An historic home is different. These homes can hold the essence of many lives lived in splendor and comfort over many years, creating a warmth that immediately welcomes you into its history. There is a continuity- a bridge- to the past in an historic home that simply can’t exist in newer homes. A perfect home might be that place in which you can feel comfort and welcomed. The place that you can relax and dream, alone and with loved ones. It might include a community of neighbors who share and celebrate each other.
309 Grafton Ave is a culmination of the best of the past and an extraordinary present. The appreciation of craftsmanship is obvious from the street, but the beauty of this historic home is also abundant inside. Large and inviting rooms retain period detailing where it matters, but this home has been lovingly updated to allow the owners to live comfortably in the modern world. Listed at $184,000.
There is no other neighborhood like Grafton Hill: Historic, but with a wide variety of housing options, quiet, and still close to the best of the city of Dayton. The homes and the lots can be larger than other historic districts in Dayton Ohio, but Grafton Hill shares the same sense of community: Public Open House Tours- the next one is Holiday Tour 2010- progressive dinners, casual get-togethers. Grafton Hill Historic District offers the support of other historic home owners who willingly share their love of these one-of-a-kind homes, in a one-of-a-kind neighborhood.
Stop talking about reducing your carbon footprint and just do it. You are a car free distance from the best of downtown Dayton: The Dayton Dragons, the Schuster Center, the Victoria Theatre, Riverscape, and the Neon Movies, and the Oregon District. Within 20 minutes of Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and Wright State University, University of Dayton, and Kettering Medical Center, Miami Valley Hospital, Grandview Medical Center, and Good Samaritan, and in the shadow of the Dayton Art Institute. Access to I-75 is easy for anyone who needs to commute north to Honda but loves the culture that you will find in Dayton, or south to the Greater Cincinnati area but prefers the more relaxed and affordable lifestyle that Dayton has to offer.
There is no reason to settle for anything less. Call Jennifer Core, Exit Realty Central, 937-239-0373 to tour this exquisite home today!
Debbie Gartner of Floor Coverings International has granted permission for this informative post to be re-blogged. If you are wondering about the difference in flooring materials, the pros and cons to each, and when and where it’s appropriate to use each, read on:
First, let me state for the record I prefer hardwood. Second, let me clarify definitions. Often my customers get laminate, engineered hardwood and vinyl confused. It’s not their job to know which is which…this is my job.
• Laminate - This is fake. It usually looks like hardwood (but some are made to look like tile). These floors click into place and are usually floated. Often, they can be placed on top of an existing floor without needing to remove it. These are made with recycled wood that is left over in the manufacturing process
• Vinyl - There are many forms of vinyl, but the most common types are sheets (12 ft wide) and vinyl tiles. Vinyl is usually either waterproof or highly water resistant, pending on the type and quality. For high quality and stylish vinyl see my recent post on Luxury vinyl - is it an oxymoron?
• Engineered hardwood - is real hardwood constructed in layers. The term sounds fake, but I’s not. There are many benefits and reasons to use these wood. For more info see my post on Engineered hardwoods.
Okay, so now that we are straight on definitions when does it make sense to use a laminate (vs. a hardwood)?
1. If you need something more scratch resistant vs. hardwood. I love hardwood, but it definitely can scratch. So, if you are concerned about this for any of the following reasons - kids, pets, heavy traffic - laminates are often a safer bet.
2. If budget is the main consideration - In general most laminates are less expensive than hardwoods. As with any product, there is a range of quality, but if money is the key consideration, laminate is usually a better choice.
3. If staging/selling a home - If the client needs to/wants to save money (which is often a key consideration when staging (i.e. how can we improve the look/quality without spending too much so the investment is worth it). This is often a super option for a kitchen that has vinyl. The laminate looks much nicer than vinyl and can usually be floated on top of the existing vinyl. And, it’s usually LESS expensive vs. replacing vinyl due to lower floor prep.
4. If you are renting and constantly replacing the carpet for every tenant - In general, carpet is the least expensive surface - at least short-term. But, it gets dirty and wears down easily. So, if you have tenants moving in and out every 2-3 yrs and keep replacing the carpet, it will actually cost you much less in the long run to trade up to laminate flooring. It will cost more initially, but it can easily last 15-25 yrs. In addition, it makes your unit more appealing which means you can either charge more rent or find a tenant faster or both. All you need is a potential renter to have 1 person in the family with either asthma or allergies and then a carpeted area won’t work for them. So next time consider trading up to laminate flooring.
