Retire in Huntsville (Albertville, Boaz, Guntersville: real estate, crime, houses)

[Joan Henderson]

Hello all. We lived in Huntsville for 18 years but have been in Houston now for 10 years. We want to come back to North Alabama. We are retired (not military) and have really lost touch with the real estate in Huntsville. Are there communities for retirees in the Huntsville area? We no longer have to worry about schools but we do want to buy for a good resale (about 10 years from now). We like to hike, canoe, bird watch, and camp. We hope to come house hunting later this month. What areas would you recommend for two active retirees? Thanks so much.

[Keeper]

You might want to check out some of the areas outside of H'ville where housing prices are much less. Arab, Albertville, Boaz, Union Springs are all close to H'ville but housing cost are less. I am not a realtor but just wonder if you might not like someplace where traffic and crime are less. Guntersville isn't too bad price wise unless the house is on the Lake. I would check out valleymls.com for homes in different areas. Huntsville prices are higher with the expectation of BRAC beginning soon.

[Keeper]

Whoops. sorry I meant Union Grove or Lacey Springs.
Thanks Nalabama.

[VMH2507]

I understand that Arab is a very nice place to live and fairly inexpensive.

[Keeper]

I moved to Arab from FL in 05 and love it. I too had lived in Huntsville previously but back in the 60s, needless to say it has gotten a little bigger since then. I even found some of the people I knew back then.
Arab is about 40 minutes MOL from Huntsville and only 15minutes to Lake Guntersville. Small town with the biggest store being WalMart of course, but there are other stores so you really don't have to go into H'ville unless you are looking for something specific. There is a good hospital between Arab and Guntersville.
Most houses have a nice big yard and you can find a nice brick older (1500 sq ft) home for 80-100K with newer bigger homes in the 200K range. Of course there are some that cost more, it all depends on what your needs and wants are in a house. Property taxes are LOW with mine being less than 200.00 for a year, of course, I don't have a 200K house either. Homeowners and utilities are reasonable too. Very little traffic and the people are friendly. There is very little crime with most of it being in areas where the houses are far apart.
The down side are these. It is a dry town but a drive down the mountain to Guntersville to buy whatever you want is only 10 miles. There aren't any 'name' restaurants but we do have mexican restaurants, chinese restaurants, barbeque, pizza and a couple of small restaurants that are open late. No malls or movie theaters but a drive to Huntsville is an easy fix.
Check out valleymls.com for housing in this area. If you have any questions about Arab I will be happy to help you..
Check out http://www.city-data.com/city/Arab-Alabama.html. Also Arab website.. Arab Alabama - Welcome