West Dayton’s housing story keeps getting written one closing at a time, and larger, updated homes are drawing real money in University Row. At 1536 Cory Drive, a 1923 four-bedroom closed at $215,000, 37 percent above the neighborhood median.
A Four-Bedroom Closes at $215,000 in University Row
West Dayton’s housing market is built from individual closings, and the latest strong one comes from University Row. The home at 1536 Cory Drive closed on November 9, 2026 for $215,000. That price puts a four-bedroom house built in 1923 among the five strongest sales University Row has recorded in the past twelve months.
The numbers are easy to line up. The home was listed at $219,900 and sold for $215,000, a difference of 2.2 percent, after 73 days on the market. Across 18 University Row sales over the last year, the median price was $157,250. Cory Drive closed 37 percent above that figure, or roughly $57,750 over the middle of the neighborhood’s market. Only four sales in the neighborhood ranked higher.
That ranking, fifth of 18, is the headline. In a neighborhood where most homes change hands in the $100,000s, a buyer was willing to pay $215,000 for a house with room to spread out, a kitchen that has been updated, and a set of recent improvements that cover several of the big-ticket items a buyer worries about. This is how West Dayton’s momentum shows up in the data: not as one dramatic outlier, but as a steady run of homes selling at the upper end of the range because they offer something the neighborhood’s buyers want.
What the Home Offers: 2,388 Square Feet and a Flexible Main Floor
Start with the size. The house at 1536 Cory Drive has 2,388 square feet, four bedrooms and 1.5 baths. Square footage at that scale is the reason the sale price lands where it does, and it is also the reason the price per square foot is so modest. At $215,000, the sale works out to about $90 per square foot. The University Row median over the past twelve months is $97 per square foot, so the buyer secured more house per dollar than the typical neighborhood closing delivers.
The listing describes generously sized rooms, and the layout includes a flexible bonus room on the main level. The remarks suggest it could serve as a home office, a playroom or a guest room, and that range of uses is a real selling point. A room on the first floor that is not tied to a single purpose lets a buyer decide how the house works for them rather than the other way around. For anyone who works from home, or who wants a guest space that does not require climbing stairs, a main-floor room like this does a lot of quiet work.
Built in 1923, the house is more than a century old, and it belongs to the generation of Dayton housing that was designed with separate rooms, solid framing and lots that give a home some breathing room. That era’s floor plans are often what buyers are looking for when they want four bedrooms without moving into a newer subdivision. The full unfinished basement adds to the picture. The listing notes abundant storage space down there, along with the laundry area, which keeps the main living areas clear and gives a future owner room to finish or organize the lower level over time.
Taken together, those features explain why a 2,388-square-foot house in University Row can draw a price well above the neighborhood median. It is large by the standards of the local market, and its rooms are arranged to be useful.
Updates Inside and Out
Size alone does not carry a sale price to the top five in a neighborhood. Condition matters, and the listing for 1536 Cory Drive points to a run of updates that a buyer can see and a lender can appreciate.
Inside, the kitchen has been updated and features granite countertops. In an older home, a refreshed kitchen is often the single most persuasive feature on a showing, because it signals that the house has been cared for in the room where buyers spend the most time. Pair that with the move-in-ready description in the listing and the home reads as a place a buyer could occupy without a long list of immediate projects.
The practical improvements are just as notable. The listing cites a newer roof and a new water heater, two items that carry real replacement costs and that tend to raise questions during inspections of century-old houses. A Wi-Fi thermostat and a Ring doorbell add a layer of modern convenience, and a brand-new privacy fence gives the back of the property a defined edge.
Outside, the property includes a detached two-car garage and extensive off-street parking at the rear. The remarks describe room for multiple vehicles, guests, trailers or work equipment, which is an advantage that many older city lots cannot offer. For a buyer who owns a work truck, a trailer or simply several vehicles, that rear parking area is a daily-use feature, and it sets this property apart from homes on the same grid that rely on curbside parking.
