Welcome to City-Data.com Forum!
U.S. CitiesCity-Data Forum Index
Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Alabama > Huntsville-Madison-Decatur area
 [Register]
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
View detailed profile (Advanced) or search
site with Google Custom Search

Search Forums  (Advanced)
Reply Start New Thread
 
Old 05-11-2014, 08:01 PM
 
11 posts, read 11,301 times
Reputation: 20

Advertisements

Hey all!

While I have been frequenting this forum for some time and using many previous threads to compile information on neighborhoods and other notable things to know before moving to the area, I have a few questions that remain unanswered that are primarily related to business.

Background:
My husband is an engineer and will be working in Decatur. This move is optional for us and we're hoping to be in the state by the end of the year. We have one child, multiple pets, are opting for private school (Randolph) for our son, and will likely be living in 5 Points or Jones Valley area of Huntsville.

I have a few businesses out here (CA) that run rather smoothly but will be closed when I move simply because they need me here in order to run. Since I will have a decent amount of capital, we were thinking of purchasing a few rental homes. We will still be keeping our home here in Southern California, so I can't start out purchasing multiple properties over the $300k mark.

Real Estate Questions:

1) I am not sure what the rental market is like. From what I can tell, it looks like it is decent, but I am not sure how the supply/demand is since it seems as though it is cheaper to own the home than rent (which is opposite from what we're used to dealing with here). Would you say that certain neighborhoods are always short rentals?

2) When looking at rentals, I am not finding consistent information on what they include (cable, trash, water, gas, electric, etc...), so what are some standards for the Huntsville area? Do they differ from Madison area? I would assume that trash, water, and gardening are paid for by landlords (in addition to standard maintenance), how far off am I?

3) In this market, would I be more apt to find someone who wants a home in the Jones Valley area that has been updated or someone who would rather rent a semi or non-updated home?

4) Is there a greater desire for homes in "family" areas or in trendier communities.

5) What amenities in a rental do you look for? What is considered standard and what is considered a luxury?

6) What are pet restrictions like in the majority of the area rentals? Again, here in CA we have quite a lengthy list of banned dog breeds in the majority of rentals. I do not want to alienate potential renters if the community feel towards "banned" breeds is not as large of an issue.

7) I haven't spoken to my real estate agent yet (I do have one btw), but I noticed a lot of listings for homes state, "seller will finance," is this common in the area?


Random Business Questions:

1) The current businesses I have are regional and catering based, so not easily able to transplant in a new community. I want to know what you think is lacking in terms of desired businesses. Would new restaurants be of any appeal? If so, what type of cuisine is desired most?

2) What roads would be the best to look at in terms of retail locations for businesses. Should I be focusing on certain areas or strictly downtown?



Overall, we're trying to decide on if we want to consider opening local businesses or focus strictly on real estate. Again, just trying to feel the area out a little before making the move. I am leaning towards real estate investments simply because I enjoy real estate management but ultimately we will have to see everything for ourselves before making our decision! I suppose I am just anxious and eager to move to Huntsville.

Any other questions, information, or tips ya'll want to offer would also be greatly appreciated!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message

 
Old 05-11-2014, 09:05 PM
 
211 posts, read 338,837 times
Reputation: 385
I'll let one of our more knowledgeable realtor types answer your specific questions...

...But from the general tone of your post I can't help but think you're trying to drive a bass boat on a frog pond. Everything moves slower here and we don't have the conventions and regulations that you are used to. I really don't mean to be condescending or anything, but you might want to consider just moving out here as renters for a little while to get a feel for everything. I hope you like it here.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-11-2014, 09:22 PM
 
11 posts, read 11,301 times
Reputation: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by curzon_dax View Post
...we don't have the conventions and regulations that you are used to. I really don't mean to be condescending or anything, but you might want to consider just moving out here as renters for a little while to get a feel for everything. I hope you like it here.
It doesn't come off as condescending at all! I am grateful for the feedback and think that being born and raised in California has skewed my view of business and lifestyle in multiple ways, which is part of the reason we're looking to exit the state and start a life somewhere new.

I have two extremely close family friends who were also raised in California and now live in Birmingham, but they both said that no two cities in AL are exactly alike and Birmingham tends to be similar to one of our cities in a lot of ways. They are both unfamiliar with Huntsville so I am trying to see if there are any similarities that I can pick up on and have an easier time transitioning.

I am really excited to move and from all that I am hearing about Alabama, I am really looking forward to the pace and the people.

