Madison/Huntsville (Birmingham, Decatur, Athens: relocating, real estate, house hunting)

[MsMuir]

Originally Posted by brandoni57

no problem. you keep researching and do some first hand observing when you arrive and have time to do indepth 'driving around.' You will find something that fits I am sure. good luck to you and drop a message when you narrow the search down.

Hi brandoni....We will have about 2 weeks, give or take, to
drive around and check out the areas etc. Will for sure let you know what we found/decided on...as I mentioned, we won't be going until the Christmas holidays and it just can't come soon enough for us! I so appreciate all your suggestions and probably have some more questions for you!

Thanks again for your time.

[swycallis]

Really enjoyed reading all the insight information about Huntsville/Madison.
We are a family with two boys (4/7) living in Florida since 1992 (originally
from Germany). We are seriously considering Huntsville as Insurance and
general Cost of living exploded here in Fla. in the past six years. Our main
concern would be Schools! Here in Florida we sent our Kids to Private School
(+ Pre K) , not because we have the money, but we have no choice with the
awful public school system. I know of Randall in Huntsville, but they are even more expensive than private schools here. We are not to much into religious schools either. Any help would be apreciated. Also: Are there any sources for
vacation homes in Huntsville- We want to visit in July 2007, but could only find 4 Properties around Lake Guntersville on the NET. Any suggestions?
NOTE: The Poster two messages ago surely meant assessed value per $1000
(per Mille/ not 100), so don't get scared by calculating Property taxes, looks
like they are 40% + lees than in Florida. Steve

[marysally]

I don't have children in school, but I do keep up with ratings and test scores because of property value. I live in Madison which has very highly rated schools. Some of the Huntsville city schools are not the best, but others are very highly rated. My advice if you do decide to move to Huntsville would be to research the ratings and test scores and make sure you live in the district for one of the better schools. There are also a number of private schools but I have never felt that private schools were necessary. I have always lived in areas in close proximity to NASA facilities (in Houston and Huntsville) and hence the areas have had a high proportion of educated parents.

[brandoni57]

I went to GRISSOM High in Huntsville.

Excerpt from the Huntsville Times September 13th 2006
The National Merit Scholarship Corp. has released the list of 16,000 semifinalists in the 2007 National Merit Scholarship Program, including 65 from area schools. Grissom High School, with 28 semifinalists, had the highest number in the state.

Little numbers like this are always released about Grissom. At one point we had the highest number of PHD teachers in the state!

Also, Grissom (Huntsville City Schools) has 20 Advanced Placement/College Credit courses while the second highest in the area is Bob Jones (Madison City) with 13 and third most is 10 a tie between Huntsville High and Lee High (both in the Hsv City Schools.)

Grissom is a great school, a great mix of kids with teachers who really prepare you for college and great sports programs. We had two hockey teams when I was there and one of our hockey teams won state and city almost every year. Soccer was very good too for several years when I was there.

RANDOLPH is a great private school, you also have Catholic High, Westminster, Madison Academy, and maybe some others? Public schools are fine depending on where you end up.

[marysally]

I stand by my statement that some of the Huntsville city schools are not the best, but some are highly rated. Grissom is definitely a very good school as is Huntsville High. Lee is probably a good school, but doesn't have the reputation that Grissom and HH have. I would stay clear of Butler and Johnson. The newest school (Columbia) is in its first year so it has no track record but promises good things. When I first moved here I was interested in a house that was in Butler school district. A number of people warned me against buying a house in Butler district. The area where that house was is now in the new Columbia district and prices of homes in that area have almost doubled. Obviously home prices were held down by being zoned for Butler.

[swycallis]

thanks marysally + Brandon:
Your comments are highly apreciated and will help us when investigating the
school situation "in Persona" next Summer. It is always more insightful to hear
from real People than reading comments or statistics designed to attract people to the area ( I am assuming You Marysally and Brandon don't work
for the local visitors bureau :-)) )
If you ever need info about Tampa Bay Florida or Germany (in general) feel
free to contact me. Ciao, Steve

[brandoni57]

no problem! good luck with your search!

[BigMunch]

Question for you:
Is Lewis Smith Lake nice?
I am interested in any info you have about property in that area on or near the lake.

[outdoorman]

Interesting to see all the excited folks from california moving to the south.
Ever wonder what people from the south feel about them moving here?
Well my heritage is southern but I was raised in California but when I grew up I came back to Georgia. I say this to say even though I know californian mentality, I was raised with southern values.
If you come here to get away from the lifestyle where you were at, you have to make sure you dont come in trying to change things to what your accustomed to.
I for one dont want to live like I'm back in California.

[jtalabama]

I grew up in the Hunstville/Decatur Area and loved it. It will always be home to me. I followed my wife to Roanoke Alabama when she took a teaching job there, and I went to work in Auburn. The cost of living, and taxes are generally very good, and the drive is great. The sales tax is about the only thing that is high there (average of 8.5 to 9%). The vehicle tags, and property taxes are low. Compared to Atlanta. A $125,000 house in south Metro Atlanta has property taxes of about $1700 a year, as compared to the same value of house in Huntsville at about $600 a year.