Of the many neighborhoods in Columbus, the one I like the best as an investor is Linden. There are opportunities to buy and rehab with intentions to sell to a home owner and the same opportunity to provide rental housing opportunities. Linden has 2 access points to I-71 at both Hudson and Weber Rd.'s granting easy North-South highway access. The area is about 7 minutes from downtown.
Properties in the neighborhood range from below $20,000 through $85,000. Some properties are a little higher, but it is not the norm.
Most rentals in the area are 2 or 3 bedroom single family homes that range from $450-$750/month + utilities.
The neighborhood has it's own website at http://www.greaterlinden.org/
A couple of facts from the Greater Linden Website:
Inception of Neighborhood: The community of Linden has its roots in a federal land grant issued in 1800. President John Adams gave 4000 acres of land to George Stevenson, M.D. of Wilmington, Delaware, in recognition of his military service during the American Revolution. The property was divided among Dr. Stevenson's descendants upon his death, and eventually the land became home to a number of prosperous farms.
Boundries: Greater Linden is bounded by Weber Road on the North, the Conrail right-of-way on both the West and the South (west of I-71 and south of Bonham Avenue respectively), and by Woodland Avenue on the East.
This means that many exciting things, such as the Ohio Exposition Center, the Ohio Historical Center, the Columbus Crew Stadium, the Four Corners Development project, and one of COTA's Vision 2020 rail corridors are all located within Greater Linden!
Richard F. Kruse is the President of Columbus, Ohio based Gryphon USA, Ltd. (www.gryphonusa.com). The Gryphon Organization includes Gryphon Asset Management providing receivership and consulting services in the distressed marketplace, United Country Ohio Realty & Auction Group (www.ucohiorealty.com & www.ucohioauctions.com) providing real estate brokerage and auction services throughout Ohio and OnlineAuctionUSA.com (www.onlineauctionusa.com) providing commercial asset liquidations from the Midwest to East Coast.
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Your post may be the only place on the Internet where one could find a quote that says, "Of the many neighborhoods in Columbus, the one I like the best as an investor is Linden."
To a large extent, though, I agree. As areas such as Clintonville become out of reach for first time home-buyers, areas like Linden, Milo-Grogan, Weinland Park (already too late there?) and the near West will become more and more attractive areas to invest in. Linden does have thousand of honest, hard working people who need a place to live that is convenient to the rest of the city and, while the housing stock isn't fantastic throughout the area, much of it is similar in size and style to areas such as Merion Village. If investing with an eye toward sustainability and appreciation, Linden may be a good place.