Athens or Madison (Huntsville, Decatur, Meridianville: mortgage, home builder, job transfer)

[newtobama1]

OK, possible job transfer on the horizon to Athens. We have one starting high school and one in middle school next fall. Kids would love a pool within walking distance and lots of neighbors(and a dog-that probably won't happen!). Anyway, any thoughts on Madison vs. East Limestone for schools. How about neighborhoods? We've been looking at a couple of the Legacy Homes subdivisions. Any thoughts on the builder? Thanks for any and all advice!

P.S. Husband wants to know what you might think about "commuting" from Tennessee to save on income taxes, too.

[needtosellmyhome]

Originally Posted by newtobama1

OK, possible job transfer on the horizon to Athens. We have one starting high school and one in middle school next fall. Kids would love a pool within walking distance and lots of neighbors(and a dog-that probably won't happen!). Anyway, any thoughts on Madison vs. East Limestone for schools. How about neighborhoods? We've been looking at a couple of the Legacy Homes subdivisions. Any thoughts on the builder? Thanks for any and all advice!

P.S. Husband wants to know what you might think about "commuting" from Tennessee to save on income taxes, too.

Which Legacy Homes? Legacy Premier Homes - Home Page This builder builds in the Athens area so I assume it is this one BUT:

There is also another builder in the area that just started a company called "Legacy Homes" Home | Legacy HomesLegacy Homes | New Home Builder in Huntsville and Madison and they have a neighborhood called "Heritage Brook" that is just right outside Limestone County.

These builder names are too similar and confusing. City data forum users are not permitted to say anything negative about builders on the public forum- I just wanted to point out that these two companies could get very confusing.

[newtobama1]

Originally Posted by needtosellmyhome

Which Legacy Homes? Legacy Premier Homes - Home Page This builder builds in the Athens area so I assume it is this one BUT:

There is also another builder in the area that just started a company called "Legacy Homes" Home | Legacy HomesLegacy Homes | New Home Builder in Huntsville and Madison and they have a neighborhood called "Heritage Brook" that is just right outside Limestone County.

These builder names are too similar and confusing. City data forum users are not permitted to say anything negative about builders on the public forum- I just wanted to point out that these two companies could get very confusing.

Yes, the Legacy Premier Homes. Newby Plantation and Legacy Grove. Both had community pools...

We found a few homes that had their own pool, but I'd rather leave all that work to someone else.

How do Athens/East Limestone High schools compare to Madison City?

[LCTMadison]

That's John Martin, Grey Winn, Darren Sides, and that bunch. I sold one of John's a few years ago and it inspected pretty good, was a beautiful home. Radon actually tested a bit high and house had to be mitigated, which was surprising. Grey actually markets the properties, but he is also a builder as well.

Newby's a better neighborhood. There is a better mix of builders in there.

Regardless, you have to be careful out in Limestone. Some builders think they don't have a building code, but they do. What they don't have is an inspection department.

Athens/Limestone schools over all are pretty good, but they aren't going to demand the market value that Madison schools do.
I live on County Line, and can be in Athens in 10 minutes, so its not far.

[newtobama1]

Originally Posted by LCTMadison

That's John Martin, Grey Winn, Darren Sides, and that bunch. I sold one of John's a few years ago and it inspected pretty good, was a beautiful home. Radon actually tested a bit high and house had to be mitigated, which was surprising. Grey actually markets the properties, but he also a builder as well.

Newby's a better neighborhood. There is a better mix of builders in there.

Athens/Limestone schools over all are pretty good, but they aren't going to demand the market value that Madison schools do.
I live on County Line, and can be in Athens in 10 minutes, so its not far.

The radon thing doesn't really scare me-we live in an area up north that has some issues, too.

We are used to having a basement, so the single story homes are a little bit of a stretch as far as square footage compared to what we are used to.

We are actually looking to downsize slightly and end up with a very small mortgage or maybe none at all which would give us tons of freedom to do some travelling and save some more for college.

The kids were not nearly as upset at the thought of a cross country move as I thought they might be. The warmer weather is certainly a draw since we aren't supposed to get into the 20's for the next 5 or 6 days!

[LCTMadison]

With the size of the lots, you can only get so much square footage in a ranch. Anything over about 3500 and you will be looking at two stories...and those big sprawling ranchers are not the norm. There are basements in the area, more "daylight" than a true "dug in" like you see up the east coast.

As long as the house is mitigated and retested, you should be fine with radon. That house tested at 4, which is the EPA "action" level and we had no problems getting John to agree to mitigate, which was around $1250.

I have a few clients who do commute from Tennessee, but much of that area is acreage property...which is what they wanted. No state tax, but property taxes are higher. Government gets their money either way You would need to weigh that against your income and also the cost of GAS, which is still over $3/gallon here.

[Wandering_Missourian]

Driving from TN is a bad idea (way too far to be worth it). Athens is actually a neat town... I'd check it out before looking to drive in from elsewhere. I would look at Decatur too if you are into older (especially historic) homes. If I could get a historic Decatur home for Decatur prices and drop it in Madison, I would be in heaven.

[LCTMadison]

I love Athens, particularly the area around Lindsey Lane and Nick Davis/Forrest. I love what Athens has been doing downtown the past several years.

[FatTails]

Eh. I think they should put a toll road at the TN/AL border. The cars with TN plates are always in such a hurry and I imagine it takes a little while driving through those lights in Hazel Green, Meridianville, and N HSV. Totally not worth it in my opinion just to save a little on income tax.

[jasonhsv]

I thought working in AL but living in TN would require paying AL state income tax.