Moving to Birmingham

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by TonyKingma

Thanks for the answer CPG. Could you please go into more depth about what you mean by ´´in transition´´....as in getting worse or better?

Midfield used to be pretty much a working class neighborhood, with lots of blue-collar types. But when US Steel shut down in the late 70s, manufacturing jobs pretty much dwindled to almost nothing.

For some perspective, Birmingham, Alabama, and Flint, Michigan, had identical unemployment rates in the early 80s, with jobless numbers topping 17%. So working class neighborhoods like Midfield were just decimated. Then, while US Steel returned, along with other manufacturers, Birmingham's economy became more service oriented--and workers found it easier to commute in rather than live in the inner city. As a result, Midfield never really recovered.

That being said, there are a lot of nice neighborhoods that are rapidly turning around here, the product of a booming economy. So my perceptions may be based on what I observed 3-4 years ago, as opposed to what's happening now.

[harrismr]

You might want to try Helena. It was voted 100th best town in the U.S and 13th best town to raise children. The traffic at certain times may be a little overwhelming but its a quaint little town. Look at Old Cahaba, I have a friend with a home for sale. The URL is BrokerDirectMLS.com - Flat Fee MLS Listings and Real Estate - View Listing, this may be something of interest to you.