B'Ham Bound in 2008 (Birmingham, Huntsville, Hoover: real estate, rental homes, hairstylist) - Alabama (AL) - City-Data Forum

bhambound2008 · 12-16-2007, 10:50 AM

Hi all,

My husband, infant daughter and I are relocating to B'Ham from Boston next summer. I am Asian American from California and was a bit skeptical of Birmingham at first given its past history. But after doing more research I have been pleasantly surprised as B’Ham seems to be a beautiful and diverse city. My husband will be working at UAB for 1 year so we are interested in renting a house or condo near there or relatively close to UAB in a SAFE neighborhood. Since we aren’t quite sure if we will have two cars in B’Ham, it would be nice to live within walking distance to cafes, grocery stores, playgrounds, etc. We are willing to pay $1500-$2000 rent/month. Any recommendations?

Thanks!

B’Ham Bound in 2008

Bravo35223 · 12-16-2007, 12:08 PM

I think you will like it here very much. You will find much more diversity than you would believe. My hairstylist is from Iran (has another fellow working there from Jordan), psychiatrist from Puerto Rico, Dentist from Guatemala. Our favorite Chinese takeout restaurant is run by a young Asian-American woman who is married to a white male and they have a new beautiful baby.

UAB is very, very diverse as well.

Because Birmingham's suburbs have excellent schools, real estate prices here are not as cheap as you may have expected. If you are going to rent and want to be within walking distance from a village, I am going to recommend the towns of Homewood and Vestavia Hills. Both have nice villages with small shops, coffee shops, restaurants and grocery stores etc. My best guess is that rental homes around those villages will run you around $2000 per month and may be a little tough to find.

Both are within easy commuting distance of UAB and are very safe.

Here is the website for The Birmingham News. The classifieds can be found in there as well.

http://www.al.com/birminghamnews/

Please send me a Direct Message if I can be of further assistance.

bravo

luvnnyc · 12-16-2007, 07:06 PM

Coming from Boston I feel you may like Birmingham...you may want to stick with the Mountain Brook, Vestavia or Hwy. 280 areas. If your husband is working at UAB they are building lots of new lofts and condos there...the main problem with Birmingham is the lack of tourist and the "old school" mentality is still very strong here. I am from NYC originally and do not like it here...I plan on returning back to the north in 2008. I don't find much diversity here and people are not that open with letting you into their circles...if you did not attend Alabama or Auburn University then you will feel out of place...football is their life here...not true education...reading etc. You may be able to find a few select people here and there but I am speaking about the culture here as a whole...please do not go to the library and expect it to be quiet...people are talking out loud because again...there is no true respect for education, reading or anything intellectual. If you don't believe me just remember what I have told you and when you arrive notice how long it will take for someone to ask if you are for Alabama or Auburn football teams and then visit a library and see how loudly everyone is talking. Also, those who hold great positions have either relocated here into their positions or were hired based on "who they know" not "what they know" degrees are not very respected here if you do not fall into one of those categories. I worked in HR for years and had to find jobs for people were not qualified simply because they had a family member who worked in management. Formal education is not very respected here...it is far more important that these kids play football...it is very sad. I am sorry Birminghamians...you guys need to wake up and smell the coffee....there is a whole world going on around you and all you know is football...orange and blue or crimson and cream.

Threestep2 · 12-17-2007, 07:05 AM

Good luck for your move back to New York. I hope you will find what you are looking for.

Threestep2 · 12-17-2007, 07:08 AM

One car may be a handicap as there is no public transportation to speak of. Have you considered taking a househunting trip?

gustygulas · 12-17-2007, 10:34 AM

It's crimson and white thank you very much. Yes I am a proud graduate of the University of Alabama. We have great business and communictions schools among others. Yes our hobby is college football. We have grown up either Alabama or Auburn fans. We like them as much as you like the Red Sox or the Yankees.

Yes there is a true respect for education. Many of my clients look in the Mountain Brook, Vestavia, Homewood, and Hoover areas specifically for their public school systems.

Coach Saban said you were a lousy football player by the way.

Reactionary · 12-17-2007, 11:54 AM

bhambound2008 - where in Boston do you live? I lived in Boston (close to Mass General) and live in Huntsville (~90 minutes North of Bham). Note that Boston also has a 'past history'; it was still pretty segregated when I lived there, and when you got out of the city or PRC it was not really 'diverse' at all (either: Yankee, Irish, Italian, or Portuguese).

Bravo35223 · 12-17-2007, 02:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvnnyc

Coming from Boston I feel you may like Birmingham...you may want to stick with the Mountain Brook, Vestavia or Hwy. 280 areas. If your husband is working at UAB they are building lots of new lofts and condos there...the main problem with Birmingham is the lack of tourist and the "old school" mentality is still very strong here. I am from NYC originally and do not like it here...I plan on returning back to the north in 2008. I don't find much diversity here and people are not that open with letting you into their circles...if you did not attend Alabama or Auburn University then you will feel out of place...football is their life here...not true education...reading etc. You may be able to find a few select people here and there but I am speaking about the culture here as a whole...please do not go to the library and expect it to be quiet...people are talking out loud because again...there is no true respect for education, reading or anything intellectual. If you don't believe me just remember what I have told you and when you arrive notice how long it will take for someone to ask if you are for Alabama or Auburn football teams and then visit a library and see how loudly everyone is talking. Also, those who hold great positions have either relocated here into their positions or were hired based on "who they know" not "what they know" degrees are not very respected here if you do not fall into one of those categories. I worked in HR for years and had to find jobs for people were not qualified simply because they had a family member who worked in management. Formal education is not very respected here...it is far more important that these kids play football...it is very sad. I am sorry Birminghamians...you guys need to wake up and smell the coffee....there is a whole world going on around you and all you know is football...orange and blue or crimson and cream.

I take pretty strong exception to your statement that formal education is not very respected here. I have friends who graduated from Duke, Vanderbilt, Dartmouth....my daughter's psychiatrist (she is autistic) just sent his daughter off to NYU this fall. My niece attends St. John's college in Annapolis MD, where much of the lectures are delivered in Greek or Latin.

I also take strong exception to your statement that there's no respect for education, reading or anything intellectual when we have one of the largest municipal museums in the Southeast, an excellent and well respected symphony orchestra and a medical center that is currently doing over $500 million in NIH medical research grants.

Where do you live?

bhambound2008 · 12-17-2007, 06:37 PM

Thanks to everyone for all the wonderful advice!

One of you (Bravo) mentioned that rental homes may be hard to find in Homewood and Vestavia Hills. Why is that? Does that mean that the supply of rental homes is low in those areas or is the amount we are willing to pay ($2000/month) is on the low side? Do you think we should contact a realtor? I know that some real estate agencies handle rentals.

I’ve done some internet searches for rental homes in Vestavia Hills and many gated condo/townhouse communities came up. Would you recommend looking at those? We also looked on Craigslist (which is popular in Boston) and didn’t find so many listings for Homewood and Vestavia Hills. Hmm….

Yes, we are thinking about taking a house hunting trip in the spring but can only come for a weekend. I’m not sure how efficient we will be with an infant in tow. Though it will be good to see all the different neighborhoods and just get a gerneral sense of what B’ham is like. We can’t wait!

Thanks!!

Bravo35223 · 12-18-2007, 07:56 AM

Actually I was wrong....I opened the Sunday real estate section and looked for rental properties in Homewood and Vestavia and found several in the $1500 per month range.

These are excellent suburban towns with very low crime and very good schools.

Several of the houses, I saw were close to the villages, which is one of your criteria...I would indeed contact Rudulph Realty.

http://www.rudulphrealestate.com/