When to avoid using laminate flooring
1. If moisture is an issue, do not use laminate flooring. Laminate flooring uses leftover hardwood shavings (extras from the manufacturing of hardwood). It is not waterproof. It is just like hardwood - water is its enemy.
2. If floor isn’t level. If your floors are uneven, it’s hard to install any type of hard surface (except vinyl which is flexible). With a laminate floor (which is floating), if it’s uneven it will make noise and shift/move when you walk on it. If floors are very uneven, it’s even possible for the floor to crack. It’s always best to level out the floor before installing any hard surface. But, sometimes, this can be cost prohibitive.
For more info on laminate or flooring in general, you can visit our website. Or, check out our new flooring selector - see samples of carpet, hardwood, tile, laminate - 2,000 choices.
The Dayton Area Board of Realtors has published the June 2010 Dayton Real Estate Market Report. This is for all areas served by the Dayton Area Board of Realtors, including Montgomery, Greene, Clark, Miami, Warren, Preble, Darke counties in Ohio, and may contain real estate transactions for Logan, Shelby, and other counties. This is an overview, and will not accurately describe what the real estate market is like in your city or neighborhood. To get specific real estate information about your home or the Dayton neighborhoods you are considering moving to, please contact Dayton Realtor Teri Lussier, Exit Realty Central, at 937.478.7781.
“The Ohio Modern products include a statewide historic context publication and a historic architecture survey identifying and evaluating mid-20th century properties and neighborhoods in Dayton and neighboring suburban communities including Centerville, Huber Heights, Trotwood, Fairborn, Kettering, Oakwood and Vandalia.”
+What could that mean for property values within these Dayton communities? +Does this mirror an interest in Mid Century Modern homes across the country? +What do Dayton’s MCM homes offer that historic or newer homes don’t? +Is there a demographic in the Dayton area for these homes?
I’m a Realtor in Dayton who has watched the growing interest in MCM for the past 4 years. While this trend has been explosive in cities like Austin, Las Vegas, Phoenix, and even Indianapolis, it’s still something people giggle at in Dayton, but as an outspoken fan of the MCM home, I know the interest in all things Mid Century Modern in the MIami Valley is growing. Other residents who share my interest contact me through my website TheBrickRanch.com precisely to connect to someone else who shares their passion for the clean lines and flexible living that MCM ranch homes can provide. They are young, hip, and respond emotionally to a “Jetson” house, while a McMansion leaves them cold, and a historic home might be too much house work. They are looking for something easier to care for, something with open space and a connection to patio living and the outside.
Austin TX has a well-documented community of Mid Century Modern neighborhoods that went from boring to hip, with the accompanying increase in market values. In Phoenix, a tiny neighborhood of neglected brick ranch homes is now one of the most desired locations in the city. There are great buys in Dayton for MCM homes, custom built, unique floor plans, and quality construction that you’d find in an older home. You can find some particularly stunning examples in Dayton, Washington Twp, and Kettering.
Want to find out more about the MCM homes in the Dayton area? Call Jennifer Core, Exit Realty Central, at 937-239-0373.
…is out and of course there’s good news and bad news. The good news is that Dayton Ohio home sales are up, prices are up, most likely due to the big rush to take advantage of the tax credit. I also see that Dayton investors are busy purchasing homes, and the market for flipping homes is finally returning. If you want to be an investor in Dayton, there are plenty of good buys, and foreclosures are going to continue to rise- that’s the bad news- so people are going to want and need nice places to live. These folks often come from a place of home ownership, they want to stay in Dayton but their credit has been dinged. They need a home- not a house, not a rental- they want a home. If you are considering renting your home on a land contract or a lease-to-own, this is a good time as we are likely to see more creative financing options than we have in the past 10 or 15 years and that’s not such a bad situation. Call Jennifer Core, Exit Realty Central, at 937-239-0373 if you want to discuss your options for land contracts or lease-to-own homes in Dayton Ohio.
