What to expect when moving to Alabama (Birmingham, Montgomery: apartments, rental)

[chrisgeo563]

Ok, no more bickering about North Georgia/Huntsville or Supermarkets!!! LOL Seriously, finding a supermarket I like isn't that hard. I appreciate the insight given on economics. Car insurance, I am covered by GEICO for a 2014 Kia Soul, paying $392/6 mos. I called them yesterday to get a ballpark figure (they say they can't give an exact quote without a physical address) they told me it would be $523 and there is no such thing as full glass coverage in Alabama. $200/yr for car registration, you're scaring the hell out of me. Prayers don't bother or offend me, no matter what religion it is. Leave me alone & I'll leave you alone. Since we're pretty much anonymous in here, we take home $37,000/yr. Will we be starving or will we be okay? As far as income taxes, my research tells me that the only thing that will be taxed is one of my qualified private pensions. Right now in I haven't had to file in NY since 2004, and yes I get the IRS to put it in writing every year. Most of our income is from Social Security which isn't taxed. One other thing, healthcare. How is the VA clinic in Huntsville? I know that the hospital is in Birmingham, but I won't need that except for specialists. Puysh come to shove I can use my Medicare if I had to. My wife will need an great Retina Surgeon for ongoing treatment for Macular Degeneration. Other than that a family doc and a good dentist. I find this forum to be a great resource since we are relocation from so far away. We do plan to make at least 2 trips to the area before we move, probably next July after our oldest granddaughter graduates high shool. Again thanks to all of you for your insight.

[Becky2517]

Don't know about the VA clinic, but we've found medical care here to be good & efficient...we just recently switched to the base medical facility (Tricare) & happy with that....before that we had a civilian GP & he provided good care. The car insurance sounds completely wrong, I know ours went down & I do believe we have full glass coverage...maybe shop around for insurance?? The car registration, yes...it went down for us - but, my Acura was $750 in VA, so the around $200 I pay here is nothing.
Are you planning in renting? House or apartment? There are several decent apartment complexes in both Madison & H'Ville where rents aren't astronomical...in the smaller towns around Madison/Huntsville I know you can find decent houses to rent...but, maybe buying would end up being cheaper :-)

[writerwife]

Originally Posted by Becky2517

(we also had Harris Teeters and I miss ordering my groceries and picking them up!), grocery store selection being one of them.

Never lived in NY, but the 10 last years in VA and there were some changes, but not a massive culture shock - maybe being able to say one of my neighbors is a rocket scientist is the biggest difference We absolutely love it here, close to everything (even northern GA, I was about a mile from the border today...sorry!) - if you want Nashville, it's ab 2 hrs, if you want the ocean, head to the Gulf Shores, Atlanta is ab 4 hrs away and while not the greatest selection in restaurants there are plenty to choose from - medical is important and I find we are just as well covered here as we were in VA. COL is much, much lower - everything from taxes to houses and in-between

Don't know if you ever shop at Sam's Club but they do have click 'n Pull... you can shop online and they will pull all items and you go there and get your full buggy and pay for it and then out the door.

The culture shock is practically nothing compared to what it was like when I moved here from Ct back in the 70s. That was culture shock. Especially for a 19 yr old. :::shudder::: There are so many transplants now compared to then.

Most retirees from elsewhere that I've ever spoken with here love Huntsville. I'm sure you will too.

You should do at least as well on your $37,000 here as you do in NY. It almost ends up being a wash with the cost of living. Housing is much better priced here but they dig you in little places they don't up there as mentioned in previous posts. If you can make it there, you can make it anywhere (ha..see what I did there?).

[NYescapee]

I'm not sure how the VA here is, but I think you'll be fine on that income, especially if you live out in "the county" where your housing dollar stretches a bit farther.

One more thing I remembered from our move here that caught me off-guard was that Huntsville Utilities will require a $300 deposit if you don't bring/fax a letter from your current utility provider saying you've been in good standing for the past year. So be prepared either with the deposit or the letter! I think the deposit is refundable after 3 years. We came down with 3 days to find housing and set everything up, so getting our letter wasn't worth the hassle. Also, they just charged us a $70 "account transfer fee" when we bought our house... sounds like a b.s. charge, so I wouldn't recommend moving around a lot.

But seriously... nothing here can compete with Wegmans.