Would you have any particular place you would suggest to start renting? We're primarily looking at Jones Valley subdivisions (of which you guys have a TON) and 5 Points area. Madison doesn't seem to be our speed (we want to stay closer to the hills) and Hampton Cove has an HOA and we're not sure we want to be involved in an HOA community.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-11-2014, 10:04 PM
 
8,742 posts, read 12,863,546 times
Reputation: 10524
Cool. Welcome. What area in So Cal are you from? We too were from So Cal. We moved here 5+ years ago.

But first, you MUST pick a college football team between Auburn or Alabama. This is MANDATORY in order to be accepted here

I will let the Realtors answer your questions but just to share our experience, other realtors have told us that there is a shortage of SFR rentals in good neighborhoods. When we were planning to move here, my thought was (conventional wisdom) to rent the first year before deciding where to huy, but what we found is the rental market was "unreasonably expensive" asking $1/sq.ft., a shortage of available rentals, and usually were not up to our standards. At the time, the local housing was "over built" and the builders were making it very easy to buy a new home.

The Huntsville real estate market is not a "perfect" market in a way supply & demand curves meet at an equilibrium. In many ways, it is an "imperfect" market where price varies greatly. The "volume" is just not there for this market and the average DOM is much higher here than for SoCal. I've known people who had their houses on the market for 2-3 years before they were sold because they just refuse to lower the price.

I think the best thing for you to do is to find a Realtor that is willing to work with you, come here for 2-3 days on a "house hunting trip" to get an idea of what the local housing market is like. Get the right information in order to make a right decision for you. Likewise, get some ideas on retail business locations as well.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-11-2014, 10:04 PM
 
28,896 posts, read 53,955,105 times
Reputation: 46662
Quote:
Originally Posted by curzon_dax View Post
I'll let one of our more knowledgeable realtor types answer your specific questions...

...But from the general tone of your post I can't help but think you're trying to drive a bass boat on a frog pond. Everything moves slower here and we don't have the conventions and regulations that you are used to. I really don't mean to be condescending or anything, but you might want to consider just moving out here as renters for a little while to get a feel for everything. I hope you like it here.
Dang. I didn't think she was condescending at all. But you sure come off that way.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-11-2014, 10:43 PM
 
Location: Madison, AL
168 posts, read 309,546 times
Reputation: 217
Yeah, what HB2HSV said. I'm not a Realtor, but I would think that the sweet spot has to be in finding a good house where you can rent it out somewhere in the $900-1300/month range. Nice rentals where you actually want to live in this range are hard to come by. Anything more than that and I'd rather just look at buying the house. You will realize quickly that the vast majority of the HSV area is dirt cheap when compared w/ SoCal (and it's 2nd mini housing bubble ongoing today). I'd look at Decatur too.... it is another level cheaper than HSV (and the profit differential may be higher than HSV from an investment perspective). Good luck!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-11-2014, 10:50 PM
 
1,644 posts, read 3,018,113 times
Reputation: 926
Well, I don't want to say "You're really not going to get your feel for the Huntsville area until you have been here a few months" but it's pretty well true. It's southern, but with the majority of residents not natives. It's a small city, but spread out over a large area. Things do move medium slow, but not as bad as the southern stereotype.

As for the housing market, well, coming from California, you'll just laugh at how low the prices are.

We're not allowed to recommend a Realtor to help you here on the forum, but I can recommend one if you PM me.

And if you want to opt out of the college football thing, just buy a Tennessee Vols shirt and no one will ever talk to you about football.

Edited to add: Oh, and here's a handy map:
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-11-2014, 10:55 PM
 
11 posts, read 11,301 times
Reputation: 20
Quote:
Originally Posted by HB2HSV View Post
Cool. Welcome. What area in So Cal are you from? We too were from So Cal. We moved here 5+ years ago.

But first, you MUST pick a college football team between Auburn or Alabama. This is MANDATORY in order to be accepted here

I will let the Realtors answer your questions but just to share our experience, other realtors have told us that there is a shortage of SFR rentals in good neighborhoods. When we were planning to move here, my thought was (conventional wisdom) to rent the first year before deciding where to huy, but what we found is the rental market was "unreasonably expensive" asking $1/sq.ft., a shortage of available rentals, and usually were not up to our standards. At the time, the local housing was "over built" and the builders were making it very easy to buy a new home.