Dayton has always been bike friendly, but now is the time to capitalize on it
When we were really young, we rode our bikes to a neighborhood woody lot and biked around dirt paths. Today you need a special bike for this, but I used my blue coaster bike with the headlight, big white saddle seat, the mud fenders and balloon tires. It had a little spring closure carrying rack on the back- good to clamp your balled-up jacket in and not much else. As I got older, like most people my age, I used a bike as a main method of transportation. I lived in a semi-rural neighborhood and rode miles and miles unmolested by traffic, and I had tons and tons of fun doing it! Perched precariously on those skinny 12-speed racing bike tires, I’d careen down long hills praying I didn’t hit a gravel patch in just the right way and have the tires shoot out from under me, sending me onto the pavement. Helmet-less, of course. We always rode helmet-less.
I’ve always owned at least one bike. Think about riding a bike: There is a sense of freedom and exhilaration that does not happen when driving a car. You are unencumbered by stuff. Just you and the road and the bugs in your teeth.
Independence Day, the New York Times published Bike Among the Ruins on the Op-Ed page. Toby Barlow writes about biking in Detroit, but the same could be written about Dayton:
While bike enthusiasts in most urban areas continue to have to fight for their place on the streets, Detroit has the potential to become a new bicycle utopia. It’s a town just waiting to be taken. With well less than half its peak population, and free of anything resembling a hill, the city and its miles and miles of streets lie open and empty, beckoning. And lately, whether it’s because of the economy or the price of gas or just because it’s a nice thing to do, there are a lot more bikers out riding. ...
Arcade Rehab to start: We want to impress the city.
New owners still interviewing contractors, but restoration of the facade to start in August.
DAYTON — The new owner of Dayton’s historic downtown arcade says work on the exterior of the five-building complex will be evident by the next Urban Nights event on Friday, Sept. 11.
Restoration of the facade will begin in August with power washing of the exterior as a way to announce the arrival of work crews
“We want to impress the city,” said Gunther Berg, who along with partner Wendell Strutz bought the Arcade at a Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office tax lien sale on March 12
Berg said he is researching different types of glass to replace windows in the arcade’s landmark dome, 70 feet high and 90 feet in diameter. ...
Volunteers Sought for Mediation Training The Dayton Mediation Center, a City of Dayton agency providing free or low-cost mediation services to individuals, families, and organizations, is offering training for citizens interested in learning to serve as volunteer community mediators. Volunteer mediators help resolve conflicts and reach understanding on a variety of issues, including neighborhood problems, workplace concerns and elder care decisions. Candidates are expected to attend training sessions on August 15, 20 and 29 and to commit to volunteering at least monthly for 18 months. For more information, contact Michelle Zaremba at 333-2345.
Dayton Daily News finally catches on to the corporate welfare BS.
Today, the Dayton Daily News editorial board finally agreed with a position I’ve staked out as one of the primary threats to our society: Corporate welfare.
It’s a stunning turnabout for a company that has never met a tax break they didn’t wholeheartedly endorse. The ones for Reynolds & Reynolds, Relizon, Workflow One etc- were all great by their reporting. Bill Pardue and his QBase reality distortion field- where governments should not only fund his startup, but then hire his firm- hailed as innovative. And, then the NCR debacle, where our Ohio politicians hadn’t talked enough about how we should drop our drawers to the almighty Bill Nuti and his extortion machine.
If you look at todays paper, their hypocrisy is evident, where they rail against the tax break, but fail to hang Congressman Turner for his willingness to sell out to NCR as long as they are a Dayton business.
They take the tax break system apart gently, as a ruse to give money to big companies for promises written on paper as useless as yesterdays news- ...
Barriers to Regionalism
The Dayton Business Journal has some extensive reportage on regionalization issue due to a recent panel discussion hosted by the D B-J. There will be another panel discussion about Southwest Ohio regional economy in July. ...
It seems the barriers to conventional city/county merger form of metropolitan government are insurmountable in this area, though it is heartening to see Joey Williams and Dan Foley taking the lead on the issue (from the political side). Yet, the local business community seems to be finally getting behind the concept, if the Business-Journal interest is any indication. Still, no clear champions have surfaced from the private sector to really push the issue, which is in itself a big local weakness.
