moving from uk to bham area! (Birmingham, Hoover: real estate, to rent, home)

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by cartag

All schools in Mountain Brook are excellent. Your choice just depends on what kind of house and neighborhood you want to live in. Crestline Elementary is regarded as the most desirable, in Mountain Brook, I think.

Vestavia schools are also excellent. I live in Hoover (south of Vestavia), but I believe Vestavia's various elementary schools serve just a few grades each, so that all the children go through all the schools.

If you are working on Oxmoor, you might want to consider Homewood too in your search for a place to live. It's the next "village" north of Vestavia and has some beautiful, child friendly neighborhoods and really good schools too.

You'll need time to become acclimated to our area. Find a realtor who'll spend some time driving around with you so that you can really get a feel for these areas. Best of luck with your search!

You really cannot go wrong with any part of Mountain Brook as far as schools are concerned. My personal experience is that Brookwood Forest Elementary in Mountain Brook does a superior job without some of the cliquishness that occasionally seems to crop up in the other MB elementary schools (I hear the horror stories from other parents. By no means does that mean all or even most students in a given elementary school are that way, but it seems to be absent from the culture at BF).

[pennquaker09]

Well, I think cpg brings up an excellent point. There is some cliquishness in Mountain Brook. My stepmother really had a hard time in MB, so my dad ended up moving us to Hoover. I don't want to make it seem like MB is a bad place, because it is not, one can find cliques anywhere, but it's noticeable in MB.

I was trying to think of another country club to recommend, but both of the clubs my parents are members of are private

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by pennquaker09

Well, I think cpg brings up an excellent point. There is some cliquishness in Mountain Brook. My stepmother really had a hard time in MB, so my dad ended up moving us to Hoover. I don't want to make it seem like MB is a bad place, because it is not, one can find cliques anywhere, but it's noticeable in MB.

I was trying to think of another country club to recommend, but both of the clubs my parents are members of are private

I think the cliquishness is more virulent in some parts of MB, most notably Crestline. We live out close to Overton, where you have a lot of two-income families who really don't have the time or patience for all that nonsense.

[Threestep]

Nonsense or no nonsense - clubs are here to stay - on both sides of the pond.
Someone has to be practical - you mentioned you had a potential job offer. Great! As expat I can only tell you this has been the best of 15 moves we made. Has your visa been adressed as this may rain on your parade?

[jammydodger]

No Visa moves as of yet but the job will involve an eventual move stateside over about a year as I have to close or sell my business over here first.

This I hope will give me more time to get the visa but I do not think it will be too much of a problem in the field that I am in.

It seems Mountain Brook is a great place for schools, which are the best ones the Vestavia Hills?

[pennquaker09]

Originally Posted by Threestep

Nonsense or no nonsense - clubs are here to stay - on both sides of the pond.
Someone has to be practical - you mentioned you had a potential job offer. Great! As expat I can only tell you this has been the best of 15 moves we made. Has your visa been adressed as this may rain on your parade?

We were talking about the clique's that the parts form at the various elementary schools, not the clubs. Just due to the nature of the clubs, there are obviously going to be cliques, so I don't really put too much into those. My dad has always been a member of the Country Club of Birmingham and when they moved to Hoover, they joined Greystone. I think he might be a member at the Mountain Brook Club, I'm not sure . . . I never liked golf and didn't care to learn to play it, but my stepmother had a very hard time getting in with the ladies at CCB. However, at Greystone, she doesn't have any issues.

[Bravo35223]

Originally Posted by pennquaker09

We were talking about the clique's that the parts form at the various elementary schools, not the clubs. Just due to the nature of the clubs, there are obviously going to be cliques, so I don't really put too much into those. My dad has always been a member of the Country Club of Birmingham and when they moved to Hoover, they joined Greystone. I think he might be a member at the Mountain Brook Club, I'm not sure . . . I never liked golf and didn't care to learn to play it, but my stepmother had a very hard time getting in with the ladies at CCB. However, at Greystone, she doesn't have any issues.

Accurate post my friend....a tip of the hat....I really hope we meet sometime.

Best,

J

[jammydodger]

Now we have cleared that political hot potato up - any ideas about the best schools in Vestavia Hills?

Also where to live in terms of having good family communities?

Thanks guys

[Bravo35223]

Originally Posted by jammydodger

Now we have cleared that political hot potato up - any ideas about the best schools in Vestavia Hills?

Also where to live in terms of having good family communities?

Thanks guys

Jammy: The elementary schools within the Vestavia system are going to be fairly equivalent to each other as they are under common management, with identical cirriculum and teaching standards. The only meaningful difference would be in the age of the buildings as those in Liberty Park are new whereas Pizitz and Cahaba Heights are older....but the quality of education is not going to be meaningfully different. All of the elementary schools feed their students into the Middle School and then into the High School.

The location of the home will dictate the school your children attend - its that simple. Simple and straightforward geographic districts. And as to your question about family communities: everywhere in Vestavia will be a 'family community' with people of your age mixed in with other young families as well as middle-aged people and last but not least -- plenty of retirees. Birmingham is a metro area where, - when you retire - for the most part - people simply stay put in their home....

You are going to find a very wide range of neighborhoods in Vestavia (most people here drop the 'Hills' and simply call it Vestavia). The original homes were built in the early 50's and are low 'ranch-style' homes...then, you have newer and newer neighborhoods which were built in the 60's, 70's, 80's, 90',s and up until now. Cahaba Heights is the oldest part of Vestavia and was just annexed into the city about five years ago. It has the oldest and (frankly) smallest homes in Vestavia, but is still a nice area with good access to shopping and a good elementary school. (I live closeby in Mountain Brook and do much of my shopping there).

Home prices in Vestavia are going to range from about $250k (at the very bottom) to well over $1M and the community is spread out over quite a few square miles. Once you get here (again) and see the rolling land, it can be a bit confusing to navigate until you get used to it....so having a realtor, and a budget before you start is absolutely required....there's a lot of ground to cover.

This is an excellent time for children age 3 and 6 to make such a big move...your oldest will be in school with kids who have only had one year (kindergarten) behind them and he(she) should be able to fit in quickly. Frankly children will likely find them to be a bit interesting because of the difference in accents....

[pearljammer]

a good tool for schools is www.schooldigger.com