Alabaster,Chelsea, Pelham and Helena (Birmingham, Hoover: appointed, apartments, crime)

[Cj31299]

Hi everyone I was wondering if you can help me with my upcoming move to Alabama My family is moving next summer from Philadelphia for my husband's work aroung the Birmingham area I have done alot of research on the internet but would love your opinion on where are the best places to live We have two girls ages 10 and 7 so schools are very important as well as a safe and family friendly area we have narrowed our choices to Alabaster, Chelsea, Pelham and Helana Can you give your opinion of them and also suggest anywhere else I have never been so nervous about this decision and also from moving away from all we have known all our life I've heard we are in for a culture shock but also heard how people are very friendly So thank you in advance for your help

[AndyG]

Not to be rude, but if you are looking for a typical, cookie cutter suburban community, any of those will fit nicely. Alabaster would be my favorite, which is actually where I bought my first home, which I later sold for an incredible profit due to extreme growth down there. All of these communities have become pretty generic and boring, but that is typical with the sprawl of any major city, nothing exclusive to that area.

The schools are excellent, but the commute into Birmingham is nothing short of hell on earth. That is something you really want to consider when moving into those areas. It is not uncommon to hit major traffic snarls on I-65N heading into the city. In fact, you can count on it. The interstate system in the Birmingham metro is in bad shape, ill maintained and badly designed, so that only adds to the commuting nightmare. The Birmingham metro has completely outgrown its freeway system, and that will become painfully obvious to you immediately. Birmingham is also a city with almost no public transit whatsoever, so that will not be something that is going to help you. It has a transit system called MAX, but it's a joke, and doesn't serve but a handful of the suburbs.

Your choices are relatively safe, family friendly towns, but none of them are without their problems. Pelham and Helena are my least favorite of the ones you mentioned. Pelham is, to be quite honest, just a mess. It's crowded, unattractive, over-priced and generally unpleasant. Helena is only slightly better than Pelham. It has almost no personality, it's generic and again, quite pricey, but that is to be expected in most all of Shelby County.

I would suggest you visit them all if possible. It's hard to get a feel for them from the Internet. Alabaster and Chelsea would be my 2 favorite choices of the ones you have mentioned, with Helena being near the bottom and Pelham being the very bottom.

As for culture shock, you will experience less of that than you may be expecting. Birmingham is a typical medium sized American city. The fact that it is in the south really doesn't matter. The people in Birmingham are friendly enough, but if you are moving there expecting to find the "Old South" then you will be disappointed. It is a modern city in every way. There are glimpses of the Old South scattered about, mainly in Birmingham itself, but for the most part, your culture shock will be minimal.

[phillip ludlow]

move to thomasville. it is wonderful. i have lived in the town next to it my whole life. thomasville has one of the leading school systems in the state, an in city transportation system for the kids to go to and from school, after school activites such as the local boys and girls club, a walmart, fresh produce market, a family owned market called norman foods, and a million other thing, such as the pottery shop, ballet school, self defence school the alabama souther comunity southern collage, the list goes on. thomasville is an openly diverse comunity of all races and religions, and welcomes everyone. if you wish to know more you can email me at ashley.ludlow@us.army.mil or at sargent.hooah@gmail.com( if you use the us army account it might take about 3 to 4 hours for the army to verify it )

[JWilliams]

I live in Pelham. Please PM with any additional questions if you have any you feel I may be able to help with.

I moved from way, way up north to Alabama. My opinion on alabaster, pelham, helena, chelsea is this: do not move to either of them.

We moved to a ginormous (people in AL can make up words, so I can, too!) subdivision a few years ago in Pelham and traffic has gone from ok/not great during rush hour to there-is-no-God traffic. If you are in Chelsea, you get to embrace the anguish and soul-sucking misery of Highway 52 to either access the 65 or 280. Some areas of Pelham can get around that, but many can't. In our case, we also have to be demonized by Highway 52. It is a very small road that is now, thanks to tons of development in the past few years, having to handle the traffic of thousands of cars in the morning. Our normal drive to the highway is 10 minutes. If I am trying to get to work for 8:00 that turns into 35...that's just to get to the highway. Once I get to the highway I still have to cruise along at 30 mph (unless there is a crash, in which case it's far slower) to get to work. Highway 52 is undergoing a lethargic renovation, which will help, but this area will always have bad traffic.

Things in Helena may be better, but again you've got the case of vast development catered to by a tiny road never developed to handle it.

Alabaster, just please do not even think about it. Everything you have in ways of bad traffic for Pelham you have in Alabaster, but it's worse because it's one exit south on the highway. "One exit? How bad can that be?", you ask. Well, picture a parking lot several miles long--that's how bad.

Schools in this region are ok but not great. Pelham is significantly better than Alabaster. I am not sure about Helena and Chelsea, though I think Helena is on par with Pelham. Nonetheless, the best schools are further north in Hoover, vestavia hills, mountain brook, homewood. You cannot afford homewood or mtn brook, if you're thinking about pelham et al. Hoover and vestavia you may be able to. Their schools are much better and their location in the city is WAY WAY better. I would highly recommend doing all you can to move to those areas.

Now, if you or your spouse are able to get to work at off-hours, then the traffic problems mentioned above will not be big problems, but if you're going to be doing the 8-5, I cannot implore you enough to at least drive through this area some Tuesday morning at 7:30 and see if you can stomach it. I can't; we're moving. We like our house but are willing to spend 50% more on mortgage just to get around the traffic.

