Housing in Huntsville has Skyrocketed (Montgomery, Madison: rental market, crime, houses)

[spidac]

I was checking Zillow the day and noticed houses have skyrocketed in the area. Saw a home in North Huntsville, al bad area at that selling for $148,000. A few years ago that same home would have sold in the low 50s or 60s. South Huntsville has always been a little expensive, but now homes are 3 times what they would have originally sold for a few years back. Thanks to all the jobs moving in FBI etc...the working folk are now not going to be able to afford to buy a home.

[Trail]

Prices are going up but there are still plenty of houses under a $100k as I just checked after reading your post.

My observation has been the new constitution “sweet spot” is now around $300k where it used to be around 200-250k it seems. Certainly not 3x higher though. The only areas that have doubled in value seem to be in the medial district/ Blossomwood. Some of those prices are just insane now. Otherwise I feel like the prices keep steadily increasing 5-10% / year in most areas. Just my $.02

[Hsv256]

Originally Posted by spidac

I was checking Zillow the day and noticed houses have skyrocketed in the area. Saw a home in North Huntsville, al bad area at that selling for $148,000. A few years ago that same home would have sold in the low 50s or 60s. South Huntsville has always been a little expensive, but now homes are 3 times what they would have originally sold for a few years back. Thanks to all the jobs moving in FBI etc...the working folk are now not going to be able to afford to buy a home.

Just out of curiosity... what would qualify North Huntsville as a "bad area?"

[bananananas]

I am really worried about being priced out of my kids' school district. I can't afford a house right now (down payment lacking after bad divorce, etc.) and my rent is RIDICULOUS. The prices really have skyrocketed...at least in SE Hsv.

[ingsoc75]

Huntsville's rental market has always seemed high for a small-medium sized town in Alabama (and I'm going back to 2010 when I first moved here).

[maillemaker]

Well, my rental house on Old Railroad Bed is worth $20K more than when we bought it in 2007, according to Zillow, but the house we had built in Laurenwood Preserve is worth $20K less than we paid for it.

[David1502]

Originally Posted by maillemaker

Well, my rental house on Old Railroad Bed is worth $20K more than when we bought it in 2007, according to Zillow, but the house we had built in Laurenwood Preserve is worth $20K less than we paid for it.

The issue with Laurenwood Preserve is that it's zoned for poorly rated schools of the Huntsville City Schools - Providence Elementary and Columbia. If you looked at nearby houses in the unincorporated county which are zoned for Sparkman High School, you wouldn't see a drop in value.

[RocketDawg]

Originally Posted by David1502

The issue with Laurenwood Preserve is that it's zoned for poorly rated schools of the Huntsville City Schools - Providence Elementary and Columbia. If you looked at nearby houses in the unincorporated county which are zoned for Sparkman High School, you wouldn't see a drop in value.

Upper end neighborhoods, like Lake Forest, are in some poorer Huntsville schools (Williams, Providence, and Columbia I think) but their housing values are high. Imagine what they'd be if the neighborhood was in Madison instead of Huntsville.

[bananananas]

I wonder if that is because people living in places like that can simply send their kids to private schools. I have seen that in historic / downtown areas, as well as other convenient and pretty areas (to build on) that only the very wealthy live there and it's because they don't worry about the crappy schools. It was like that in Montgomery, AL when I was there--you wouldn't want to send your kids to any of the schools the historic areas were zoned for, but the houses were old money.

[John Williams]

Originally Posted by Hsv256

Just out of curiosity... what would qualify North Huntsville as a "bad area?"

Old perceptions about demographics combined with crime statistics and general hearsay.