Tell me more about Dayton, Xenia, Beavercreek, and Centerville, please! (Cincinnati: insurance, new home)

[KathrynAragon]

OK I made an offer, which was accepted, on a house in Xenia Township! I am super excited. Hope the inspections go well. We shall see!

It's an older home, built in 1950, with a crawl space and real hard wood floors like those older homes seemed to have so much of.

Here it is - it's very plain on the outside but the same owners have owned it for 20 years and have clearly loved it:

https://www.realtor.com/realestatean...5_M32938-97571

Oh, and I think personally it's probably bigger than 1700 square feet and there is some question about that, but whatever.

[joe from dayton]

Out of curiosity, what made you decide on Xenia Twp?

Good luck to you.

[KathrynAragon]

Thank you, joe!

I didn't expect to find the perfect house but I may have - inspections are later this week so we'll see. Townships are typically a bit lower tax wise than actual towns. Still, that wasn't my biggest concern. I have friends there and family nearby so that was helpful.

[Ohiogirl81]

Congrats on the house! It's cute and has loads of potential. Does that dining room set convey with the property?

[gentlearts]

It looks very well cared for! I’m excited for you. I hope you show us the things you do to make it your own. It’s nice that there are still reasonably priced houses in flyover country.

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by gentlearts

It looks very well cared for! I’m excited for you. I hope you show us the things you do to make it your own. It’s nice that there are still reasonably priced houses in flyover country.

Thank you and yes, I was pleasantly surprised by the entire thing!

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by Ohiogirl81

Congrats on the house! It's cute and has loads of potential. Does that dining room set convey with the property?

LOL I hope not - I have my own dining room furniture! I am officially overwhelmed!

[KathrynAragon]

KA!

I just read your good news about your offer acceptance for the house in Xenia. I am SO excited for you! The house is so darned cute! I’ll bet you are super excited.

I am hoping when you find/make some time, you can post a trip report for all of us. I think you know I am interested in the area, and have looked around Beavercreek, but I also am interested in Xenia, mostly because the bike trail system hub is right there. That is very attractive to me. In fact, I have been communicating with an Air BnB host whose cute little property is within spitting distance of the bike trail, and I am planning a trip hopefully later this year. I want to check that area out and NW Arkansas (also a nice network of bike trails). This, obviously is one of my retirement location criteria.

Anyway, didn’t mean to derail this DM. I was wondering what made you decide on Xenia? I know the tornado talk and taxes didn’t scare you, so that is good. Was it just a vibe? Did the house seal the deal? What were your local observations (upkeep of roads and city maintenance, etc). I’m really curious about all these things.

I am on about a 5-year time frame until I hit the retirement button, and like you, I want out of Texas for four seasons (not harsh winters). I also want more access to public recreation, which SW OH and NW Arkansas have in abundance. I work remotely, so although I don’t want to move now, I can easily get a short term rental and test an area for a few weeks or months, and I may do that too, but any insight and observations you can share, either with the forum itself (maybe on the retirement threat?) or just in this DM would be great.

Again, I am so excited for you. I am looking at your house on the listing again. Such a cute house. Oh, that is the other thing for me. I want something smaller (I live in 1600sq ft 3/2 right now, and I am SO OVER being a SFH owner). I am guessing you will hire out a lot of the yard work/maintenace snow shoveling etc? I am thinking something smaller for me or even a condo or patio home set up. So many of my weekends are sucked up with home stuff. When I retire, I just want to hit the trails!

Also, how is the weather up there? Yesterday my friend (who lives in Beavercreek) said it was 50 and sunny there. The same as HERE. HAHA. Are you moving before the Texas oven turns on? If so, I ENVY you!

Take care
Cobolt

[KathrynAragon]

Whoever the mods are, can you please delete cobolt's post that I quoted (the last post)? I can't seem to get anything to work. Also, I just want you to know why it's copied and pasted in the first place - I couldn't get ANYTHING to work right, including answering that private message. At some point I copied it because I was just scared I would lose it, and the rest is history. Finally, I had to get out and then get back into City Data, and everything worked fine then. I don't get it but whatever! Feedback and all that. Anyway, it's apparently too late for me to delete that post so can you please do so? Thank you so much!

[recycled]

I've pedaled along the Little Miami River bike trail that heads north from Xenia to Yellow Springs and then another 30 or so miles north. The bike trail is about 4 blocks west of that home. I sometimes stop at the Casey's gas station to buy a snack when out on a ride. The house is too big for my preference, but it looks overall good. The only thing I would change is replace the carpet in one bedroom with some sort of smooth surface floor.

That's a good location to live in. It is far enough from highway 68 that you probably won't hear any vehicle noise. The street is only 1 block long, so only the few people living on that street will drive by the house. It is close to a hospital and medical offices, and not too far to drive to Kroger / Walmart / Aldi / Lowe's on the west side of Xenia off of highway 35.

Good luck with the move - Spring is on the way pretty soon which is a good time of year to get settled in.