THAT SAID, and all whining aside, either of these areas will be nice. Helena, pelham, alabaster are closer, I think to stores and things, but these are nice areas. If you look around you will find a well-priced house (newish 3 bedrooms easily findable for under $200k and a nice 4 bedroom for under $250k) and property taxes are low. At least for us in Pelham, crime is not a problem, and moving from where you are moving, the weather is going to be really nice in the winter. The summer is long. I'm from further north than you, and yeah the summer is very long, but the very mild winter makes up for it. There isn't much of a clearly-defined fall, though. Spring is an intro to summer; you can go out sun-tanning in April, or maybe earlier on nice days. Actually, definitely earlier. I was swimming in the lake late April this year (it was high 60's).

Morning commute aside, traffic in the city is mostly not that bad. It's a very well sized city (greater birmingham). You will not go downtown, because it's slummy for the most part, but the suburbs have their own centers now, particularly in Hoover and in the highway 280 region. Even in our fairly southernly area, we can, if it's not rush hour, get anywhere in the city we need to be in 30 minutes.

Birmingham is a very nice spot. Its cost of living is quite low and its economy is strong. It's a 4-4.5 hour drive to fabulous beaches, 2-3 hours to Atlanta, too. The main thing it lacks is a clear city center, like a place to "go to" that you would find in a large US city such as Boston or NYC, or heck even some smaller old ones. That is the norm in the South though, pretty much.

AndyG's opinions are rather unlike my own, which is interesting. Neither of us are right--actually he may be, but it goes to show that it's just a personal preference. We moved to Pelham, so we're probably biased to it. I know that Alabaster has had major gains in the past three years. I thought it was a dump when we were house-shopping and wanted to avoid it, but now it's much nicer with a lot of money fueling some growth there and it no longer looks dumpy.

[Cj31299]

Thanks everyone for your help we are fllying down at the end of September to visit the areas your opinion is greatly appreciated But now I am so more confused as to where to go I hope just when we do make a decision it is the right one Any suggestions on other ares we should look at other then these

[JWilliams]

Originally Posted by Cj31299

Thanks everyone for your help we are fllying down at the end of September to visit the areas your opinion is greatly appreciated But now I am so more confused as to where to go I hope just when we do make a decision it is the right one Any suggestions on other ares we should look at other then these

Just find some of the areas and drive through them at rush hour, although some days are better than others. Inexplicably my 35 min drive to the highway can sometimes be 25. I don't know why.

You can consider north of the city like trussville, but generally things expand south. I am not familiar with the northern areas.

Another thing, properties have appreciated much more in the nicer areas (hoover, vestavia) than they have here in pelham. Guessing where things will go from here on is impossible, but fwiw, those areas did appreciate more. We have seen only an average of around 5-6% annual or so in the past few years, but in hoover it's been more like 10+, I think. Between hoover and vestavia, I'd pick vestavia. Its location is preferable and it is less likely to be sucked down in school quality in the way hoover is. A lot of apartments have been erected in hoover. They carry vast swaths of illegal immigrants and others who could not otherwise afford Hoover, who gain access to great schools and do not pay their share of taxes, so the schools are increasingly feeling this.

[AndyG]

Trussville is a nice area, especially the area near Clay and Argo. The commute into Birmingham from 59 South is still not too bad except for the occasional fender bender that backs up traffic.

I actually like the northeastern parts of Birmingham, with the exception of Pinson, which is still very redneck and not the most pleasant place to be. Too close to the trash heap that is Centerpoint.

[MaryAnneGA]

Originally Posted by Cj31299

Thanks everyone for your help we are fllying down at the end of September to visit the areas your opinion is greatly appreciated But now I am so more confused as to where to go I hope just when we do make a decision it is the right one Any suggestions on other ares we should look at other then these

I am looking in the same area, same critieria, how was the trip? Did you buy and where? How are the schools, parks, kids activities, traffic?

[Cj31299]

My trip went well and we decided on either Pelham and Alabaster 2 neighborhoods I really liked were Weatherly in Alabaster and Ballantrae in Pelham they were so beautiful and had a good amount of amenties for the kids as well as adults Swimmimg pool,tennis courts golf course club house I also really like Chelsea it was very nice but the traffic was horrible it seems like like they only had one main road in an out and when we got stuck in it we decided no way another thing about chelsea it was a bit more rural for me there weren't many stores around and me coming from a big city having easy acess to things is very important and we found that in the other areas Schools seem to be very good iIactually went on to both school websites to check them out plus you can go to another forum at al.com and you will get alot of feedback from people that live there they were a big help to narrow our search down when we decided to move So I hope I helped you somewhat if you have anymore questions feel free to e-mail me we are moving in June when are you Moving?

[Sugarland, TX]

If you've looked at the latest threads, you'll see that I'm in the same boat. Please tell me more about your trip ...in particular...about Alabaster. Everyone says it's SO FAR OUT! How far is too far? And do they have a mall and/or strip malls, or Major stores, Home Depots, banks, Grocery Stores, Convenient Stores, etc? Or do you have to go to the 280 side? And everyone boasts about 280 area. How far is Alabaster from the 280 area....and is it just as nice, or not? So many questions I know.....