The Huntsville real estate market is not a "perfect" market in a way supply & demand curves meet at an equilibrium. In many ways, it is an "imperfect" market where price varies greatly. The "volume" is just not there for this market and the average DOM is much higher here than for SoCal. I've known people who had their houses on the market for 2-3 years before they were sold because they just refuse to lower the price.

I think the best thing for you to do is to find a Realtor that is willing to work with you, come here for 2-3 days on a "house hunting trip" to get an idea of what the local housing market is like. Get the right information in order to make a right decision for you. Likewise, get some ideas on retail business locations as well.
We're in San Gabriel Valley area (Pasadena)! I've been told by my best friends that I am to absolutely cheer for University of Alabama but I am going to see where we end up moving and what my neighbors like before I decide...haha!

We've been looking at rentals and it doesn't seem to make sense for us to rent too long before buying. If I know the area is good (desirable, low crime rate, good schools) then I don't see us renting for longer than it takes escrow to close, possibly not renting at all. We're fortunate in that the company my husband works for will pay for 2+ trips out to Huntsville before our move date in order for us to secure a home and my husband would need 2-3 months to wrap up projects here before we transfer, which would mean that we'll likely find a home we enjoy before we move. I am not going to say that we won't rent, but I am hoping we don't have to!

It was after observing the rental market that we thought investment into real estate would be a viable option for us since we've done it here and have been successful. We were initially thinking of purchasing 3 homes in the Jones Valley & 5 Points areas and update/renovating (if needed) and renting two of them out. The retail business is going to take some time, as I am not sure what I want to do. We're considering restaurants as a possibility but it is something that requires a fair amount of market research before opening.

Again, I am more excited than anything else and I am eager to get the go-ahead to move forward with my real estate agent and start to seriously look at homes! Thank you for the feedback and sharing your experience, it is greatly appreciated!
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-11-2014, 11:02 PM
 
4,739 posts, read 10,381,154 times
Reputation: 4186
Jones Valley is closest to Randolph; 5 Points is closest to I565 (to Decatur).

2) Huntsville Utilities provides electric, gas, water, sewer, and garbage collection (in Huntsville) - all on one bill. It has been my experience that the renter arranges for utilities in single family homes; landscaping varies. Cable and Internet are provided by Comcast, etc. and are usually arranged by the renter.

6) Huntsville has a Nuisance Animal ordinance that is not breed (or species) specific. There is no such thing as a "banned breed" here, however a landlord can make whatever pet restrictions they want. Note that Alabama is a business and landlord friendly State.

1) Judging by the number of BBQ restaurants, I would say that BBQ is the 'most desired cuisine'.

2) Location depends on the type of business. Huntsville has a lot of restaurants, mostly chains, but it seems to me that there is a fairly high mortality rate. 'Local' restaurants seem to do pretty well, for example:

Home - Boyce Restaurant Concepts, Inc.

or

Below the Radar
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
 
Old 05-11-2014, 11:49 PM
 
8,742 posts, read 12,863,546 times
Reputation: 10524
Quote:
Originally Posted by SoCalTransplant14 View Post
We're in San Gabriel Valley area (Pasadena)!
We were the "beach people" from Huntington Beach

Quote:
Originally Posted by Reactionary View Post
1) Judging by the number of BBQ restaurants, I would say that BBQ is the 'most desired cuisine'.
Ha! The LAST thing you want to advise California folks is to get into the BBQ business and compete with the LOCALS, who knows BBQ, for customers.

Mexican food do well here but there are a lot of restaurants already. So unless you can provide something different otherwise I'd be advising against the idea.

Good Chinese restaurants do not survive in this town. What survives is the Chinese buffets, all-U-can-eat, style of restaurants which seem to be as many as Walmarts in this town.

This is an engineers' town which means frugal, fiscally conservative & always calculating how many pounds of food do I get for my $7.
Reply With Quote Quick reply to this message
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.

Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.


Reply
Please update this thread with any new information or opinions. This open thread is still read by thousands of people, so we encourage all additional points of view.

Quick Reply
Message:


Settings
X
Data:
Loading data...
Based on 2000-2020 data
Loading data...

123
Hide US histogram


Over $104,000 in prizes was already given out to active posters on our forum and additional giveaways are planned!

Go Back   City-Data Forum > U.S. Forums > Alabama > Huntsville-Madison-Decatur area
Similar Threads

All times are GMT -6.

© 2005-2024, Advameg, Inc. · Please obey Forum Rules · Terms of Use and Privacy Policy · Bug Bounty

City-Data.com - Contact Us - Archive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37 - Top