Since governmental merger is a non-starter, perhaps people need to get creative and look at different approaches at regionalization. Since the big regional concern is economic development...the weak local economy, which crosses city and suburban boundaries...that should be were regional efforts should concentrate, since it is the one area were people agree something needs to be done.
Getting the Word Out, are We Selling Ourselves Short?
(...) Since I haven't seen us in print, I decided to look online. Here's some of our local business development info:
Ohio.gov isn't bad for small business and start-ups
Ohio's "development" site where apparently we're The State of Perfect Balance. And I must be having browser problems because most of the tabs/links don't open for me.
OhioMeansBusiness, yet another state site.
Dayton Development Coalition targeting Aerospace R&D, Information Technology, Advanced Materials & Manufacturing, Human Sciences & Healthcare, and most recently the region's water supply. The Coalition has been very aggressive with BRAC stuff and advocacy in Washington. Maybe it's advertising in Texas and around other military bases that are closing or downsizing. As for the site, I can't tell if the it's promoting the region as much as it's promoting the work/efforts of the coalition. Perhaps it's a little of both.
Business First - Montgomery County's efforts to reach out to local businesses as a retention/expansion tool. Sit down with us and we'll see what we can do for you. There's also additional information on the County's economic development page. The County's website is awful. Check out the URLs. How would anyone fine anything on it? (...)
The Dayton region landed a big victory Wednesday, as the state is awarding $3 million to create the Center for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Exploitation in the region.
The Ohio Third Frontier program is allocating the funds to the University of Dayton’s IDCAST, which submitted the proposal for the UAV center.
The 6,000-square-foot UAV center will be located in the 25,000-square-foot Air Force Center for Rapid Product Development, at 104 Janney St. in Dayton.
The project advances unmanned aerial vehicle technology by supporting research for national security and emergency response applications.
The project is a collaboration among a handful of local organizations including the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, BAE Systems and UltraCell Corp.
A coalition of organizations and companies have formed an alliance in the past two years centered around forging the region as a hub of UAV research and manufacturing.
UAVs, also called drones, are remote controlled aircraft that don’t carry pilots, thus preventing airmen from flying into dangerous areas. …
Growing America: Student Run Farm and Farmers Market
The Ohio State University, The PAST Foundation and Metro High School in Columbus have teamed up to create a student-run farm and farmers market through its new Growing America program. This program has been created to introduce students to farm planning, design, management and operations, plant growth and development, and produce marketing through a small-scale farm and student-run farmers market. The project is led by teacher Neal Bluel, who is a Botany/Research faculty member with the school. The farm will be at the Waterman Dairy Farm on Ohio State’s campus. The farmers market will run from July 25 to Aug.15 at The Metro School,...
Building codes, sprawl and value.
Bill Pote over at Dayton Most Metro has a long post and a small comment debate going on about how restrictive building codes and over-the-top requirements are making redevelopment severely expensive at the cost of much of our existing infrastructure- and empowering sprawl. He asks:
But have we made these codes so restrictive that we’ve destroyed any good chance of bringing our long-vacant downtown buildings back to life? Is there any room for some flexibility and compromises that still ensure proper safety AND make it cost-effective to redevelop and re-inhabit our downtown buildings?
via Restrooms, Elevators and Sprinklers - Oh My! | Dayton MostMetro.
I’ve asked the same question for a long time (search old posts).
There is no doubt in my mind that many of the codes have been pushed through legislation by the building trades. Other rules come from the Americans with Disabilities Act, fire safety, environmental rulings (no more incinerators in homes like the one I grew up in). Many are well intended and good. As Pote points out: “I suppose we could just say to hell with handicapped folks and just make downtown a handicapped-free zone, but that would ensure Dayton’s position on Forbes’ list of the Top Ten Asshole Cities.” ...
Address to Address Planning on the RTA
The Greater Dayton RTA now has an address to address trip-planning service right on their main landing page. This is great - I find the maps and route tables confusing as all get out. Unfortunately, this is also as they're planning service cuts and rate increases. I was against that kind of move in 2007, and I still am today. Gas prices lowered again during the fall of 2008, but they're starting to come back up. In the long run, I think that lowering was a fluke, not the trend. Public transit will become more important, and Dayton will hurt itself by reducing its public transit capabilities.
Is there about to be a water war in Dayton?
