Vestavia, Trussville, or Hoover?

[harvardmba]

if you are looking at trying to live near where you are going to work, you may want to stay with Vestavia Hills, Liberty Park or Homewood which are all very upscale areas with good schools

[Inkedchic]

Trussville by all means!! I have lived in all three... take my advice, stay away from the other ones!! The schools in Trussville are great, and the people are actually friendly... a very quaint little town, although growth is making traffic a little on the crazy side...

[krackers75]

You are correct, Mountain Brook is a very nice area with a very high price tag and can be a little socially closed if you get my drift, some would disagree but I've been around B'ham most all my life and it doesn't apply to all but it does apply, sorry truth is truth. Trussville is nice but as someone has said, it'll take you 30-40 mins easy if you have to drive in the rush traffic, not so bad if your commute is in the off times but it is a rapidly growing area so thats only gonna get worse. My wife works at Liberty Park also and we live in the Bluff Park area of Hoover and it takes her 15-20 mins to get to work in traffic, neighborhoods are very quiet, really good schools and most everyone in our neighborhood is middle income, Vestavia is just the other side of the interstate from us and is the same way, very nice with homes available from the high hundreds to low 200's and most are rather nice, if you go into the newer areas of these 2 city though you can expect that to easily double or more. Just my opinion but I'd stay away from Homewood, yes there are some nice areas but the prices in those are blowing up and the apartment areas are rather high crime, "trust me", I lived there for a couple years and don't even like shopping there now, one of the only places I've ever had a break in. Anything on 280 is really expensive unless you luck up and find a really good deal and the traffic can be a re-occuring nightmare during rush hours but it is nice. All in all, the the older sections of Vestavia and Hoover would be ideal, especially if you have children who are into sports since these schools participate in many sports, my 10 yo son plays little leage ice hockey in Pelham which is 15 mins away, after 20 years in the area it's the only place I'd live. Go with a bigger real estate agency who have homes all around town and most would gladly lay out the traffic situations and schools for you. Where we are in Bluff Park I can be anywhere I want to go in less than 30 mins and have any thing I want to do from shopping, movies, restr, church, etc only minutes away and the Hoover schools are great. Just my opinion and I'm rather picky too, especially when it comes to my son. Hoover has a very large police Dept and Fire Dept also, response times to anywhere is generally only several mins, my house it's only like 4. Hope it helps.

[robroebuck]

If you want to be close to work, stick with Mtn. Brook (near the High School and Brookwood Forest elem. for affordability) and then Cahaba Heights (which is Vestavia).

My ranking for location and school system would be:

1. Mtn Brook
2. Vestavia
3. Homewood
4. Hoover (but like already stated, on the Greystone side so you can take the back roads).
5. Trussville-traffic is awful

[alabamapal]

Shades Valley High School was rated Number 1 in the nation a few years ago. Why not consder that community. There are some really great
homes in your price range off Old Leeds Rd and other parts of Irondale
Good Luck.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by alabamapal

Shades Valley High School was rated Number 1 in the nation a few years ago. Why not consder that community. There are some really great
homes in your price range off Old Leeds Rd and other parts of Irondale
Good Luck.

Well, the Bacceaulaureate (sp?) school there was. It's a different thing from Shades Valley proper.

[pennquaker09]

And, not to take away anything from the Jefferson County International Baccalaureate school, but those rankings are useless.