Moving to Birmingham Area! (Need information for relocation) (Hoover, Homewood: how much, home search)

[emhensley]

My husband has accepted a job in Birmingham Alabama. His start date is July 9th and we will be searching for a home in the upcoming weeks. His office location is southern Birmingham so we are looking for homes in the areas of Hoover, Vestavia Hills, Mountain Brook, and Homewood. We are moving from a small suburb in Kentucky. This is hopefully our final move and we are looking to put down roots. We have two children who will be 9 and 4 this summer so we are looking for a neighborhood that will hopefully have children in that same age range as well. We would prefer to have a community pool/park and be close to restaurants/shopping. Our current neighborhood/town is very family friendly, safe and within 20 minutes to the city. Our town itself is small and I would like to have more amenities than we currently have if possible (many shops close at 5, very few restaurants, and many things closed on Sunday). I would like to have some insight from someone who lives in one of these areas if they are willing to share any information that could be helpful as we will be going to home search in 2 weeks. We are looking in the $300,000-$450,000 price range.

Thanks for your help!

[steveklein]

You'll get more square footage in Hoover than in Vestavia/Mountain Brook/Homewood. And you'll get still more square footage in Trussville than in Hoover.

All of those cities have good school systems and friendly family-dominated neighborhoods.

Best thing to do is browse the MLS and see how much space you need and see what's available. There should be a healthy amount of inventory in the 2000-3000+ square foot range in your price range.

[MinivanDriver]

Hoover, Vestavia, Homewood, and Trussville have community pools. Steve recommends Hoover, while my personal choice would be Vestavia. But you really can't go wrong with any of those communities. I would offer that you'll get the amenities you're searching for.

[emhensley]

Thank you all! With such a little time frame I wanted to hear from people who were familiar.

As far as those areas go do you feel like there is plenty to do? We'd like to immerse ourselves into the community so that it's easier to adjust.

Also, I read that tornadoes are more frequent in Alabama than here in Kentucky. Is a home with a basement a must?

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by emhensley

Thank you all! With such a little time frame I wanted to hear from people who were familiar.

As far as those areas go do you feel like there is plenty to do? We'd like to immerse ourselves into the community so that it's easier to adjust.

Also, I read that tornadoes are more frequent in Alabama than here in Kentucky. Is a home with a basement a must?

Tornadoes are certainly an issue, but of course not an every day occurrence. Television and NWS coverage during severe weather is excellent though, so you'll at least be aware of what to expect and when. Are they more frequent than Kentucky? Yes, in general, but the southern part of Kentucky is certainly no stranger to them. Most homes in Alabama do not have a basement, and if you can find what you want with a basement it would certainly be a plus, but the chances of actually needing the safety of a basement is quite low.

[MinivanDriver]

Originally Posted by emhensley

Thank you all! With such a little time frame I wanted to hear from people who were familiar.

As far as those areas go do you feel like there is plenty to do? We'd like to immerse ourselves into the community so that it's easier to adjust.

Also, I read that tornadoes are more frequent in Alabama than here in Kentucky. Is a home with a basement a must?

Yes, there is. All have plenty of activities on the community level, plus Birmingham really has plenty of offerings.

As far as tornados are concerned, it's always a concern, but they tend to churn their way through the northwest part of town as opposed to the southern suburbs.