[timothy0606]

Hello everyone. I have some questions about Alabama. I'm wanting to move here in the next 18 months but I need more research. I have a few questions. Please help.

1: How far north do you have to move in order to have a basement?

2: Does Alabama have state taxes?

3: As for jobs, where are the most?

4: Any links out there with tons of information about Alabama.

I thank you for your time.

Tim for St. Louis, MO

[Back Again]

Originally Posted by timothy0606

Hello everyone. I have some questions about Alabama. I'm wanting to move here in the next 18 months but I need more research. I have a few questions. Please help.

1: How far north do you have to move in order to have a basement?
I do not know about the rest of Alabama, But you can get homes with full basements in the Birmingham area

2: Does Alabama have state taxes?
Yes, Alabama does have a state tax. Alabama, however, will not tax your Military Pension, should you have one.

3: As for jobs, where are the most?
This depends on what line of work you are looking for. However, I would say either Huntsville (Big Military Base) or the Birmingham area (Banking and Health)

4: Any links out there with tons of information about Alabama.
Try www.AL.com

I thank you for your time.

Tim for St. Louis, MO

.

[timothy0606]

Is there any Law Firms in that area?

[Back Again]

Originally Posted by timothy0606

Is there any Law Firms in that area?

Once again, I can not talk about the rest of Alabama, but yes, there are a lot to choose from in the Birmingham area.

[timothy0606]

In Birmingham, where are the safer areas to live in.
Like any town there are bad parts of towns and safer parts.

Thanks!!!

Tim

[Back Again]

Originally Posted by timothy0606

In Birmingham, where are the safer areas to live in.
Like any town there are bad parts of towns and safer parts.

Thanks!!!

Tim

Tim
　
Give it a day or two and everyone on here will tell you the good and bad areas of town.
　
The Northwest areas like Ensley, some of East Lake, Midfield and Pleasant Grove, I would stay away from. Now with that said, there are some very nice places of Pleasant Grove too.
　
You will hear people in the forum telling you to also stay away from Bessemer, however, I live in Bessemer and there are some million dollar homes here as well. When they talk about Bessemer, they are talking about the down town area.
　
Bessemer is one of the last places where you can still get a good size home with some land at a descent price. Also Bessemer may be geography farther from downtown Birmingham then Hoover, Vestavia and Homewood (the 3 places I guarantee everyone will tell you to live) , yet, since you do not need to go in I-65 to get downtown, it will only take you 20 minutes during the morning commute, where as from Hoover, it will take you 45 minutes or longer. Bessemer is also growing at a good pace
　
I guess it will all come down to where you will work and what you are willing to spend on a home.
　
Good luck and let me know if I can help
　
Paul

[Pudelmom]

You might want to check out some of the info about real estate and the state of the county commission (an absolute circus), amount of crime, etc. before moving to Birmingham. I have relatives there who have had their house on the market for a very long time. Their whole area has just gone down terribly. It's not just about the current economy. There has been an exodus of sorts from Birmingham and property values plummeting before the latest national real estate problems. I used to live in the Hueytown area and also Cahaba Heights. Lord willing, I will never back to Jefferson County. The Madison/Huntsville area is much nicer.

[Back Again]

Originally Posted by Pudelmom

You might want to check out some of the info about real estate and the state of the county commission (an absolute circus), amount of crime, etc. before moving to Birmingham. I have relatives there who have had their house on the market for a very long time. Their whole area has just gone down terribly. It's not just about the current economy. There has been an exodus of sorts from Birmingham and property values plummeting before the latest national real estate problems. I used to live in the Hueytown area and also Cahaba Heights. Lord willing, I will never back to Jefferson County. The Madison/Huntsville area is much nicer.

What are you talking about? The following came from CNBC


By Shannon Delcambre
Assignment Manager
Published: September 22, 2008
The Birmingham area residential real estate market continues to be slow, but there are some positive signs.
In a news release from the Birmingham Association of Realtors, total home sales are down, but the inventory of homes is just slightly less than a year ago.
The average price of Birmingham area homes has dropped 2.6%, which is a lot less than what is happening in other markets around the country.
It remains a buyers’ market.
The average price in August 2008 was $189,587, compared to $193,646 in August 2007.
About 500 fewer homes were sold in August 2008, compared to August 2007.

You also have this report from AL.Com
http://www.al.com/business/birmingha....xml&coll=2720

[Back Again]

This comes from City Data's website. I do not see the mad exodus, Pudelmom has stated, I see we have gone from over 250 homes on the market in this area in 2005, down to less then 50 homes currently, pretty good. I also see home prices going back up again.

Yes, Jefferson County is very far from perfect, what county is perfect? However, you still have Shelby and other neighboring counties.

Pudelmom, I know nothing of you or your relatives trying to sell their home here, but I would like to take a fair guess at this. They bought their home around 2005 – 2007 and now think it is worth more then it truly is. Correct?

To quote Martha Hale, who was interviewed by ABC TV "What people are afraid of is they want a great deal on their house when they're selling because they want top dollar yet when they go to buy they want bargain basement.. and the two don't mix," Even if I’m wrong about when they bought the home, if it is not selling, it is priced too high for the current market we are in, but I do wish them the best of luck.


One final note to anyone trying to sell in the market. Look at it this way --What you loose in the price of selling your home, you can make up in the purchase of a new home, so that will be a wash, however, the bonus you will gain will be on the VERY LOW interest rates your going to get, if you have good credit scores. The $10K you may loose on the sale of your home, if you sell now, rather then wait, will be more then made up with a 4.5% 30 fixed mortgage you can get today, over who knows what rate you will get down the road. As greedy as banks are, you can bet that once the housing market starts moving again, mortgage rates will follow the trend. A $250,000 home at today’s rate of 4.5% (assuming you put zero down), your payments will be approx $1266/Mo. Now, if you wait to get that extra $10K out if the home you are selling (Lets forget that the $250,000 you want to buy has gone up in price as well) but it the rates go up only 1% to 5.5%, your payments will now be $1419/Mo. If you bought today, you would have made that $10K back in as little as 5.4 years, and if the rates go up to 6%, your payments are now approx $1499/Mo. And that $10K would be made up in as little as 3.5 years. Now imagine if the rates go up even higher? Remember, in 1980, the average mortgage was 21% - that would be a mortgage payment of over $4300/Mo for a $250,000 home

[skinem]

1. Having a basement here is more a function of soil type and how high the water table is, not how far north you are. Some areas, north and south are/are not suitable for basements.

2. Yes. Alabama has a state income tax, sales tax, and property tax. The sales tax will vary from place to place as counties and municipalities can add to it. The property tax rate is extremely low, among the lowest rates, if not the lowest, in the nation.

3. Huntsville/Madison county has a very low unemployment rate, below state and national average. Great place for a job if you're an engineer, work with government contracts or are in the defense/space/aerospace industry.

4. As stated above, al.com. Also google for chamber of commerce websites.

Any of the larger towns have many (some would say too many) law firms.