I keep getting conflicting information about Atlanta, and it's starting to get frustrating. (Decatur: transplants, 2014)

[ATLTJL]

Embrace it!

I lived in Birmingham, Alabama for 8 years. Talk about a place with a bad reputation! But guess what? The truth is, Birmingham is actually a really nice place to live for the most part.

People who live there know it has a bad reputation, and guess what? They don't care. It's been called the "best kept secret in the south" and they're totally cool with that. Being kept a secret can be a really positive thing, it keeps the riff raff out! It keeps away uncontrolled growth and everything that comes with it.

I know it's frustrating, but you're unlikely to ever change perceptions about neighborhoods below the I-20 line. So the best thing to do is to just roll with it and know that at least you'll probably never become a district for unbridled development. Sure, your property values probably won't ever rise significantly, but isn't having a better life worth the price?

[cqholt]

Birmingham is actually a really nice place to live for the most part.

Did you live jones valley or south of red mountain?

[glovenyc]

DUDE!!! (Thedude2009) You have entirely too much time on your hands, amongst other issues.

[ldl5112]

Thanks, everyone! I think I'm definitely going to have to visit to see the different areas for myself, but you've all given me some areas to investigate further.

[ATLTJL]

I lived over the mountain.

In fact, I went to high school there, so my knowledge of the Southside nightlife scene is really limited, because I literally only lived there for 2 months beyond my 21st birthday.

Most of my classmates stayed there. The formula kind of went like this: graduate high school, go to college, come back to Birmingham and live in Southside or Homewood for a few years. Settle down, buy a house in Vestavia or Hoover, or for some people, in the areas of Shelby county off 280 that were farms when I lived there but now are apparently quite nice.

I hear the gays are revitalizing the Crestwood area. I know nothing about it, when I lived there you just didn't go there, and I don't think I've ever been. But as a bit of an explorer, I have been a lot of places including Ensley, North Birmingham, Bessemer, etc. When I talk about life in Birmingham, I'm talking about the over the mountain crowd, though.

[Onthemove2014]

Originally Posted by ATLTJL

Embrace it!

I lived in Birmingham, Alabama for 8 years. Talk about a place with a bad reputation! But guess what? The truth is, Birmingham is actually a really nice place to live for the most part.

People who live there know it has a bad reputation, and guess what? They don't care. It's been called the "best kept secret in the south" and they're totally cool with that. Being kept a secret can be a really positive thing, it keeps the riff raff out! It keeps away uncontrolled growth and everything that comes with it.

I know it's frustrating, but you're unlikely to ever change perceptions about neighborhoods below the I-20 line. So the best thing to do is to just roll with it and know that at least you'll probably never become a district for unbridled development. Sure, your property values probably won't ever rise significantly, but isn't having a better life worth the price?

I've been saying this for a while. People are realizing how nice Birmingham is and choosing there over Atlanta.

[livinginbuffalo]

I saw those posts from The Dude last night and I thought he just snorted a line or smoked some crack with his fury and fast typing. Ignore him.

[rzzz]

I thought underneath the crazy typing style, The Dude's posts were pretty interesting. His recommendation of Virginia Highlands seems about right for the poster. Not sure about his beef with Kirkwood, but when I drive around in that area it does seem to turn from kind of cute into kind of sketchy pretty quick. I am moving over there, but I would not recommend it to someone wanting to move to experience "Big City" living. It feels like living in the country to me.

[ATLTJL]

I couldn't weed through all of his posts, I'm just going with what you said, but VaHi is an area that has already full gentrified, while Kirkwood still has some growing and revitalization ahead of it.

I can understand why in this market someone would feel more comfortable with a done deal rather than taking a gamble on a place that may gentrify further, or could stall out.

Thus, if someone was saying which is better, Virginia Highland or Kirkwood, the natural answer would be Virginia Highland, of course, if you can afford it!

I live in Duluth, and I like it. But I would never try to argue that we actually have more to offer than Johns Creek. I would say if you want an area that is almost as nice and you can't (or maybe just don't want to) afford Johns Creek, it's a pretty good alternative. Probably the same can be said about Kirkwood, it's a decent alternative to Decatur, maybe VaHi....but if you can, and don't mind, affording Decatur or VaHi, Kirkwood doesn't really offer anything that is actually better than those two areas.

That's what I'm guessing. I'm kind of talking out of my rear because I don't know all that much about Kirkwood, or even Decatur for that matter.

[red92s]

A starter home in Virginia Highlands is in the $400k range. A renovated 3/2 with a garage is a $600k+ house. Totally different ballpark than Kirkwood.