Moving to Huntsville w/ young kids - advice on places to live, preschools (Redstone Arsenal: daycares, how much)

[writerwife]

Originally Posted by CowboysFan49

This is funny. I moved here from Texas less than a year ago, and in about a month's time, I learned the Madison / non-Madison "debate." Hey, we had the same thing in Texas, except it was Dallas vs. Ft. Worth.

"In Dallas, they call it sushi...in Ft. Worth, we call it bait!"

haha.. not from Texas but I call it bait too..!

[CarrieP123]

We recently moved from Madison, AL to North Carolina. Being from Alabama I highly recommend Madison (city) We lived there for years and have 2 small children. LOVED the schools!!
Moderator cut: Real estate links are not allowed
Good luck with your move!
-Carrie

[elizj2000]

Thanks for the recommendation, Carrie. I think we're going to plan a trip down to Hunstville next month to get a feel for the area - Madison will be on our list. Did either of you work on Redstone? If so, how's the commute? I've heard traffic can be bad headed to/from Madison to post.

[LCTMadison]

I live off County Line Road, which is the west side of Madison. I am pretty much as far away from the Arsenal as you can get and still be in Madison city. It takes approximately 15 minutes to get on base from my house.....traffic on County Line flows very well in the mornings, even with three school zones going. Wall Triana can get VERY congested, as people commute down Wall Triana from as far as Ardmore/Tennessee areas, so keep that in mind when exploring the area. Wall Triana is HORRIBLE in the mornings and afternoons, I try to avoid at all cost if I can.

That being said, I don't WORK on Redstone but my husband sometimes has to go on the arsenal for work and has always said the commute is not bad at all, but you can also access the Martin Road gate in the mornings which is typically less congested than gate 9 (main gate off 565). The heaviest commuter traffic will be around the main gate.

[Kel_in_PA]

We lived in the DC area (mostly NOVA) for over 13 years. We were then in PA for about three years and then we moved here to be near my husband's family. We are in south huntsville (Weatherly elementary). I have a son in 1st grade and a son in preschool. We moved inthe middle of the year and I found a preschool very quickly. We were not specifically looking for a religious-based preschool but we are sending my son to a church program. M-F 9am to 1:00. Parental involvement is voluntary (of course encourgaed). I do as much as I can but I am limited by my work schedule. I love his preschool and I am so happy with the progress he has made. I am also happy with my son's elementary school.

Honestly, I don't miss anything about DC. I hated the fact that we would play outside or go for walks every day and none of our neighbors would even say HI to us. I also hated my 1.5 hour commute when I only lived 12 miles from my office, and I really disliked the amount of money we had to pay to live somewhere with decent schools. DC was fun when I was single, and later married but without kids, but I am glad I am not raising my kids there now.

I do have to laugh just a bit when I hear people complain about traffic here. At worst my cummute takes me a half hour. The only time I had that short of a cummute in DC was when I worked until 2:00 am. After 13 years of that traffice nightmare the drive here is just fine with me. I still cringe to think about how many hours of my life I spent sitting on the beltway in rush hour traffic. And after growing up in PA and then living there again for the past threeyears, I am also very happy to find on raods that do not have potholes the size of my car! It is so nice to live in a place where the raods are actually maintained.

Feel free to ask any other questions about the transition from DC to Huntsville. It is a move I am very happy that we made.

[Reactionary]

Kel_in_PA - I lived in DC and had a 3 mile commute for a while; if I drove = 45 mins / walked (fast) = 45 mins or so / metro = 45 mins. Biking was a little faster but there was a not insignificant risk of injury. In HSV my commute ranged from 10 mins to 30 mins.

I really did enjoy living in DC - I can't imagine someone trying to raise a family there...

[Kel_in_PA]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

Kel_in_PA - I lived in DC and had a 3 mile commute for a while; if I drove = 45 mins / walked (fast) = 45 mins or so / metro = 45 mins. Biking was a little faster but there was a not insignificant risk of injury. In HSV my commute ranged from 10 mins to 30 mins.

I really did enjoy living in DC - I can't imagine someone trying to raise a family there...

When I was expecting my first we moved to a condo in McLean, just 3 blocks from where I worked. I just didn;t want to put up with that commute while I was pregnant. We paid out the nose to live there, but I loved my 7 minute walk. I remember many times walking the entire way home and noticing that the line of cars did not move an inch the whole time I was walking. Living in that kind of traffic really ruins your quality of life. I don't want to do that again.

[elizj2000]

Thanks, Kel_in_PA and Reactionary. We're looking forward to getting out of DC (actually NOVA) for the exact reasons you mentioned. We made the decision to suck down an exorbitant rent payment to live in a small townhouse with no yard here so we'd only have a 15-20 min commute...but with the kids getting older, it'll be nice to have a yard and some room to stretch (and maybe even a garage, yeah!).

And I'm glad you were able to find a good PS quickly. Do most of them typically only have half day schedules?

[SnowPeace]

Madison city is a good place to raise family. We have nice neighbors. Commute is great compared to big city (moved from atl). My husband commutes to redstone from county line and it is decent.

Having said that, Al is buyer beware state, it's not required to disclose information. You need to ask around, (not solely relying on real estate agent) ask multiple residents, there are developers out there who frankly practice dishonestly.

[elizj2000]

Snowpeace, thanks for the heads up on the non-disclosure requirement in AL. We didn't buy in VA, but have heard horror stories from several coworkers about both developer and seller dishonesty.