Any info on Hazel Green / New Market? (Huntsville, Madison: for sale, 2010)

[Deuce4]

My wife and I are heading to Huntsville in August. We have been looking at some houses in the $350s in Hazel Geen and New Market. Does any one have info on: Schools, crime, the area in general, shopping, dining.
Any pros or cons on these areas.
This is an excellent site for info on Huntsville and after reading some of the posts we will probably change our minds a hundred times before we get down there.
Thanks to all that contribute.
Thanks for your help.

[Charles]

Why were you looking in those two places?
Where will you be working?
Kids? Ages?

Use the Great Schools tool to research potential schools. The Alabama Dept of Education has specific data.

There are quite a few posts and threads on schools, I am not sure about those two areas. I didn't check to see which districts they are in. Use the search tool for similar questions.

Here are the Huntsville City, Madison County and Madison City High School 2008 proficiency data sorted by subgroup for both reading and math.



Math


Reading

[mm42]

I think the high school for New Market is Buckhorn. Buckhorn and Hazel Green are part of the Madison County school system (as opposed to Huntsville city or Madison city schools).

You will not find much in the way of shopping or dining out there (unless shopping=Walmart and dining=Hardee's), but they are both a short drive from Huntsville.

[Deuce4]

Charles,
The reason I was looking in these areas was because it was out of the city but not to far away.
My kids are 14 and 2.
I am retiring out of the military and will not be working for at least the first two years.
The children come first the wife and I second so the schools do have priority maybe even a private
school.
Thanks for the info on the schools.

[caution]

We are buying out that way.

I liked the fact that the lots are a bit larger than some of the new construction elsewhere, and I liked the elevation of the area (in comparison).

The only thing we hear from co-workers and others is that the high-school isn't so hot.

[AnotherBravesFan]

We, too, were looking for around a 1/2 acre; retiring and tired of noise, traffic, 10' between us and our neighbors. Schools were only a concern for resale in case we decided we didn't like the area. We nixed these 2 areas because of the lack of services (shopping, medical, etc). It just felt too rural for us, plus my husband is attending UAH, and I didn't want him to have to drive through what I consider the sketchy area between Meridianville and downtown to get to school and back home. We ended up in SW Harvest just inside the county line. So far, he's very happy there (I'm stuck in San Diego wondering if I can ever sell this house ). 2 miles to a major gas station, 4-5 miles to multiple grocers, Lowe's, Home Depot, etc. in Madison. It was a good compromise for us...not too rural but enough space to breathe and see the stars at night. My best advice is to make several trips and drive the neighborhoods; my map is full of notes that were so helpful when I was back in S.D. researching homes for sale online.

[BuckMom]

Originally Posted by Deuce4

My wife and I are heading to Huntsville in August. We have been looking at some houses in the $350s in Hazel Geen and New Market. Does any one have info on: Schools, crime, the area in general, shopping, dining.
Any pros or cons on these areas.
This is an excellent site for info on Huntsville and after reading some of the posts we will probably change our minds a hundred times before we get down there.
Thanks to all that contribute.
Thanks for your help.

Deuce...I live out towards New Market and am really happy with the area. I have a son at Buckhorn and I'm happy with the school. Retail shopping isn't close but it'll be here before we know it. There is a new retail shopping development coming near Chapman Mtn. Even though there aren't a ton of restaurants out there, there are enough to take care of the palette. We've got El Mariachi, Ole Hickory BBQ, China Cook, From the Grill, Cafe 302, etc.

If you're interested in getting a bit more land with your house, this would be a great area to do that.

Good luck in your search!

[Charles]

Originally Posted by BuckMom

Retail shopping isn't close but it'll be here before we know it.

How certain of this are we? Any dates posted? Is there any construction going on? I haven't seen too much retail going up. Just seems like everything, everywhere is stuck in park.

[james_hsv]

I live in the Chase/Moores Mill area. It has older homes than Hazel Green and New Market b/c it's closer in, but it's five minutes or less to three grocery stores and other main features of suburban sprawl (gas stations, fast food restaurants, Dollar General, etc). Buckhorn and Hazel Green High do have a "redneck" reputation (I mean, come on... Buckhorn's mascot is a deer), but they're pretty good schools on the inside, and just about everyone I know from those schools has turned out well. Yeah, I have to drive through that "sketchy" (hahahaha, what?) area that someone talked about above, but I can get to UAH/Research Park in less than 15 minutes.

Originally Posted by Charles

How certain of this are we? Any dates posted? Is there any construction going on? I haven't seen too much retail going up. Just seems like everything, everywhere is stuck in park.

Most frequently asked question to me (via my blog)- "When is Harris Hill going up?" A lot of people still think that it's going to be completely open in a year. Guess what... it's not going to be open before 2010; even back in May, the developer gave an "optimistic" 3 years on the START of construction. About all I see going there before then is a couple of sit-down chain restaurants, which would be great for the area, but it's no Target.

[HSVbulldawg]

I lived in Hazel Green for a while and would not recommend it from a school standpoint. There are other schools in the Huntsville area with much better reputations. Also, Hazel Green is more country music/conservative/fish fry & tractor pull oriented (not a bad thing - just fyi). From an investment standpoint, I know that my parents bought in a decent area of Hazel Green during a time of a lot of growth in HG and their house didn't really appreciate that well. It was a poor investment compared to SE Huntsville and compared to Madison. I personally hated living in Hazel Green, although other people I know loved it.

What are your interests and what are you looking for in the way of community? Different areas of HSV have different atmospheres. If you are looking for a safe, family oriented area with good schools I would recommend Hampton Cove or almost anywhere in SE Huntsville. Madison is also known for having good schools. Hampton Cove seems to be very popular with young families.