Our water source is a huge aquifer underneath Dayton. We have so much good, potable water that we even pump millions of gallons of it in the air every hour at Riverscape. But, a source told me today that Montgomery County and the City of Dayton have reopened the water contract and things could get interesting, soon.
The contract that’s in place wasn’t due to be renegotiated until 2016. The county has been threatening to build its own well field at Crane’s Run for years. The last deal put that proposed plant to sleep, however, in an attempt to “save” money, the county may be threatening to build it again so as to renegotiate rates. This is coming when Dayton is looking at a huge surplus of capacity supply ...
The Air Force Museum and the National Park
DDN editorialist Ellen Belcher opened up an interesting discussion with her op-ed on the relationship of the National Musuem of the US Air Force and the Dayton Aviation National Historic Park.
The Air Force Musuem is one of the great tourist attractions of Ohio, and it's free. So is the National Park (at least the parts that are actually controlled and staffed by the Park Service). And co-0peration between Wright-Patterson AFB and the National Park Service is ongoing, though not as visible as during the establishment of the park. In fact, this partnership is written into law, into the enabling legislation establishing the historic park.
But the question for local boosters is how to tap into this tourist flow to the Museum. ...
Dayton Area Home to American Icon
Next to the American flag one of the most popular images that portrays American patriotism is that of the Bald Eagle. Though no longer on the endangered species list it is a federal offense to kill a bald eagle. Most American Bald Eagles are found along the West coast, specifically in Alaska, Canada and as far south as Mexico. They have also been on the "threatened list" in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.
And we have four right here in the Dayton area, near Wright Patterson Air Force Base!
Bald Eagles, by Ron Alvey from the Dayton Daily Newswebsite
Living on the Dayton/Riverside boarder I've had frequent occasion to drive Harshman Road between Airway and Rte. 4. Just at the northern-most entrance of Eastwood Metropark I frequently see 5-10 people at a time huddling at the edge of the park, facing the Air Force base from dawn until dusk with binoculars and cameras. I always wondered what they were looking at....
UniGov- a hot topic since 1967?
Thomas Suddes makes a case for UniGov in today’s Dayton Daily News.
He’s dead on, except at this point, this amounts to kicking a dead horse:
Ohio also doesn’t need its 700 “special district” governments, such as port authorities and fire, park, etc., districts. All that brush just hides which typically unelected folks caused which mess.
• Ohio doesn’t need horse-and-buggy counties and should require (not just allow) each county’s voters to simplify its government. Cuyahoga County is the poster child, but 87 others are antiques, too.
It’s ridiculous to elect coroners and engineers and sheriffs. Each county should elect a legislative body by districts (whether legislators are called “commissioner” or “councilor” or “exalted floorwalker of the first chop”); elect one countywide executive; and elect a prosecuting attorney. That’s it.
via Thomas Suddes: Ohio has too many school districts, government entities.
I’ve had this copy of Dayton USA for a while, it’s from April 1967- and one of the cover stories is “How Do You Spell Modern Government?” Where Peter Dayton makes the case for UniGov.
He points out the stupidity of 25 different fire and police chiefs and says “Our only reason for residing in this area is that Dayton is a business, manufacturing, financial center. And no matter where we live, we depend on its health for our livelihood.”
Fascinating reading- even 42 years later....
Last fall, the City Council approved a $20,000 contract with Toledo-area artist Keith Hasenbalg to bring a fresh, colorful look to the downtown plaza wall at the corner of Main Street and National Road.
Could you not find anyone with talent in Englewood, Ohio? Did you look? Did you call Robin Dakin at Northmont High School to see if there were any talented artists living in Englewood you could support?
Or, how about this freshly-minted BFA from Miami University, graduate of Northmont Hight School? I know for a fact he has some student loans to pay back and $20,000 would have gone a long way toward that. Not to mention a loyalty for his childhood town.
Why do we look for “talent” outside of our own community? In a town of 25,000 or so people, I think we may ...
Why move to Dayton Ohio? It’s time to reverse the wagon train?
I had an interesting conversation the other day. A potential buyer is looking online and finds me and gives me a call. He’s a Californian. He’s a family man. He’s a hard-working construction guy. We have a long talk.