The location adds to the appeal. The listing points to easy access to Downtown Dayton, Gem City Market, local parks, dining, shopping and major highways. Those are the kinds of everyday conveniences that buyers weigh alongside bedroom count and square footage, and University Row puts them within reach of a house this size.
How $215,000 Compares With the University Row Market
The best way to see what $215,000 means is to set it beside the neighborhood’s twelve-month figures. University Row recorded 18 sales in that period. The median sale price was $157,250, the median price per square foot was $97, and the median home spent 47 days on the market. The highest sale in the neighborhood reached $296,000.
Against those marks, 1536 Cory Drive sits comfortably in the upper tier. Its price is 37 percent above the median, and its ranking of fifth of 18 means that only a small handful of University Row homes sold for more. The gap between the median and this sale, about $57,750, is the kind of premium that buyers pay for size, condition and usable extras. It is not a rounding error.
The price-per-square-foot comparison tells a complementary story. The neighborhood median is $97, while Cory Drive closed at about $90. A lower figure per square foot alongside a much higher total price is what you see when a house is large. Buyers who need four bedrooms and a main-floor flex room generally have to buy square footage, and square footage costs more in total even when each foot is priced fairly. In that sense the sale confirms two things at once: University Row buyers will pay a meaningful premium for a bigger, updated home, and the larger homes in the neighborhood still deliver good value per square foot compared with the median.
The median sale price of $157,250 also shows where most of University Row’s market lives. The neighborhood remains accessible to a wide range of buyers, and sales like this one show that a stronger tier exists above that midpoint.
The Closest Comparable Sales
Recent nearby sales give the result more context. The closest match in size and bedroom count is on Catalpa Drive, where a four-bedroom, 2,051-square-foot home sold for $225,000 on November 6, 2026, just three days before Cory Drive closed. The Catalpa home was about 337 square feet smaller than the Cory Drive house and brought $10,000 more, which works out to roughly $110 per square foot versus Cory Drive’s $90. The two sales bracket the same price range within a single week, and together they show that four-bedroom homes in University Row are trading in the $215,000 to $225,000 range right now.
The high end of the neighborhood is represented by Amherst Place, where a six-bedroom, 2,857-square-foot home sold for $296,000 on August 24, 2026. That is the top sale in University Row over the last twelve months. It is a larger house with two more bedrooms and about 470 more square feet than Cory Drive, and it frames the upper boundary for what the neighborhood has produced.
Closer to the middle, a three-bedroom, 1,705-square-foot home on Harvard Boulevard sold for $180,000 on July 1, 2026, and a three-bedroom, 1,361-square-foot home on Princeton Drive closed at $170,000 on October 30, 2026. Both are smaller than Cory Drive, with one fewer bedroom, and both closed below its price, which is consistent with how square footage and bedroom count tend to line up with sale prices.
Read as a set, the nearby sales form a clear ladder. Three-bedroom homes in the 1,300 to 1,700 square foot range are selling between $170,000 and $180,000. Four-bedroom homes around 2,000 to 2,400 square feet are landing between $215,000 and $225,000. A six-bedroom home near 2,900 square feet reached $296,000. Cory Drive fits squarely on that ladder, and its position confirms that the pricing is grounded in how the neighborhood’s market is behaving.
Price, Pace and Negotiation
The sale history of 1536 Cory Drive is straightforward. It was listed at $219,900 and closed at $215,000, or $4,900 under the asking price. That is a difference of just 2.2 percent, a narrow gap that suggests the list price was set close to what the market would support.
The home took 73 days to sell, compared with a University Row median of 47 days. Larger homes in the neighborhood’s upper price tier often attract a smaller pool of buyers than the entry-level homes that make up the bulk of sales, so a somewhat longer marketing period is a natural fit for a house in this range. What matters is where the price landed: close to the ask, at a level that ranks fifth among 18 neighborhood sales, and within a week of a nearly identical four-bedroom sale on Catalpa Drive.
