These are grants that are limited to $5,000 per home buyer, but are are reserved for specific home buyers who meet specific criteria such as income limits and owner occupants only.

Home buyers must meet eligibility requirements, and all funds are disbursed on a first come- first served basis, so if you are considering a Welcome Home Grant, act quickly- and I’m very serious about this. Funds will be made available beginning March 1, 2012 and last year they went within months. So don’t delay- snooze you lose.

Find out more by contacting Dayton Realtor, Teri Lussier, Exit Realty Central, 937-343-1411 or Teri@ExitDayton.com

Dayton, OH (February 14, 2012) – In mid-2010, the executive directors of Dayton Ballet, Dayton Opera, and Dayton Philharmonic, along with the chairs and presidents of their respective boards posed a question to themselves: do you think it’s possible to merge our three organizations?

Now, 16 months later those discussions have concluded in a merger which is the first of its kind in the U.S. The three organizations introduced themselves last week as the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance. The Dayton Performing Arts Alliance begins its new life with new funding. The newly formed Alliance has already received significant funding commitments or support including a $500,000 gift over two years from the Harry A. Toulmin, Jr., and Virginia B. Toulmin Fund of The Dayton Foundation and another $500,000 over two years from an anonymous donor, with a potential additional grant of $250,000 in year three. Encouraged by these two generous lead gifts the Dayton Performing Arts Alliance will continue to seek other sources of funding, with a strong indication of interest from a number of other Dayton organizations and individuals.

“The merger of the Ballet, Opera, and Philharmonic represents some of our best collaborative thinking as a community,” said Dick DeLon, Dayton Philharmonic Board Chair. “We are planning for future success by creating a single management structure and business operating unit, while preserving and promoting the integrity and identity of each of the participating arts groups.” The question the arts groups initially posed to themselves led them to The Dayton Foundation which was able to provide a structure and financial assistance for their successful merger discussions. Mike Parks, The Dayton Foundation President, commended the three arts organizations for their spirit of innovation and creative thinking about how to enhance and even transform performing arts for the benefit of the community. Parks said, “Over the past 16 months, The Dayton Foundation was also pleased to assist their management and Boards with funds from the Nonprofit Alliance Support Program. The program, funded by The Dayton Foundation, the Dayton Power & Light Foundation, and Montgomery County (OH), is designed to support partnership and merger explorations of nonprofits.”

“It took great foresight, courage, and leadership to engage in the complex due diligence process and
pursue a common vision. We are thrilled with what this first-in-the-nation merger will mean for Greater
Dayton. The Dayton Ballet, Opera, and Philharmonic are integral to the cultural health of our
community, and this merger, this act of renewal, energizes our culture for generations to come,” Parks
said.

That’s thinking outside the box! Read the entire announcement here.

I’ve had transplants to Dayton tell me that they are surprised that we still have an orchestra, or an opera, because bigger cities shuttered their’s years ago.  Hopefully the arts legacy our industrialist leaders from the past have given us will continue to enrich the lives of Daytonians for many more years to come.

REbuildUSA and its partners deliver the support, expertise and systems to allow you to more easily use the power of the FHA 203k loan to make those repairs and renovations to neglected homes and neighborhoods. Recently, I went through the REbuildUSA training to be in a position to help Dayton home buyers who otherwise wouldn’t be able to buy the home they want, at a price they can afford.  I can be cynical about these programs, but this one is exciting for home buyers. Take a look at the benefits of a FHA 203k loan for you:

• Save Time & Money – Use one loan to buy and renovate a great home to meet your needs.
• Get More Home for Your Money – Take advantage of the excellent prices for homes throughout the Dayton area that need repair and remodeling.
• Low Down Payment – Enjoy the benefits of homeownership with as little as 3.5% down.
• Easier Qualification – Less strict FHA qualification requirements benefit those with less than perfect credit.
• Make the Most of Your Investment – rather than paying a premium for changes made by previous owners, invest in improvements that suit your personal tastes and lifestyle.
• Earn Additional Equity – Professional installers do the work, and you can earn “sweat equity” in the process.
• Greater Financial Stability – Rather than experiencing a strain on your budget for major repairs later, you can pay for these improvements over time at a more affordable rate.
• Live in a More Desirable Location – There are many great homes in wonderful established neighborhoods throughout Dayton that offer perfect FHA 203k opportunities.
• Invest in Your Future – You can use an FHA 203k loan to purchase a 1 to 4 unit property allowing you to renovate a home that also brings you rental income as an excellent long-term investment.

