Variety, reasonable costs boost Licking County real-estate market
Multiple styles of homes, coupled with great schools, low cost of living and many other amenities, are keeping real estate agents busy throughout Licking County.
The city of Granville’s New England-style cottages continue to be snapped up as soon as they come on the market, but new developments throughout the county and large, older properties on Buckeye Lake also hold a lot of appeal. Then there are communities like Pataskala, Utica and Johnstown, which offer some of the state’s best schools as well as plenty of starter and larger homes for families of all sizes.
“We have normal municipalities and also some specialty markets, all of which are very popular,” says Mark Evans, executive officer of the Licking County Board of Realtors. “We have a large influx of people from the Columbus market who live in and around Granville, and we also are seeing tremendous growth in other parts of the county as well.”
The sheer variety of homes, whether in terms of size, style of architecture, type of housing development, or plot size, offers plenty of choices for residents looking to make a change as well as newcomers. A prime example is the Buckeye Lake area, which has taken off as old lakefront property has been rehabbed while plenty of new, upscale development recently has been built on the water.
“It’s the best of both worlds out there now,” Evans says. “And there’s quite a bit of new entertainment out on the lake, restaurants and other things, so it’s going to continue to be very popular. That area has always been a destination, and now there’s much more to choose from for those who want to have a summer home or to live there year-round.”
While most of the county’s home sales are in Newark and Heath, the smaller villages continue to see their share of movement as well.
“They are nice communities, and they are increasingly destination points for a lot of families because of their schools,” Evans says. “Those communities have gotten very good at promoting their assets, so we think they’ll continue to draw in people.”
Condominium sales continue to do well here, and as redevelopment efforts open up more urban-living options in downtown Newark, Evans says that sector of the market should grow as well.
“We are seeing a lot of renovations and demolitions to upgrade some urban neighborhoods, and that will bring a lot of people back near downtown,” he says. “Some of these renovations are becoming the best homes in the neighborhood.”
As of January 2010, a three-bedroom, two-bath, two-story home with around 1,800 square feet in the county is selling for around $130,000, Evans says, and the county’s prices and property values have held steady even while the rest of the state, and country, has been experiencing some sharp ups and downs.
“We were down only about 2 percent in sales in 2009, and much of that was due to having a lot of newly built homes,” he says. “We have been pretty solid everywhere in the county, and we have the good school systems, the other quality-of-life things that keep people coming in, so we’re looking to see home sales go up in the coming months. We have a lot of positives going for us here.”