[chrisgeo563]

[quote=Becky2517;35529081]Don't know about the VA clinic, but we've found medical care here to be good & efficient...we just recently switched to the base medical facility (Tricare) & happy with that....before that we had a civilian GP & he provided good care. The car insurance sounds completely wrong, I know ours went down & I do believe we have full glass coverage...maybe shop around for insurance?? The car registration, yes...it went down for us - but, my Acura was $750 in VA, so the around $200 I pay here is nothing.
Are you planning in renting? House or apartment? There are several decent apartment complexes in both Madison & H'Ville where rents aren't astronomical...in the smaller towns around Madison/Huntsville I know you can find decent houses to rent...but, maybe buying would end up being cheaper :-)[

Our ideal situation would be to rent a house. Tired of neighbors on the other side of walls or above our heads. We pay $675 right now but could go as far as $750 for the right house. My wife's credit is great, I have fair credit due to medical bills in the past. We have excellent rental history at our current apartment for 8 years. How could that effect us? I'm not sure or the mindset of landlords down there. We'd like to be no more that about 35 min drive from our church which is our #1 priority and is at 3021 University Drive, Huntsville. I was wondering what you think about New Hope, Athens, harvest, etc.

[Reactionary]

A new VA clinic is under construction on Holmes Avenue about a mile due south of the Greek Orthodox Church on University Drive.

VA officials are planning an April 17 [2014] groundbreaking ceremony for the 47,800-square-foot facility, which is expected to open in the summer or fall of 2015. It will replace two smaller community-based outpatient clinics on Governors Drive in Huntsville and Madison Boulevard in Madison.

In addition to primary care, the new clinic will offer mental health care, optometry, audiology and some radiology services. There will also be an on-site pharmacy.

...Patients who need cardiac, orthopedic and other types of specialized care will continue to be referred to Birmingham VA Medical Center...

The current clinics in Huntsville and Madison treated more than 13,000 patients last year. VA officials expect that number will grow to 15,000 once the new clinic opens.

New $14.7M Huntsville VA outpatient clinic will soon begin rising near Clearview Cancer Institute | AL.com


Here's a house for rent ($675) on Jack Coleman Drive off Holmes Ave.

329 Jack Coleman Dr NW, Huntsville, AL 35805 is For Rent - Zillow

Here's another on Humes Ave in Five Points ($675, ~5 miles from Church and new VA):

402 Humes Ave NE, Huntsville, AL 35801 is For Rent - Zillow

[chrisgeo563]

Originally Posted by Reactionary

A new VA clinic is under construction on Holmes Avenue about a mile due south of the Greek Orthodox Church on University Drive.



New $14.7M Huntsville VA outpatient clinic will soon begin rising near Clearview Cancer Institute | AL.com


Here's a house for rent ($675) on Jack Coleman Drive off Holmes Ave.

329 Jack Coleman Dr NW, Huntsville, AL 35805 is For Rent - Zillow

Here's another on Humes Ave in Five Points ($675, ~5 miles from Church and new VA):

402 Humes Ave NE, Huntsville, AL 35801 is For Rent - Zillow

Thx, I had heard that the church isn't in that great an area. True?

[chrisgeo563]

Brittany Point Apts., Stone Crossing, The Reserve at Research Park, Cabana Apts. Which would you choose??

[Reactionary]

True enough. There are housing projects across University Drive (Cavalry Hill) from the church, but there is also a used-to-be good and still fairly good neighborhood across University (Oster Drive). Behind the church there is a fairly quiet low income neighborhood (Meadow Drive). Unfortunately, that part (and further west) of University Drive has deteriorated in the past few years; however there are still viable businesses nearby (e.g., Olive Garden, BMW / Jaguar dealer).

The housing projects and surrounding area have occasional (monthly or so) shootings and lots of crime. Of course this is impossible, because the HPD has told us that the projects are the safest neighborhoods in town (when citizens protested spreading projects around).

The houses I linked to are in good areas for the price (and I live fairly close to the Humes rental).

[Reactionary]

Not Cabana.

I've visited (or lived at) all of these at some point. The rest are all 1980s apartments with amenities.

Brittany Point is in the nicest / safest neighborhood but ~15 miles from church.

Stone Crossing is across the street from church; I don't know about the complex now but had friends who lived there years ago. I lived at The Reserve (used to be Rime Village) years ago; the "c" was silent (cRime Village - lots of theft back then). I'll drive by Stone Crossing and The Reserve to get an update.