It’s time for a quick COTA Challenge update.
Year to date (first quarter, 2009) I have spent $81.25 for 48.27 gallons of gas for the car (there’s still a quarter-tank left). This includes one round-trip drive to Indianapolis.
In a somewhat related story…
Last weekend I ran into Columbus realtor who had just listed a condo a block away from my house, which is on the bus line. I asked if the listing included information about the bus line.
“No, no, no”, the realtor said shaking their head back and forth.
“Why not?” I asked.
“People who are willing to spend $214k don’t want a bus running in front of their house,” I was told.
“Really?”, I replied. “I’m willing to spend that amount on a place in Chicago and it damn well better be the first thing out of the realtor’s mouth,” I replied.
“Well, Chicago – yes. But not here,” replied the realtor.
Interesting isn’t it. That somehow people in Columbus expect less, or have lower expectations than do, say people in Chicago.
Is it that people in Columbus expect less, or that we don’t know what to ask for? Could it be that traditional realtors are actually short-selling themselves by not asking the questions? Is the information being withheld or could the information be used to start a dialogue?
It got me thinking about expectations – and now that I’m driving less, I have time to actually use my brain for more productive functions. But given the chance to spend $214k on a condo/flat/townhouse, wouldn’t you rather spend it in a city that comes with a full-fledged transit system?
The first time I drove through “downtown” upper arlington, I was immediately reminded of lovely little towns in Westchester County (NY) like Larchmont, where living near the center of town was desirable, because you could walk from your house to the Metro North to take the train into the city. Of course there is no light rail from UA to downtown columbus.
But you could bet if there was, it would be reflected in real estate prices. People buying condos here in columbus mostly don’t give a shit about proximity to buses, because they aren’t relying on them for their commute.
I bought a condo here in columbus with biking distance to downtown (me) and campus (girlfriend) as the most important priority. The thought was that any job I would probably get would be downtown. But I’ve been forced to work, or have refused to work in shithole office parks in Dublin, Worthington, Hilliard.
The sense I get is that a majority are happier paying 169 for a condo in a “safe” area (say, near Polaris) than they would be to buy downtown or in the short north. For the most part, Columbus hasn’t hit the density of people living, working and shopping in the same places to make being car-free an advantage rather than a disadvantage.
Tyler, you bring up yet another good point and that is density. You’re right, in that Columbus hasn’t hit the ‘density’ mark yet. Public transit systems are essentially products of land-use decisions.
Despite knowing full well that density’levels greater than “one house per lot”, and “up is better than out” are better revenue models, local government seems to be another group that should be asking more questions of themselves.
Its expensive to run a city that is as far-flung as Columbus.
One more thing. I hate to be the constant cynic, but it seems like I’m always that guy. Jeff, having worked in sales, you and I both know that selling real estate is like selling anything else, some folks really know the product and take what they do very seriously, and some folks just hack their way through it in a fashion not unsimilar to myself divot-ing my way through 18 holes of golf. It has been my experience that the majority of realtors are just as, if not more than, full of the proverbial brown semi solid substance as your local cell phone jockey. While I really do think that there may be more here than just that, it IS something to make sure that you don’t lose sight of.
Me being the “of lower stock” type east-side public school kid that I am, I guess I really wouldn’t be too surprised to know that uppity mama’s boys in dublin think they’re too good for a cota bus.
What a shame. I am guessing that the Realtor doesn’t know the market in this neighborhood quite as well as he/she believes. A story in the Dispatch today pointed out that COTA ridership is still up despite the fall in gas prices, and I suspect that this may be one reason why our neighborhood has held its value better than many. One of the two reasons why I bought this house was that it is a half-block from a COTA stop and hence 11 minutes from work (the other being the stunning 1920s stained glass window by the stairwell). After four years of a really annoying 30-minute freeway drive to work in my former job, I had become thoroughly spoiled by COTA and was not about to descend to driving myself to work. I made sure my Realtor knew that.