The 203k is a great loan program, an old program in fact, but Lowe’s as well as other partners have created a way to bring it out, dust it off, use technology to network and train professionals in the benefits. As a REbuildUSA 203k Specialist™  I can provide expertise and support- tools, tips, and techniques- to help clients find a great home at a great price, and for the Dayton area, this means renovating and stabilizing neighborhoods. It’s a perfect storm for savvy home buyers.

If you have been hesitant to consider buying a home in Dayton because price and condition seem to be prohibitive, give me a call.  Let’s see if we can make this happen for you. 937.343.1411

Welcome to Scene75, the LARGEST indoor entertainment center in the COUNTRY! Scheduled to open in the late spring of 2012, Scene75 will be THE entertainment destination of the region and one of the most exciting facilities to have EVER opened in Dayton. The facility will feature a 5,500 square foot full service restaurant, 2 indoor bars with numerous 70” HD televisions and a live sports ticker, a 3,000 square foot outdoor patio with food and beverage service, the larger of only two indoor electric go-kart tracks in the state of Ohio, the largest multi-level laser tag arena in the tri-state, the largest indoor bouncing inflatable arena in Ohio, the largest redemption and video arcade in Dayton, 12 first in the country Chaos Room video gaming theater screens, the only 4D theater in the region, 4 mini-bowling lanes complete with couches and coffee tables, a 10 car bumper car system, 3 outdoor sand volleyball courts (with plans to expand to 9 courts), 2 outdoor bocce courts, fantasy sports leagues, a concession stand, 8 private party rooms, and a banquet hall.

This type of entertainment venue has been sorely missing from the Dayton area. We’ve seen these while on vacations to other cities and they are always a fun way to entertain both kids and adults at the same time- kind of a staycation for a few hours. Vandalia is a great location for Scene75 Entertainment Center- The Crossroads of America, at the intersection of I-75 and I-70, this should attract families and young adults, an addition to the whole area as a place to live as well as play!

As an aside, real estate-wise, Vandalia is a hidden gem in Dayton with everything from older and historic homes in a walkable small town area, to affordable and adorable ranch homes- some with basements- to country homes and estates on large lots and acreage to luxury gated communities and upscale homes. There are also nice multi-unit homes available if you are looking for investment properties, and all at prices that are less-expensive than other, more well-known areas in Dayton.  Check Vandalia real estate here.

My latest post discusses the recent news that home values in Dayton Ohio were up last year, up 11%- best gain of the 50 major metro areas- and the number of foreclosures in Dayton went down, this indicates that we are seeing some stabilization for the overall area.

Before we break out the champagne and start singing Happy Days are Here Again, allow me to be the wet blanket. First things first, this report takes the entire Greater Dayton area into consideration, and as I say with every post,neighborhoods vary so what happens in Santa Clara is not what is happening in South Park which is not what is happening in Tara Estates or Carriage Trails. Okaythen, back to the news and what this means for us as a region. I think this means we are showing signs of some stabilization. We have likely reached the bottom and can now focus on stabilizing our real estate values as a region, although some neighborhoods are going to continue to be hollowed out with foreclosures, vacancies, and demolition. As I said last week, land banking and planned demolition will become a integral part of Dayton’s future for at least the next few years, but I think we can figure longer. I wish it were not so, but I’ve not seen any other way for cities to aggressively fight the combined problems of shrinking population and deteriorating and aging  housing stock.

You can read the whole post, here.

I’ll be discussing ReBuildUSA in more detail in upcoming posts, but for now this video with Dennis Walsh, CEO of the ReBuildUSA program, does a nice job of giving you the basics.

In Huber Heights, an abandoned factory is being rehabbed to gear up for a return of manufacturing to the area. And it’s kind of perfect. We have huge empty buildings, old factories, facilities that do not need to be rebuilt, prices are great and affordable, it’s time to rethink Dayton. Process Equipment Company is leading the way.

“It’s almost like these buildings give us a blank canvass, so we just need to come in and fix them up a little bit,” says Process Equipment Company CEO Bill Rosenberg.

That’s why PECo decided to buy a factory on U.S. 40 that’s been closed for nearly a decade, and turn it into something people in Huber Heights can be proud of again.

But wait! There’s more! They are hiring. Oh yeah they are. Qualified machinists and welders, PECo needs you. Check it out at their website.

What a nice holiday for this Tipp City family, and Happy and Blessed Holidays to all military personnel.