Dose of Reality in re BRAC

[Mawoods]

I think you have more covered areas here but when we looked, we discounted any houses with decks. That was a personal decision - upkeep and we wanted a covered porch with screen. You will find that here you can find a full brick veneer (HB2HSV - I will get it right!) on homes in starter price range to million dollar. We liked that.

[friday13]

Originally Posted by CharlotteRJ

That reminds me of some things that I noticed on some of the older houses. A lot will have broad porches with fans, or patios covered by a pergola, and seem to take advantage of architecture for natural cooling. I've noticed some features on some of the newer homes that I haven't seen in other parts of the country - covered back porches instead of open decks, standard 10" ceilings in some models.

Has anybody else noticed differences in outdoor living features in older homes vs. newer? In Huntsville homes vs. the rest of the country?

Yes, I've noticed the newer homes (less than 10 yrs) don't have a porch (or wrapping porch). Also most lack the deck in the back. I guess the deck is an option now (for cost effectiveness). Of course there are exceptions, but my observation has been that for the most part these things don't come standard now (as if the traditional southern style with a porch has been dropped).
I do see more and more concrete patios in the back (just a square of concrete tucked in the back of the home between two walls (bedrooms), and under the roof line.Some people put a screen and make it into an enclosed screened sun room (keep off mosquitoes).
I do believe the trend has been in place for a few reasons:
- cost effective (cheaper houses)
- due to weather and busy schedules, people may not be "congregating" outside as much as in the past (now you see huge living/family rooms for indoor recreation) or given the advent of the planned community with pool, club house, tennis courts, who needs a rotting wooden deck in the back (Trex would be nice though)
- these houses still sell, so the buyers might like them (I mean, the builders offer a few floor plans to choose from, If nobody didn't like the lack of porch, they wouldn't build them that way)

This is not to say that all the houses lack these amenities, but it's a trend i'm noticing of going away from them. I mean, I've seen houses in Clift's Cove with 2-3 decks (on each story).

I have both, frankly the porch I'm not using at all (sitting in a rocker sipping lemonade on a hot humid summer night), and the deck in the back is huge, we've already re-finished once, it is approaching its life span and may need replacing. I am one of those that could gladly live without (and if I were to choose between two houses, guess which one I'm choosing)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by CharlotteRJ

Has anybody else noticed differences in outdoor living features in older homes vs. newer? In Huntsville homes vs. the rest of the country?

Yes, many (indoor and outdoor)

Newer homes: three car garages, cathedral ceilings, bigger and more plentiful windows, coax and Ethernet wiring, GFI breakers, 220V service, larger kitchens, chimneyless gas fireplaces (I don't like these; prefer real wood burning fireplace), finished garages, smaller yards and smaller lots (as low as 4500 sqft lots), larger closets, larger bathrooms, smaller bedrooms. Probably a lot of these changes are the result of market research. (Why do people still want a formal dining room and a formal living room when these rooms are probably used as a FDR or FLR maybe 20 hours a year????) Our FLR is a computer room. Our FDR is a "useless room" that we're turning into a homework room since it has a big table.

I think the theory of smaller lots is (ideally) developers will build neighborhood parks with playground equipment. Personally I prefer this. I would rather have central or common park area for the neighborhood than a larger backyard for basically my kids only. This is sort of true for a community pool too. I prefer a community pool rather than a backyard pool. There are other kids to play with at a neighborhood park or community pool. Who ever uses a two or three thousand square foot backyard anyway?

[Mawoods]

ALso here we have much more wood trim and molding than other areas we have been. Ours now is (just according to my woodworking husband) a beautiful and well done upgrade that we enjoy - even in the bathrooms! In addition, I think the outdoor/kitchen thing is getting big here. We have an outdoor fireplace and we use it all the time - drinking wine and looking up at the "mountains". Our development also has the community ammenities , including a salt water pool. I wouldn't want a pool in my back yard either.

[friday13]

Originally Posted by CharlotteRJ

WRT Five Points... I have been basing my search on the City of Huntsville maps designation that somebody posted on the links sticky, and also trying to keep an eye out on how close it is to the Five Points Shopping center. I've heard from a few people that Five Points isn't very kid friendly or populated - if it gets switched to the Blossomwood school district, does anybody think that'll change significantly? Is Blossomwood full of kids?

The expanded 5 Points area is served by East Clinton Elem., Lincoln Elem. (on Meridian) or Chapman Elem. They will always have room to put those kids in. That's why they're consolidating.
School board to award $35 million Lee High construction bid, set aside $18 million for Blossomwood | Breaking News from The Huntsville Times - al.com

[djmaxwell]

Originally Posted by Charles

I think the theory of smaller lots is (ideally) developers will build neighborhood parks with playground equipment. Personally I prefer this. I would rather have central or common park area for the neighborhood than a larger backyard for basically my kids only. This is sort of true for a community pool too. I prefer a community pool rather than a backyard pool. There are other kids to play with at a neighborhood park or community pool. Who ever uses a two or three thousand square foot backyard anyway?

There is a danger to smaller lots and that is zoning. With all of the talk about HOAs and nondisclosure, I'm somewhat surprised that this hasn't come up much. Take Laurenwood Preserve as an example. I know that the original residents are upset with the new developer, but they can at least be thankful that they aren't building duplexes. It is zoned for that.

Also, did you mean 20K - 30K square feet? 3000 sq ft. is about .06 acres and isn't much bigger than my house.

[Charles]

"The mayor said nearly 2,000 jobs with BRAC have arrived, and some 2,000 more are supposed to make their way to Huntsville in 2010. The jobs will have an average salary of $80,000."

from

Huntsville Mayor: State of the City Is 'Very Strong' - WHNT (http://www.whnt.com/news/whnt-mayor-battle-state-of-city-address-110509,0,489971.story - broken link)

[SouthernBoy205]

State late on BRAC assistance - al.com

[tammie2]

I don't know, but I can assume this had quite a bit to do with what was existing at the time of each new venture.

Chris interviewed and was offered a position with Thyssen. We decided it wasn't a good fit due to the lack of community resources at the time(he would have been hired 18-22 months ago as part of the start up team). It was a tourist community that needed A LOT of improvements in terms of residential infrastructure. The things they were lacking were things that Huntsville had in abundance or at a very minimum had access to with B'Ham and Nashville being so close.

While I understand some state help may be necessary to update the infrastructure, there isn't a creation issue as there was in Mobile.

Just my 2 cents.