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Home values are rising dramatically in Merion Village, a long-overlooked neighborhood that abuts German Village. "The value of a house there can easily double in five years -- if you put some money into them," said Laurie Ludlum, real-estate-appraisal supervisor in the Franklin County auditor's office. "Yeah, I see a wonderful, wonderful trend." At the request of The Dispatch, Ludlum analyzed three years of transactions for properties that sold twice from the beginning of 2002 through the end of 2004. She found that renovated homes doubled in price not only in Merion Village but also in neighboring Schumacher Place and Hungarian Village. Those that weren't renovated appreciated 10 percent to 12 percent a year, bolstered by those that were improved. Merion Village doesn't have the name recognition that German Village has. But a neighborhood association, newcomers and residents committed to renovation are working to change that. "It's kind of a new, trendy neighborhood," said Scott Wheeler, a Coldwell Banker King Thompson real-estate agent who has been buying, rehabbing and reselling houses there for five years. "You get a Clintonville-type house, and it's still affordable," he said. "It's in close proximity to Downtown and has the same character but (is) cheaper than Grandview. If people can't afford Grandview and Clintonville, they go to Merion." Increasingly, young professionals without children are buying houses between S. Parsons Avenue and S. High Street, real-estate agents say. Some have paid more than a quarter million dollars on the hottest streets in the area -- Gates, Mithoff and Hanford close to S. High. That buys a brick home that has been updated throughout. Named after a family that bought an 1,800-acre farm in the area in 1809, Merion Village had been a neighborhood in decline for decades, a victim of poverty, absentee landlords and little community identity. But nearly a decade ago, the city introduced development incentives, and German Village prices rose too high for young college graduates. April McCollum, who moved to Southwood Avenue in 2003 with her partner, Heidi Reis, said she sees another reason for the improvement. "When you bring the gay people in, the neighborhood gets nicer," she said. "I am a lesbian. Why not bring my friends and family over to enjoy my property as I'm recruiting other people and watching the neighborhood go up?" They paid $65,000 for their first house; it was appraised at more than $100,000 last fall after they rebuilt the kitchen. Last week, McCollum closed on a second Southwood home, paying $70,000 for what she said is "the cutest house on the whole street." The former German Village renter said, "We're just hoping that Merion Village can clean up and we can enjoy it the way other people in German Village have." Darrin Wasniewski, president of the 300-member Merion Village Association, also rented in German Village before moving to the neighborhood. He bought a brick, two-family house on Markison Avenue for $85,000 in 2001 for himself and his dog. Now, he has a wife, a child and another on the way, and three dogs. It's time to move to another house in Merion. A real-estate agent has advised him to reclassify his double as condominiums and price them around $130,000 each. That would yield about $260,000, more than three times what he paid for the property four years ago. "I'd like to think the word got out about Merion Village and the great work the village association does," he said. "It has some issues, but you can feel safe walking in it." Still, it's not for the timid. Ronnie Woodrow, who grew up in the neighborhood, now sells and renovates homes there. The Gates Street double he's working on is among more than a dozen that he and his partner have bought, renovated and sold in the past five years. "None of these has been just a paint job away," said Woodrow, a real-estate agent with Coldwell Banker King Thompson. "We refinish the hardwood, put in new kitchens with stainless steel appliances, do the whole house." When he opened the door to the Gates double after closing last fall, water gushed out. The pipes had burst. Within weeks, someone set fire to the garage. Two weeks ago, thieves stole the copper plumbing. And someone threw a brick through a window to steal a ceiling fan. "You still have crime. You still have idiots. But it's slowly changing," he said. "This neighborhood is truly on the upswing. "I see them when they're beat-up houses falling in on themselves. I see life come back into them. "I've done my part. I've raised property values down here, and I'm spreading the word." |
