Liberty Park or Greystone?? (Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook: house, new construction, live in)

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by bchbum03

Greystone ! Hoover is a great place to live ! Liberty Park is so far out and not close to anything.

See, I'd differ. Greystone require schlepping up and down 280 for anything, while LP is a quick drive on 459 to shopping and downtown.

[annsmollie]

I have lived in Liberty Park for 15 years and got in almost on the ground floor of the dev. We were a corporate transfer from Dallas and I have hated it here for this long. The LP home owners assoc is a nightmare and raises dues whenever they see fit and have gone from $ 385 to $1200+ There is no accountability and honesty from the assoc as to where our money goes. If the homeowners want something, we have to BEG and hear that there is no money for anything! Our neighborhood roads after this long should be turned over to Vestavia since we pay city taxes, yet they have been kept private so that we have to pay a road fund. If I had it to do over again, I definetly would avoid this neighborhood like the PLAGUE!!!!!!!! After many transfers and many nice new homes, this was the worst experience of all.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by annsmollie

I have lived in Liberty Park for 15 years and got in almost on the ground floor of the dev. We were a corporate transfer from Dallas and I have hated it here for this long. The LP home owners assoc is a nightmare and raises dues whenever they see fit and have gone from $ 385 to $1200+ There is no accountability and honesty from the assoc as to where our money goes. If the homeowners want something, we have to BEG and hear that there is no money for anything! Our neighborhood roads after this long should be turned over to Vestavia since we pay city taxes, yet they have been kept private so that we have to pay a road fund. If I had it to do over again, I definetly would avoid this neighborhood like the PLAGUE!!!!!!!! After many transfers and many nice new homes, this was the worst experience of all.

Interesting input. Personally, I'd never live in any place with a HOA.

[sleepless in Bham]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Interesting input. Personally, I'd never live in any place with a HOA.

What would be the benefit?, Im paying money out my pocket for this property only to be told what I can and cant do on it. Sounds like a mini-dictatorship to me. I understand the point about keeping up property values, but do people need a "neighborhood wannabe stalin" for that?.

[Tourian]

I would say Greystone. There's no way your going to get a 5 bed house in Hollywood or MB for 750k. And the Greystone house will be newer, bigger, and have an attached garage. Most of those homes in the other neighborhoods wont. After that expect about $3500 a year for tax and like $1500 for HOA. 280 isn't that bad...(mmph)

[JS20000]

I would say Greystone. There's no way your going to get a 5 bed house in Hollywood or MB for 750k. And the Greystone house will be newer, bigger, and have an attached garage. Most of those homes in the other neighborhoods wont. After that expect about $3500 a year for tax and like $1500 for HOA. 280 isn't that bad...(mmph)

A bigger, newer house isn't always better; I prefer older homes because of the quality of the building materials and the solid construction. In most of today's million-plus McMansions, you generally have the same cheap drywall as you would find inside a home for $250k: you'd just have more of it. The planning of today's communities and subdivisions is all about cramming the most properties into a particular lot size to maintain a profit margin for the developers, period. In this case you end up with a 5000 sq ft home on a half acre lot that will get half the roof and the back wall blown away at the rumor of a tornado. On top of that, the headaches from the Gesta-I mean the HOA-does not do it for me (it's too much like the Orwellian Big Brother communities straight out of 1984). I like thick, solid walls with lots of insulation; this type of quality comes mostly from custom builds or from careful, master planned communities like Mountain Brook (yes, MB was a planned community).

You're right: 280 is child's play compared to other places. I used to live in NY myself and the LIE (Long Island Expressway) was a beast. 280 commuters only have to deal with 4.5 miles of congestion-try 15-20 miles. I moved back down south to escape the Big Brother environment in NY; go figure.

[RoosterRoof]

Originally Posted by cpg35223

Interesting input. Personally, I'd never live in any place with a HOA.

I'd never live in a place without an HOA.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by RoosterRoof

I'd never live in a place without an HOA.

Not me. All an HOA does is ensure uniformity.

[whizr128]

My daughter lives in the Haven Road area of Greystone. She's had several
construction problems with the house over the past 10 years. I once went
into the attic of her house and it is a stick frame construction. This means
there are no rated rafters in the ceiling, just a brace here, one over there.
Like the house was just thrown up in a big hurry. Pretty paint and plaster
cover up lots of problems until time takes its toll. Talk about boring, I think
the whole neighborhood looks like a housing project for rich people. Every
house is the same except for minor right hand/left hand differences. I would
rather live in Saddlebrook.

[bfmx1]

I would choose Homewood (hollywood area) or Vestavia Hills (maybe off Rocky Ridge road) long before Liberty Park or Greystone in that price range unless you want a country club membership. I don't think you can beat Greystone CC as far as memberships are concerned for golf, pool, tennis, and clubhouse events. Other CC's seem old to me with fewer young members.

However, Vestavia CC is awfully nice too but not quite as good as Greystone IMO.

Liberty Park is too far from a Chick Fila and Milos for me. Greystone is too far from downtown.