placed on the "to do" list!

• Ohio Sauerkraut Festival Oct. 11-12 Approximately 250,000 guests flock to Waynesville each year to enjoy the over 30 different cuisine booths, dozens of craft booths, and live musical entertainment.

• Yellow Springs Street Fair Oct 11 The city streets are closed for this bi-annual festival. Enjoy over 200 merchandise booths, good food, and live entertainment.

Christina Asad Edwards, REALTOR
2006 & 2007 Sales Masters Top Agent
Christina.Asad@RealLiving.com
http://www.teamedwards.info/
mobile or text 937-205-4741 office 937-573-0082
Real Living Realty - #1 in OHIO!
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