moving from uk to bham area! (Birmingham, Mobile: real estate market, apartments, rental homes)

[jammydodger]

Hi everyone!

I have potentially be offered a job in the Birmingham area. I have been looking at nice areas to move into with the idea of buying a house in about a year.

What is probably most important is education - I have a daughter who is six but has some minor special needs attention, and a son who is three.

At the moment my daughter is in private school over here but from what I have read some of the state schools in Mountain Brook and Vestavia Hills seem pretty good!

We are also looking to create a new life for ourselves over here so ideally a nice community would be very nice benefit.

In terms of pricing for houses around the 500k.

Hope you can offer some advice

Thanks in advance!

[Back Again]

Mountain Brook, Vestavia Hill are good schools, you also have Oak Mountain Schools.

Try these websites, hopefully they will help.

ALSDE - Education Directory/Reports (http://www.alsde.edu/html/reports_menu.asp - broken link)
http://www.greatschools.net/
http://www.schoolmatters.com/

[cpg35223]

500K will get you a nice house in Mountain Brook, which arguably has one of the best public school systems in the country.

[Bravo35223]

Greetings Jammy:

I have a special needs child...autism and MR. The Mountain Brook and Vestavia schools are both excellent. I live in Mountain Brook and they do a fine job with our daughter.

BTW - I have an acquaintance who lives a few blocks away who is a native of Cornwall. Has lived most of his adult life in the states and has dual citizenship. Gets his football (Arsenal) off the satellite and keeps up just fine.

At the present time, $500K USD will buy you a nice home in Mountain Brook.

Please do not hesitate to send me a DM should you need more assistance. An international move will require a lot of good local information.

CHEERS!!!

[jammydodger]

Hey everyone,

A big thank you for your responses - I really appreciate your advice! I have been working in the usa quite alot over the last 10 years or so and never found anywhere I enjoyed until I came to Bham for some reason!

I have done some research about the area and both my wife and myself will be coming over in August to get some on-the-ground experience so to speak.

Any ideas of who to contact with regards schools for a look round and informal chat? Also we would ideally like to rent before we buy, but I cannot find anything with 3+ bedroom in Mountain Brook, so any suggestions?

Thanks!

[Back Again]

Try this link for looking for an apartment

Apartments for rent - ApartmentFinder.com

[Bravo35223]

Jammy:

The Birmingham News is our local paper.

A website called simply al.com is the internet version of three Newspapers...The Birmingham News, The Mobile Press-Register and the Huntsville Times.

I would spend some time learning to navigate al.com and getting to the appropriate Classified Ad section for rental homes in Mountain Brook. I found several 4 BR's after a quick search...

Birmingham Area Mountain Brook Alabama Home Rentals Listings - al.com

Mountain Brook has relatively few apartments as the city is largely zoned for single family homes and condos. Therefore if you are looking to rent a 4 BR property, I'd suggest looking for a house vs. an apartment. I think your strategy of renting before buying is spot on....its a big move coming across the pond and you never know how it will all sort out...however all the Brits I know here seem to be very pleased and have lived here for many many years...

Pls let us know how we can help. I can recommend a hotel for your stay if you would like. August is probably a good month to come because you will feel the absolute worst of our weather. If you and the family can tolerate it for several days, at least you can rest easy knowing you've experienced the worst and it will be better in the 3 other seasons...Fall and Spring can be glorious and winter will be similar to yours back home except the nights will be a bit colder....

Cheers....Bravo

[jammydodger]

Thanks again for your helpful comments. I have looked at rental properties in both mountain brook and vestavia hills and it seems vestavia hills has more choice.

Is there much difference between the two both in terms of community and quality of the schools?

Thanks in advance

[Bravo35223]

Originally Posted by jammydodger

Thanks again for your helpful comments. I have looked at rental properties in both mountain brook and vestavia hills and it seems vestavia hills has more choice.

Is there much difference between the two both in terms of community and quality of the schools?

Thanks in advance

Very little....I live in Mountain Brook and know a ton of people in Vestavia Hills. Schools are great in both areas and frankly you can buy more house in Vestavia as homes are a little less expensive there, although you can easily drop over $1M into a house in either community, there are more homes in the $500K range in Vestavia than MB...and the number of rental homes should be a bit higher as well....

Let me know when you are coming in and I will try to help you with some specifics on hotel and other local logistics...since you have spent quite a bit of time here on business, I am sure you are used to driving 'on the wrong side of the road' etc.

[cpg35223]

Originally Posted by jammydodger

Hey everyone,

A big thank you for your responses - I really appreciate your advice! I have been working in the usa quite alot over the last 10 years or so and never found anywhere I enjoyed until I came to Bham for some reason!

I have done some research about the area and both my wife and myself will be coming over in August to get some on-the-ground experience so to speak.

Any ideas of who to contact with regards schools for a look round and informal chat? Also we would ideally like to rent before we buy, but I cannot find anything with 3+ bedroom in Mountain Brook, so any suggestions?

Thanks!

Right now, with the real estate market kind of flat, people are dealing. In fact, there are 2 3+ bedrooms on Dunbarton Drive that are on the market in your price range.

One thing to take into account. August is hot. I mean really hot. I mean hot, dry, and hot. So when the first blast of hot hair greets you as you leave the airport, just look over at your wife and say, 'Okay. This is temporary. It gets better in September.' Because late September through November is great and March through June is heaven.

Moderator cut: website

The next question for you...in which part of town would you be working? How long a commute would you want to have? What amenities are most important to you and your wife? Both Vestavia and Mountain Brook would be excellent choices. I'm partial to Mountain Brook myself, but that's just my bias.