Relocating to Birmingham (Homewood, Vestavia Hills, Alabaster: for sale by owner, low crime, house)

[proger]

My family (myself, wife, and 2 young children) will likely be relocating to Birmingham for work. I am looking for nice, affordable new housing in an area with low crime and great schools for the children. Something like Odenville looks right up our alley, however how is that commute to UAB? If it is terrible, does anyone have any other suggestions of areas similar to it?

[Socal2Bham]

Odenville is pretty far from downtown Birmingham, aprox 40 miles. From where will you be relocating? What do you consider "affordable"? I ask because I moved here from southern california almost 2 years ago so "affordable" does not always translate.

I have learned rather quickly, even though I don't have kids, certain Birmingham neighborhoods are driven solely because of the school systems and the housing prices directly reflect that. The Vestavia school system is rumored to be the best.

You might want to look at the Liberty Park area as well Welcome Home to Liberty Park

[proger]

I am relocating from New Orleans. My wife and I are looking for a home around $150,000 - 200,000. I will check out Vestavia and Liberty Park. I also was looking at Alabaster, does anyone have any experience with that area?

Thanks!

[Sinkbean]

If you move anywhere along i-65 south of downtown Birmingham, you are going to HATE the commute. It's gridlock everyday during rush hour. The 280 corridor is equally as bad.

I would recommend Homewood. It's a very decent municipality just over the mountain from UAB. It's very family oriented too, but housing is pretty high because of that.

Areas north of town are doing quite well like Gardendale and it's still affordable.

[Threestep]

Originally Posted by proger

I am relocating from New Orleans. My wife and I are looking for a home around $150,000 - 200,000. I will check out Vestavia and Liberty Park. I also was looking at Alabaster, does anyone have any experience with that area?

Thanks!

You will not find a house within your range in Liberty Park/Vestavia Hills. Have you tried some of the For Sale By Owner sites?

[proger]

Originally Posted by Threestep

You will not find a house within your range in Liberty Park/Vestavia Hills. Have you tried some of the For Sale By Owner sites?

Thanks everyone for the help!

I've been searching realtysouth.com and saw that nothing came up in my price range in Liberty Park/Vestavia. I haven't tried anything For Sale by Owner, but I will, thanks for the tip.

So far from my research, it will be hard to beat the housing and schooling in Odenville for the price. I realize that it may be a headache for travel everyday to work, but I'll be traveling early (5:30 am), so maybe it won't be too bad?

I'm going to go stay with a colleague for a few days next month and that will give me time to drive around, especially during rush hour and see what I can manage.

Any other ideas would be very much appreciated!

[mrdude]

Originally Posted by Sinkbean

If you move anywhere along i-65 south of downtown Birmingham, you are going to HATE the commute. It's gridlock everyday during rush hour. The 280 corridor is equally as bad.

I would recommend Homewood. It's a very decent municipality just over the mountain from UAB. It's very family oriented too, but housing is pretty high because of that.

Areas north of town are doing quite well like Gardendale and it's still affordable.

agreed. you've either got to be close to birmingham on the south side, or move to the north side.

my parents live in warrior, and my dad works downtown and he has a 25 minute commute with very little traffic until he gets a mile or two outside of downtown. gardendale is about 10 miles closer and would be a nice, affordable place to live

[wallstreet1986]

Originally Posted by Sinkbean

If you move anywhere along i-65 south of downtown Birmingham, you are going to HATE the commute. It's gridlock everyday during rush hour. The 280 corridor is equally as bad.

I would recommend Homewood. It's a very decent municipality just over the mountain from UAB. It's very family oriented too, but housing is pretty high because of that.

Areas north of town are doing quite well like Gardendale and it's still affordable.

Try two hours from Lake Forest, a Chicago suburb to downtown Chicago at rush hour (30 miles.) I think I could handle ANY commute. That said I'm sure the rush hour is bad but not that bad. How long would it take to get from say Alabaster to downtown Birmingham?

[nalabama]

Sometimes 2 hours. If there are no wrecks, maybe 30 minutes at best. The commute back home seems to be the more difficult trip.

[proger]

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone. This is a big help!

What time in the morning and afternoon are peak rush hour in Bham?

I live just across the river from New Orleans, I have a 12 mile commute to the downtown medical campus. Depending on when I leave in the morning, the commute can be anywhere from 15 minutes to well over an hour. That I'm use to and can handle! I'm just tired of leaving in and near crime infested neighborhoods and having absolutely no reliable school system. So I can deal with an hour commute if my family is in a good area.

Thanks again to everyone for being so kind!

Paul