Most people assume that homes in the suburbs are more expensive than in the City. That’s not completely true. To see how much house you get for your money, you need to look at the “per square foot value”.
When it comes to $/sqft, Clintonville beats all Columbus suburbs hands down. The per square foot sale price of many Clintonville homes exceeds $200.
You should not expect any major upgrades, either. Some houses in this Columbus neighborhood are offered with old wood windows, furnaces without central air, and dated kitchens or bathrooms.
How Do Clintonville Home Values Compare?
To better understand how expensive Clintonville homes really are, let’s compare them to values in other Columbus neighborhoods.
Here are a few examples of average sales prices in popular Columbus suburbs as of April 2015. As you can see, $200/sqft is considerably higher than the average home values in these suburbs.
- Dublin: $136.23 / sqft
- Powell: $130.45 / sqft
- Upper Arlington: $180.46 / sqft
- New Albany: $164.70 / sqft
$200 per sqft is double the Columbus average. The average sale price of homes listed on the Columbus MLS was $99.13/sqft in April.
And, $200 per sqft is a good estimate for building a new, custom home on a golf course.
Challenges of Buying in a Booming Neighborhood
With Clintonville home values skyrocketing, both buyers and sellers are facing challenges. The appraiser may not agree with your high contract price. Financing will be more difficult and you may have to bring extra cash to the closing table, as your lender will base the loan amount on the appraisal.
Your home inspection may reveal deficiencies that will be expensive to repair. Due to the competitive environment, some buyers make offers without home inspection contingencies. In that case the seller is not required to remedy any problems uncovered by your inspection, and you can’t get out of the contract, either.
Why Is Clintonville So Popular?
Clintonville and it’s neighbor to the North, Beechwold, have been popular for many years. In 2014 Clintonville really took off, replacing the Short North as the Best Columbus Neighborhood.
Clintonville property values hardly dropped during the Great Recession. With inventories at historic lows, this Columbus Neighborhood is definitely booming.
Clintonville is popular with urban professionals and young families alike. It is a walkable neighborhood – unlike other parts of town Clintonville always had sidewalks along residential streets. If you prefer to ride your bicycle, just head down to the Olentangy Trail (on the West Side of Clintonville along the Olentangy River) and you can easily get to OSU and Downtown to the South, and Worthington to the North.)
There’s easy access to public transportation (COTA busses are running on High Street all day long) as well as to Interstate Highways (I-71 to the East and 315 to the West).
Finally, there are plenty of neighborhood restaurants, bars and coffee houses located along High Street.
To learn more about its history, I suggest you watch WOSU’s Columbus Neighborhoods – Clintonville . Current events are published by the Clintonville Chamber of Commerce.
Call me at (614) 975-9650, if you are interested in buying or selling in Clintonville. I can help you secure a fair deal!