Good rental communities in Decatur/Madison/West Hunts.? (Huntsville, Florence: apartment complex, rentals)

[Encode]

Hello all,

My little family will be relocating to ya'll's neck of the woods, and my husband and I are trying get information on some places to look at (I'm currently trying to search old thread for names of places as well). I'll try and be brief with the parameters.

We are--
- young couple
- child who will enter Kindergarten this fall
- 3 year-old Australian cattle/collie mix (about 45lbs, extremely nonagressive "world's worst" guard dog)
- husband will be commuting to Muscle Shoals
- I'll be attending Calhoun Community College
- budgeted max $800/month rent

We don't know the school districts in that area (my husband's coworkers in Muscle Shoals only knew that district). So, our first priority is a good school district for our child, even if that may mean going a tiny bit above our max.

Please, if any of you know of any rental places that are decent (they don't have to be top-notch, just safe enough that my child and I would be safe alone around the complex) or if you at least know good school areas, then we would be grateful for the information.

[bmrisko]

I don't have any personal experiences other than driving by the complex daily, but Somerset at Madison (formerly The Springs at Madison) will put you off of County Line Rd. in Madison, which is always voted as one of the best school district's in the state. You will also have easy access to CCC via Old Hwy 20 or Huntsville-Brownsferry Rd as the entrance to 565 is currently closed for construction. There are parks close by, including a dog park, as well as numerous restaurants and shopping options. I don't think you can go wrong renting in Madison, but make sure the complex is zoned for Madison City schools. Many of the complexes claim to be in Madison, but are actually zoned for Huntsville schools, which are improving, but not to the same level as Madison city. I would avoid any of the complexes around the Balch Rd./Wal-Triana intersection in Madison as well as the ones off of Shelton Rd close to Madison Blvd. Those are a couple of concentrated little areas of occasional crime within Madison.

I looked and rates at Somerset appear to be in the $900+ range for a 2-bedroom, but they do allow pets and have a pet park in the complex and you would be in a great school district and 15-20 minutes away from CCC (the main Tanner campus), which you said was important.

Another option would be trying to find a rental home in Athens that is zoned for the city schools...I have heard good things about their school district from a few co-workers, although I think Madison is still regarded as a better school district. You can search all home rentals in a specific area on Valley MLS.

[needtosellmyhome]

Do you prefer an apartment complex or a single family home? And how many bedrooms? We loved "Colonial Grand at Madison" off of Hughes Road when we sold our house and built another one-we lived there temporarily. We had the "Glenn" floorplan at Colonial Grand at Madison which is 1377 square feet and has 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, nice sized living room and a "den" off of the living room in the upstairs units. Downstairs units have a gas log fireplace. For the "Glenn" floorplan they currently advertise prices at $860.00-$1005.00 per month but if you can go down to a 2 bedroom, 2 bath they currently advertise prices for that at $760.00-$850.00 per month for the "Unity" floorplan which is 1090 square feet and they have another two bedroom, two bath plan called the "Grissom" that is a larger 2 bedroom, 2 bath (1222 square feet) with prices for that plan currently advertised at $695.00-$875.00 per month. I think they set the rental price depending on the availability and how many units are currently available. Colonial Grand also has a lot of amenities-two separate lakes with fountains (fantastic landscaping) and a pool and clubhouse (Clubhouse has granite/marble floors in foyer/entrance and there is a GYM/WORKOUT room there). It's really a nice complex and is also gated and there are garages available for an additional price as well. Google "Colonial Grand at Madison"

There is also "Colonial Grand at Edgewater" off of Zierdt Road (Huntsville City limits but just right outside the City of Madison) not too far away from Colonial at Madison and it is adjacent to the upscale Edgewater community with Lady Ann Lake but I think the rental prices are a little higher there and we tried to get in there but all the 3 bedroom, 2 bath units were rented out. They only had two available at Colonial Grand at Madison when we first looked there and we rented one of the two that were available so I think they tend to stay pretty full (which is really a good thing because it means people like it).

[LCTMadison]

Originally Posted by bmrisko

I don't have any personal experiences other than driving by the complex daily, but Somerset at Madison (formerly The Springs at Madison) will put you off of County Line Rd. in Madison, which is always voted as one of the best school district's in the state. You will also have easy access to CCC via Old Hwy 20 or Huntsville-Brownsferry Rd as the entrance to 565 is currently closed for construction. There are parks close by, including a dog park, as well as numerous restaurants and shopping options. I don't think you can go wrong renting in Madison, but make sure the complex is zoned for Madison City schools. Many of the complexes claim to be in Madison, but are actually zoned for Huntsville schools, which are improving, but not to the same level as Madison city. I would avoid any of the complexes around the Balch Rd./Wal-Triana intersection in Madison as well as the ones off of Shelton Rd close to Madison Blvd. Those are a couple of concentrated little areas of occasional crime within Madison.