For sellers considering a listing in University Row, that sequence is informative. A four-bedroom home with updated systems, a flexible main floor and generous parking found its buyer at a price very near the original list. For buyers, it shows that there is room to negotiate modestly on larger homes while still seeing sellers hold close to their number.
The price also gave the house a solid footing relative to the broader market. A list-to-sale ratio within about two percent is the kind of result that appraisers and lenders view as a healthy data point, and it adds a clean comparable to the neighborhood’s record of four-bedroom sales.
What the Sale Means for University Row and West Dayton
Each strong closing helps establish what homes in a neighborhood are worth, and University Row now has another well-documented data point for larger, updated houses. Combined with the Catalpa Drive sale from the same week, Cory Drive suggests that four-bedroom homes with recent improvements are consistently drawing more than $210,000 in the neighborhood, well above the $157,250 median.
That matters for West Dayton as a whole. Part of the area’s momentum is the steady widening of its price range. Entry-level homes remain available, which keeps University Row accessible, while the upper tier continues to show that buyers will invest in space, condition and convenient parking. The neighborhood sits in the Northwest Priority Board area and offers access to Downtown Dayton, Gem City Market, parks, dining, shopping and major highways, and those everyday advantages help explain why buyers keep choosing it.
The improvements in this house, a newer roof, a new water heater, an updated kitchen and a new fence, also reflect a pattern worth noting. Homes that arrive on the market with their major systems addressed tend to sell closer to their asking prices and at stronger levels than homes that need immediate work. For owners thinking about their own property, the result offers a practical lesson about where improvements pay off.
At $215,000, 1536 Cory Drive is not the highest sale University Row has seen this year, but it is one of the strongest, and it confirms that the neighborhood’s market has real depth above the median. That is the kind of steady, documented progress that gives West Dayton’s housing story its staying power.
Recognizing the Professionals Behind the Outcome
Kate LaGasse of NavX Realty, LLC represented both the seller and the buyer on this sale. Results like this come from careful pricing, strong presentation and steady work through closing, and that work deserves recognition.
Listing data courtesy of Dayton REALTORS® MLS. Information deemed reliable but not guaranteed.
More Common Questions About University Row
Here are answers to common questions about this sale and the University Row housing market.
How much did 1536 Cory Drive sell for?
The home sold for $215,000 on November 9, 2026. It was listed at $219,900, so it closed $4,900, or 2.2 percent, below the asking price after 73 days on the market.
What kind of home is 1536 Cory Drive?
It is a single-family home built in 1923 with four bedrooms, 1.5 baths and 2,388 square feet. It has a flexible bonus room on the main level, an updated kitchen with granite countertops, a full unfinished basement with the laundry area, and a detached two-car garage with extensive off-street parking at the rear.
How does this sale compare with the typical University Row sale?
Over the past twelve months University Row recorded 18 sales with a median price of $157,250 and a median of $97 per square foot. At $215,000, this sale was 37 percent above the median and ranked fifth of 18. Its price per square foot was about $90.
What have similar homes nearby sold for recently?
A four-bedroom, 2,051-square-foot home on Catalpa Drive sold for $225,000 on November 6, 2026. A three-bedroom, 1,705-square-foot home on Harvard Boulevard sold for $180,000 on July 1, 2026, and a three-bedroom, 1,361-square-foot home on Princeton Drive sold for $170,000 on October 30, 2026. The top University Row sale in the past year was a six-bedroom home on Amherst Place at $296,000.
How long do homes take to sell in University Row?
The median home in University Row spent 47 days on the market over the past twelve months. This house took 73 days, which is common for larger homes in the upper part of the neighborhood’s price range.
What updates did the home have at the time of sale?
The listing cites an updated kitchen with granite countertops, a newer roof, a new water heater, a Wi-Fi thermostat, a Ring doorbell and a brand-new privacy fence.
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