Why did you select your location in Huntsville? (Madison, Redstone Arsenal: schools, living in)

[Charles]

Originally Posted by guxu

Comparing to Hampton Cove, Highland Lakes and Clifts Cove are much closer to research park, right?

Highland Lakes is Slaughter and Manitoba, immediately west of Research Park.

Clifts Cove is Hughes Road and Clifts Cove Boulevard, near Bob Jones High School.

Probably ten minutes from those places to RP. HC is about 25 minutes.

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by guxu

Comparing to Hampton Cove, Highland Lakes and Clifts Cove are much closer to research park, right?

Oh yeah, closer by at least 20~25 miles !!!

Highland Lakes is right outside of Research Park on Slaughter. Clifts Cove is just north of Hughes road & Eastview. One would take Eastview to RP.

Both are within 2~3 miles from the Research Park.

[BKOTH97]

Originally Posted by Charles

Highland Lakes is Slaughter and Manitoba, immediately west of Research Park.

Clifts Cove is Hughes Road and Clifts Cove Boulevard, near Bob Jones High School.

Probably ten minutes from those places to RP. HC is about 25 minutes.

Highland Lakes is more like a minute and thirty seconds from Research Park by car. From my house I can walk and run through CRP. It is about a 10 minute walk at a moderate pace.

[milledj]

Just to add another prespective: I chose Athens first and second (I have moved 2 times since relocating to AL). The first time I was working in Research park. We wanted a reasonably priced historic home in a safe, older neighborhood. We sold that house because it turns out it didn't fit our lifestyle (too many formal rooms, fireplaces, square footage). We sold that house and looked HARD at different options, including new subdivisions (Athens oriented, because I like it here and now work downtown). I just couldn't warm up to the new subdivisions with their large homes and lots. Instead, we found a 1939 Prairie style house in the Beaty Historic district. It has enough lot (about 300' deep by about 80' wide) for me to have a garden and then some. Enough for our dogs to have a spot to play. The house is bright and sunny and although we had to update windows and the kitchen, it had a great basement for my exercise equipment (a luxury in a 1906 house with 2 parlors!). I like the old neighborhoods with the mix of people. There are young couples with kids, couples with grand kids, some singles, some really established families holding on to their family homes.... people don't get that upset when the dogs bark (too much, in my opinion). And I never worry about security. Heck, I wouldn't be surprised on any given day if the door isn't locked.

I now walk to work, too. My 10 year old car has 30K miles on it...and it had 22K on it when I bought it 4 years ago.

The old neighborhoods have something special that the new developments don't...at least in my opinion.

[tammie2]

Thank you for the multiple perspectives, I need it. I am still up in the air on so many things. I was hoping for people that love where they live and maybe I will too

I believe I am driving myself crazy because it is all I have control over right now. I feel like the train is coming at me and I am trying to get all of us out of the way before it is too late.

Strange feeling.

I don't think there is a "wrong" answer in the Huntsville area, it all looks nice and I am sure we will be happy no matter where we end up.

[zenjenn]

Big Cove area (off Taylor Road) because...

- neighborhood had LOTS of young families (I've lived in "mature" neighborhoods before that were so mature that the lack of kids & support network was depressing.)

- flat, open neighborhood good for bikes, trikes, scooters and skates (some of the other neighborhoods have steep hills and blind intersections)

- pretty - view of hills, nature trails nearby, etc.

- good school (for me the new elementary was a bonus, because my one reservation about the school was how overcrowded it is.

- newer home. I've had my fill of older homes and older home problems. While I like fixer uppers to some extent, I have two little kids and I just don't want the headache right now.

- community pool, playground, clubhouse - but on a much smaller scale than Hampton Cove, and in walking distance. I take advantage of all of these quite frequently. I like riding my bike/trailer with kids to the pool int he summer, and having a smaller clubhouse makes it quick and easy to do things like run a weekly girl scout meeting.

- equidistant to both SE Huntsville and Downtown, both of which has locations I'd need to drive to frequently (SE Huntsville has my synagogue, the preschool of my choice, Super Target - while Downtown is near my husband's work, the main library, botanical gardens, aquatic center, etc.) Some houses in SOUTH Huntsville meet my other requirements, but get pretty faaaar from downtown.

[gsp4ever]

We chose Monrovia because of the close proximity to our work in the Research park and other conveniences we'd need (gyms, shopping, etc.) We did not want a long commute. We rented for several months and considered all parts of Madison County, Madison and Huntsville. While I liked aspects of SE Huntsville and Madison, I found that you could get new construction on a bigger, nicer home in Monrovia. This was a few years ago and my perception is that there is probably less of a price delta between Madison, Monrovia and some areas of Huntsville now. Finally, for so many of the existing homes we looked at, we were told that the owners had built a new home in the area, so it seemed to us that new construction was the way to go. That and people around here wanted top dollar for some pretty junky houses. Plus many of them were in the age range where you'd need to look at replacing things like Roof and Heating/Air units. School zone was a consideration for resale. We also wanted crawlspace (or basement), full brick home, no flood zones so it seemed that Monrovia had lots to offer.

[wakeful dreamer]

Originally Posted by gsp4ever

We chose Monrovia because of the close proximity to our work in the Research park and other conveniences we'd need (gyms, shopping, etc.) We did not want a long commute. We rented for several months and considered all parts of Madison County, Madison and Huntsville. While I liked aspects of SE Huntsville and Madison, I found that you could get new construction on a bigger, nicer home in Monrovia. This was a few years ago and my perception is that there is probably less of a price delta between Madison, Monrovia and some areas of Huntsville now. Finally, for so many of the existing homes we looked at, we were told that the owners had built a new home in the area, so it seemed to us that new construction was the way to go. That and people around here wanted top dollar for some pretty junky houses. Plus many of them were in the age range where you'd need to look at replacing things like Roof and Heating/Air units. School zone was a consideration for resale. We also wanted crawlspace (or basement), full brick home, no flood zones so it seemed that Monrovia had lots to offer.

That exactly mirrors our recent experiences. We really liked the feel of some of the established neighborhoods in SE, but the houses themselves were scary. There was one very well-maintained home we liked, but it needed a LOT of redecorating work. (Seafoam green carpet! ) We have put an offer on a new home in Monrovia. I don't know if we'll like living there, yet, but it's as likely to become "home" as anywhere else.

[milledj]

I guess since I don't have children I don't address some things other find important! My home in Athens is also within walking distance to a great elementary and middle school as well as the Athens Library, Whitt's barbeque, and the downtown square (hair cutting, small stores, restaurants).

[hey teach]

We chose a house in the Riverton community, west of New Market. There were multiple reasons for our choice. First, while we do have some traffic issues moving into H'ville on Winchester Road, they are nothing in comparison to coming in from 431 and Madison. We also looked in Hampton Cove, but found we could get a larger house with a larger lot for less money. We do not have small children so schools were not a consideration for us, but we looked at schools in terms of their effect on our re-sale value and found most people were pleased with area schools: New Market, Riverton Elem, Riverton Middle, Mt Carmel Elem and Buckhorn HS.