He lives east of San Francisco and has been looking for a home out there for two years. He can’t afford anything, so he starts to look elsewhere. For some reason he looks at Dayton Ohio. “I could pay cash for a house in Dayton.” Yes, yes he could. I have to ask, “Why Dayton?” ...
Dayton’s Online Presence
I'm not an internet expert. I'm not a marketing expert. Nor do I claim to be. What we heard at the Updayton Summit is that people want to be connected. They want to know what's going on and how to...
Sensationalizing the obvious: the chicken little news
We’re facing tough times. I don’t need a newspaper to tell me that- every single day. Today there was a story about people ditching their cars for insurance money, real effect on most of us, negligible. Damage to our attitude and psyche, progressively worse.
We’ve had two bold, daylight murders- both drug related. Effect on most of us- minimal. Damage to our perception of safety- real.
The Wright Brothers were from Dayton. It’s been over 100 years since they first flew. Every time their great niece sneezes- it’s a front page story. Why?
News isn’t just writing about what happened, or regurgitating a press release. News is supposed to give us some sort of insight on what is going on around us. Make us smarter. It’s supposed to help us analyze what is happening so we can work together to solve our common problems. ...
7952 Rustic Woods Dr, Huber Heights, OH The Olympus model is like many floor plans in Huber Heights- built for usefulness without wasted space. This particular home has an addition of a front patio and a back deck which will expand the outdoor living space to make a comfortable home inside and out.
The upstairs contains 3 bedrooms and one full bath, but the window at the top of the stairs makes it light and bright instead of a dark afterthought. The main level is where you can find the living room, the dining area, the galley kitchen.
It’s HUD-owned, look here for details about HUD and bidding on HUD homes, it ain’t for everyone, however, this home, which will need new flooring and some repair work, is listing at $79,000. ...
The Landscapes of Everyday Life
A months worth of blogging on Colonel Glenn Highway, just a corner of the Dayton region. Four blog posts on New Germany, the proverbial wide spot in the road.
That there is this much to say, that there is this much backstory to what at first glance is a banal, everyday landscape is proof of the viability of a suburban studies approach to place blogging. In-depth inquiry and anayses brings out the details of how places came to be, how they developed and why they look like they do, as well as their economics and sociology. Suburbia is as rich an enviroment for inquiry as traditional cities.
There is enough history to suburbia that one can trace the evolution and development of suburban vernaculars, opening the door to a typological analyses of buildings and developments as well as entire suburbs, not to mention uncovering places like New Germany that have been subsumed the great wave of postwar development. ...
Four New Ohio blogs on Prosperity, Revitalization and Preservation
The Restoring Prosperity Blog, brought to you by Greater Ohio, is the first step in utilizing better technology to spread the message about the Restoring Prosperity to Ohio initiative. The blog is intended to keep people up-to-date on legislative, research and outreach activities conducted by Greater Ohio. It will also act as a community forum through which cities throughout Ohio can contribute feedback on the Restoring Prosperity legislative agenda, communicate with other cities to identify best practices, and propose new outreach activities and research ...
Pave more roads or free bikes? Stimulus for the future
While everyone seems excited about getting Federal Stimulus dollars, spending them on existing infrastructure doesn’t really stimulate much for very long. Real change means changing the infrastructure to make Dayton a more desirable ...
“Strategic Building Re-use Study”
The Downtown Dayton Partnership released it's downtown building re-use study last week. 10 designs for for various buildings and sites, mostly focused on east of Main Street.
The Partnership's website has the details, with full coverage of the graphics and narratives and pix of buildings. Link here and be inspired (or depressed, when one realizes the good design talent here that is going to waste) ...
In these times, it’s great to immerse oneself in the arts. Dayton has a panoply of options for the art lover.
Today I’m visiting the Dayton Art Institute. I hope you find the time to come enjoy their free exhibits and also peruse some of the traveling exhibits too. ...
If you are a long time reader, you probably know that I’m a fan of Mid Century Modern architecture. Even if you aren’t a long time reader, the name of the site- The Brick Ranch, could have tipped you off. I’ve been writing about the marvelous MCM treasures in Dayton for as long as I’ve been writing here. Like all Midwestern cities that grew up after WWII, Dayton has quite a few MCM suburbs. They often are not considered worthy of notice, but the trend across the country is to celebrate these homes 
