Moving to the area

[FlourChild]

If that is your price range, you might look at Hampton Cove (SE from HSV, toward Owens Crossroads). It's about a 30-45 minute commute from there to Research Park, maybe less. Not sure if the price range is exactly right (it may have changed in the past year) but it's worth a shot and it's pretty nice out there, good schools. Hope that helps. (We lived in HSV until a year ago.)

[FCEddie]

I was in H'ville a couple of weeks ago, and all the locals were telling me to buy instead of renting. Normally I'm against this, but in Central CT waiting 18 months was a huge mistake.

What I'm trying to do is use these forums, the locals that I know, plus getting some outside information first.

We may end up renting first, but with an influx of 50,000 coming soon - we may end up owning rather quickly.

[Keeper]

With that many ppl coming to H'ville, IMHO if you find a place you like buy.. Prices have gone up in just the last year even in the small town I live in, 20 minutes from Redstone. I don't see prices going down as the demand is going to go up.

If you know what you are looking for in an area, I assure you the folks on this forum are the most honest and helpful in all of City-data and will guide you.

Read some of zennjenn's early post before she made the move to H'ville from CA.

[FCEddie]

Oh trust me, I'm a big fan of ZenJenn's work

I'm narrowing it down to Madison/Athens and studying these threads as if they were a college final.

Flights are booked for next week to check out the place.

[Huntsville82]

When is this influx of people suppose to arrive? LOL We will not be there until April, so I'm hoping that we have a bit of time to look over the area before we buy. I have a Kindergartener that will need to finish the year up there, so I'm trying to get her in school ASAP. Therefore, we need an address to get her enrolled. It puts us in a quandry because I really didn't want her to have to change schools next year if we buy over the summer. So, I kind of need to narrow down the area to an elementary school district so we can rent in the same district that we decide to buy in. Did that make sense? LOL

Friends have suggested the Heritage Elementary district in Madison. Any reviews of from people here?

[FCEddie]

From what I have been reading, they expect 50,000 over the next 3 years. 10% increase to the region.

A few others have said they could get another boost by 2015 of a few hundred thousand.

[jspearlj1]

Originally Posted by FCEddie

From what I have been reading, they expect 50,000 over the next 3 years. 10% increase to the region.

A few others have said they could get another boost by 2015 of a few hundred thousand.

If that's the case then I'm gald I'm getting out soon because this area is going to be a huge car lot during rush hour!

Don't be too fooled by Madison's proximity to research park because you have to deal with more traffic than coming from Huntsville so account for that. I currently reside in SE Huntsville which many believe has the best school district here (Grissom received the blue ribbon award for top 100 High School in America). If you are looking to make a good investment though I'd look at the five points/blossomwood area just outside of the historical range. Many of the older homes have been updated and could become historic soon, and the blossomwood area has homes in the 20 year old range both five points and blossomwood are close to the highway to get to research park and are in a desirable neighborhood (backed up to Monte Sano Park and very close to downtown). I really believe this area is going to continue to experience great property value growth. I will say that it is a more liberal area though which may bug some people. It is a very well established area with no new construction and lots of natural landscaping.

I'll also second buying a house right away. Normally its better to rent, but this area's real estate is growing around 5-7% per year and could very reasonably grow more with all of the people coming in. Rent is actually pretty close to price for a house so you dont save much besides freedom to move around. Then again with this housing market you only have to be in a house 1-2 years to recoup the cost of moving/buying. We bought a house 3 years ago and it jumped 30% over the past 3 years (with new concrete siding, fence and laminate floors).