I looked and rates at Somerset appear to be in the $900+ range for a 2-bedroom, but they do allow pets and have a pet park in the complex and you would be in a great school district and 15-20 minutes away from CCC (the main Tanner campus), which you said was important.

Another option would be trying to find a rental home in Athens that is zoned for the city schools...I have heard good things about their school district from a few co-workers, although I think Madison is still regarded as a better school district. You can search all home rentals in a specific area on Valley MLS.

I've had several clients live here. HIGHLY recommend it. They all have been pretty pleased.

Let me say, you are going to have quite the haul from Madison (even County Line) to Muscle Shoals, tho. Your DH might get pretty tired of that long commute and the gas. My son used to play a lot of soccer in the Shoals and it always took well over an hour to get over there. Athens, like bmrisko suggested, might be your best bet to be reasonably close to Calhoun and a not so bad commute to the Shoals. The Athens schools are pretty good....they are not Madison.....but I have several friends/clients in Athens that have been very happy with their school system. People rave about Brookhill Elementary. Athens is a great small town and its growing, I like going over there to different downtown shops and restaurants. Valley MLS will have all the single family home/townhome/condos, and for apartments I would suggest apartments.com.

Have you taken desired commute times into consideration? That might help in giving good, helpful suggestions.

[Southlander]

The Shoals area has the University of North Alabama and Northwest Shoals Community College. The Florence School system is good...if you'd rather be out in the country, the Killen area is very country but has good schools, from what I hear (Brooks High School). Really, no bad school systems in that whole area.

Sure would cut out a heap of driving.

[Encode]

Thank ya'll so much for all the responses! I went to work and didn't think I'd get this much information so quick!

A single family home would be nice, but we have no qualms about an apartment if that's what there is. 3 bedrooms would be lovely, but isn't a necessity either. It would be a bonus.

I didn't realize that Athens was actually a shorter commute than Madison, considering he'd have to go through Florence! (And over that bridge, which funnily enough when we visited for a few days in August, he was afraid would collapse!) But as far as gas mileage, his car is a diesel that gets a whooping 37 city/40 hwy! As for time, here in Miami his commute can be an hour and a half long due to traffic, so he said straight driving the Athens commute doesn't sound too bad. (Just as well, my car gets a horrible 17city/26hwy. )

I looked into NWSCC when my husband first recieved his transfer, but because of my program, Calhoun turned out to be the better option.

My husband's coworkers told us the Muscle Shoals school district was great, but we couldn't find much of anything to rent online. (We tried Trulia, Zillow, Craigslist, Apartmentguide) And when I searched Decatur I saw mostly apartment complexes, which is what led me to question if our most options lied east with Decatur/Madison/Huntsville. I'm trying out that Valley MLS website now, bmrisko.

[Southlander]

Athens would certainly be closer than Madison or Decatur, and you're very close to Calhoun's Decatur campus from Athens.
Schools are very good. It's a small town, but growing rapidly, and has the "upper college" half, Athens State University, which partners with Calhoun.

[CoreLysium]

I lived at Colonial Grand at Edgewater, which is OK, I guess, from 2007-2008. The maintenance men are great and that's good because even the newer apartments are starting to age. The grounds are great if you're going to use them to walk around the "lake" and it connects to Edgewater proper which is good for jogging.

That said, it's Williams School. You don't want that. I would have been content to stay in CGaE another year, but we were in the same situation, our daughter was about to enter kindergarten. Not that Williams is a hellhole, but we moved so that she could have a good school, to Hazel Green (which is as rural as I've ever lived and I don't think I'll ever want to be this rural again.)

I know nothing about Decatur and Athens, but in the morning you would prefer to drive west rather than east. Unless you want the sun in your eyes. I lived in Madison (mailing address, but actually HSV) for 12 years, driving into the sun on the way to and from work. It's a quality of life issue for me and I'll never do that again.

So, I'd look at Decatur. And though it's just kindergarten, you should be very school conscious already. There are big differences between the best of the best of the best and the worst around here.