Hey everyone,

 

My husband and I are in the market for a house, and we've been looking at houses in the linden heights area of dayton.  We've been down to this neighborhood and it looks very upkept and nice, but I wanted input from anyone that might've actually lived in the area, or knows someone who does.  Any input about crime, type of people living there, etc. would be great!  Thank you in advance!  :-D

Forumer dfly lives in Linden Heights, but unfortunatley he hasn't been very active lately. Maybe you should PM dfly.

 

First of all, welcome to Urban Ohio, gam3rchic.

 

As inkaelin said, I do live in Linden Heights.  I bought a house in the neighborhood a little over two years ago and have absolutely no regrets.  As you noticed, overall, it is a well-kept neighborhood with affordable housing prices.  There are some pockets here and there that aren't as good, but overall it is a great area.  The actual neighborhood covers a pretty decent area and encompasses a couple different housing styles.  The western part of the neighborhood is mostly 1920's era foursquares and the eastern part consists more of cape cod style homes.  I'm not sure where you or your husband work, but the location is great for me.  I can be at work in about 5-10 minutes (or walk, bike, or take the bus on the very rare days I'm feeling motivated in the morning), also I can be downtown in 5-10 minutes and being so close to US-35 gives great access to the entire metro. 

 

Regarding crime, the occasional garage or car break-in is about the most serious crime issue, things that are almost as likely to happen in Kettering.    Also, occasionally there has been the random drug house, but we as a neighborhood have been pretty active in working with the police and have had pretty good success in dealing with these issues. 

 

Although there seems to be a good deal of older residents, there are plenty of families in the neighborhood (as evidenced by the 350-400 trick-or-treaters I get each year).  Although probably more blue collar, it really is a good mix of working class, professional, young, old, families, singles, couples, etc.  The one area where the neighborhood falls a little short is in racial diversity, which sadly is not surprising given Dayton's racial geography. 

 

IMO, the best asset of the neighborhood has been my neighbors.  There isn't a day that goes by that I don't talk to at least one of my neighbors.  Whether it is a neighbor sitting on their front porch and saying hi and asking how my day was when I get home from work; talking to my next door neighbor over the back fence; chatting with the neighbors from the end of the block as they walk their dog; a neighbor bringing over fresh baked cookies; or just going over to a neighbor's house to sit on the back deck and enjoy a few beers.  It is great!

 

Also, if you do end up moving to the neighborhood, I would encourage to get involved with the Linden Heights Community Council.  As an officer of the organization, I can tell you we are a committed group that wants nothing more than to see the neighborhood prosper, but if people aren't involved, it is often a challenge.  The more people that are involved, the more and better things we can do.  I have created a website for the Linden Heights Community Council at http://www.lindenhts.com/, so please take a look at it!

 

Also, there is a house just a couple doors down from me for sale that is a bank repo and with a some work, would be a great house.  Then you could not only say that you live on the best block in the neighborhood, but then you would also have the privilege of being my neighbor!  ;)

 

If you have any specific questions, please ask.  I will do my best to answer!

The only thing to add to this is that if one has school age kids one needs to send them to private school.  The city schools are pretty bad, so private school tuition would be an added expense.

 

 

Thank you all for your help, especially dfly, you're input really helped.  I've seen the linden heights website before and think that I probably would get involved, should I move into the area.  Thanks again, we are looking at some houses on Monday....i'll let you know how it goes!

Well, it's official, we'll be moving to the linden heights area at the end of the year....the house we got seems really nice....I also really like the neighborhood church, St. Anthony's. 

Congrats! Always nice to see someone moving into a Dayton hood.

Congratulations!  The house you are purchasing is a great house and has been well taken care of from what I have seen and heard.  I wasn't surprised that it only stayed on the market such a short period of time. 

 

Welcome to the neighborhood!