When Bill Pote and I sat down to discuss what insight I might be able to share with the Dayton MostMetro community, I immediately said, “Stories”.
I’m a Realtor. I am privy to the most intimate details of my client’s lives, and while I am forbidden from sharing some of those stories- Realtors work under strict confidentiality rules- I can share other stories.
Real estate tells stories, homes tell stories, land tells stories. It is said that Realtors don’t sell homes, the home sells itself. When we show a home to a buyer, they love it or hate it, but real estate agents cannot talk someone into, or “sell” someone on purchasing a home that they hate. It just doesn’t happen, and I believe that in many cases, it’s because of the story the home is telling the buyers.
When we walk into a home, we get a “feeling”, don’t we? We are responding to the life, and lives, shared within those walls. Was the home cared for? Was it abused? Was it neglected? Did a happy family live there and did they simply grow out of the home? Did a happy family live there until they were foreclosed upon? You can tell when you walk into a home how the home was treated, and that’s often what we respond to when we choose a home. We have a visceral reaction to the story the home is telling us.
I’m a Dayton native. My mother and father are proud Stivers alumni. Mom grew up in the Oregon District “before it was the Oregon District” as she likes to remind me. It was in the 40’s and 50’s and my great-grandmother owned a small neighborhood store, and my mom and grandmother Rose lived in an apartment over Grannie’s Store.
My dad tells the story of making his first visit to Mom’s apartment. Granny Rose had made some soup and offered Dad a bowl. When Dad looked into the bowl, he saw it was only half full. “Stingy” he thinks to himself, until he sat down at the table. The floor was so slanted, and thus the table, that the soup nearly spilled out of the bowl. “Stingy” quickly became “smart, and a good cook to boot!”
I had a client ask me to show them a property in the Oregon District, and by weird coincidence it was Grannie’s Store, made into a 2-unit, the store was now an apartment. I asked my client if he minded if I piggy-backed a brief showing for my mom. She met me there and we stood in her old block while she told me stories about throwing water balloons off the roof of Grannie’s first store. She stood in the middle of the street and showed me where her best neighborhood pal lived and how they both got grounded once for some infraction, and had an 8 o’clock curfew. She remembered how they stood “right here in the street and talked” until one minute before curfew, and took off running for their homes. “The people who lived in this home had wonderful parties! Oh look what they did to the Store! The meat locker was here… They’ve added a closet- that used to be stairs…” Story after story was contained in this home, in this block, in this neighborhood.
Today in the City of Dayton, there is a battle over real estate stories. As we demolish our homes, the stories go with them. The neighbors look at the now-vacant lot and shake their heads and remember the stories of the families who lived there. Happy and sad, life-altering stories are demolished along with the bricks and mortar. We cringe at shiny new infill housing. It’s not the same, is it? Where are stories that match the rest of the neighborhood? We have to make a leap of faith that the lot itself can be nurtured into new life and will someday have new stories tell, and that those stories will be an integral part of the future of Dayton, as the stories that came down along with the home, were an integral part of Dayton’s past.
Real estate tells stories. I’m a Realtor and I’m so honored to be given the chance to share some Dayton stories in this space, and my hope is that you will be enticed into sharing your stories with us.
Dayton Regional Green Task Force
The YWCA Dayton is seeking nominations for its 2010 Women of Influence Awards. This award honors women in the greater Dayton community who have made a positive impact on the lives of people in the Miami Valley through their community service.
Dayton, meet Wilbear Wright. No, not Wilbur – Wilbear Wright, an indirect descendant of the Wright brothers (at least that’s what he told us.)
Wright-Dunbar Interpretive Center & Wright Cycle Company*
“Find the need, and endeavor to meet it.” – David Sinclair.
Dr. Steven Johnson, the college’s fifth president, has been at the helm of the college since 2003. The Wisconsin native was kind enough to grant Dayton Most Metro an interview in which he discussed the school’s philosophy and its sterling national reputation. Mr. Johnson speaks with a substantial amount of pride and passion as he details the college’s role in the local economy and offers a glimpse into the future of this “world-class” institution.
DMM: How important is Sinclair to the Dayton community? What makes this college such valuable asset to the Miami Valley area?
DMM: Like many colleges around the nation, Sinclair has experienced a surge of enrollment over the past few years. What steps did the college take in anticipation for such a massive influx of students?
On Nov. 3, Montgomery County residents illustrated their commitment to aid the financially distressed Dayton Metro Library system by voting in favor of the 1.75 mil replacement levy.
Innovation is a new way of doing something that results in improved value or quality. It employs “out-of-the-box” thinking to generate positive changes in thinking, products, processes, organizations, and society. It makes creative thinking a useful reality.
Featuring more than 5,000 square feet of reclaimed building materials including doors, window frames, oak lumber, fireplace mantels, fixtures, The St. Vincent de Paul Deconstruction Depot will feature a diverse inventory of used building materials for architects, contractors and homeowners alike at bargain prices.
Sharing the story- that’s what Ohio is hoping it’s newly recruited advocates will do. The Ohio Ambassador Program is a key initiative in the Ohio Department of Development’s Strategic Plan, Ohio Home of Innovation and Opportunity.
How deep are the roots to your family tree? Have you ever wanted to trace your lineage or ancestory but didn’t know where or how to begin?
Photograph Digitization and Labeling Projects
1930s Print Shop
Marketing and Publicity
Special Events
Dayton Metro Library Director Tim Kambitsch has been a busy man these past few months.
DMM: What was your initial reaction when you received news of the huge reduction of state funding, earlier this year?
DMM: In what ways do you help these displaced workers or even some older adults who may be re-entering the work force?
DMM: Is there a correlation between having a strong library system and small business or entrepreneurial efforts in a community?
But, when you just look at the raw numbers…we are talking about 2010, operating with less than half of what we had last year. We are making do with a lot less this year, but we’re doing that, partly because we’re spending out of our cash reserves. So, in any situation, we’re going to have less money next year than before. But if the levy fails, the cash that we were receiving from the previous levy just stops. You add that together with the 5 million dollar cut from the state, that’s almost 15 million dollars in lost revenues.
DMM: What changes have you made and will be making in the future to reduce your operating costs?
When it comes to business, why be good, when you can be great?