I'm Moving to Huntsville in 2 Weeks (Decatur, Madison: apartments, renting, low crime)

[HB2HSV]

Originally Posted by seoguy

The problem with Madison is that its in the flight path of the airport. Any other areas I should look at?

Not all Madison are under the flight path of airport. East-end of Madison for example is a good area to look into. Edgewater community part of Madison, off Zierdt road and south of I-565, is also a nice area. There are new homes off University avenue (rainbow mountain area), I believe by Antioch homes and others, is also an option.

Of couse, there's always the Cliff's cove and the Highland Lakes neighborhoods.

[april4jsd]

One thing we have all failed to mention, is that Huntsville and Madison do offer private schools!!!

[macwell]

Hello,

Did your co-workers give you 'the look' for SE area before or after the Housing Authority annouced they were purchasing several apartment complexes in the SE area? This may be the reason.

There is major concern now over the SE home resale values and crime. I have talked with co-workers and the concern is real. I am concerned how this wil affect the Hampton Cove area since most of the shopping is in the SE area. A co-worker
remarked he believes this is the 'begining of the end for SE'. If this is true, then Hampton Cove and Jones Valley will be affected by the decline of the SE area. Only
time will tell how things will hold up.

Its interesting the same similiar issues are now occuring over in the City of Madison over school zones. From reading the article in the Huntsville Times, states "The changes in zone lines are based mostly on creating an equal socioeconomic environment at each school, Fowler said."
(see article below).
School plan gets mixed reviews
School plan gets mixed reviews - al.com

I am interested in the Hampton Cove area, but now plan to wait and relook at other areas outside of Madison County. I would rather drive 30-45 minutes
and know that the City of Huntsville or City of Madison will not force their own agenda of creating an equal socialeconomic plan among its communities.
Just my 2 cents.
thx

Information concerning the Housing Authority purchasing SE apartment complexes. I could not find the link for the articles that have been in the Hunstville Times at AL.com for some reason.


Channel 31 - WaayTV web site
Look under "top video" titled "Stone Manor Follow up:
WAAYTV.com - Huntsville, Alabama - News Weather, Sports | WAAY News and Home

Per waaytv a upcoming meeting is scheduled to discuss the issue.
Chaffee Elementary School
Monday, April 6th
6:30pm
Attending will be the Huntsville Mayor, councilwoman Moon, and HA

[Charles]

Originally Posted by macwell

Hello,

Did your co-workers give you 'the look' for SE area before or after the Housing Authority annouced they were purchasing several apartment complexes in the SE area? This may be the reason.

There is major concern now over the SE home resale values and crime. I have talked with co-workers and the concern is real. I am concerned how this wil affect the Hampton Cove area since most of the shopping is in the SE area. A co-worker
remarked he believes this is the 'begining of the end for SE'. If this is true, then Hampton Cove and Jones Valley will be affected by the decline of the SE area. Only
time will tell how things will hold up.

The referenced purchase is of Stone Valley Apartments; this is near Martin and Memorial Parkway - no where near Hampton Cove, and completely removed from the Jones Valley. These apartments are on the west side of Memorial Parkway.

http://www.whnt.com/news/whnt-housing-authority-takes-over-apartments,0,532925.story (broken link)

"Stone Manor Apartments" near huntsville, al - Google Maps

[Elizabeth_G]

Unless they plan on making a city block of low income housing, I wouldn't be concerned. If I were an investor in that area, owning rentals, I would possibly be concerned. (located within spitting distance). SE Huntsville has been a very popular area for investors.

We call Madison home and the noise doesn't bother us at all. We do have several planes flying overhead daily and I'm used to it. I would consider Hampton Cove, because Charles would be a great neighbor. *wink*

I'm back Charles! I was in Nashville with my Mother. She had surgery 10 days ago and is finally on the downhill swing Hope you survived your in laws!

[macwell]

fyi...here are the other SE apartment complexes purchased by the
Housing Authority off Baily Cove Road.

Timberbrook sites in public housing shift
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
Timberbrook sites in public housing shift - al.com
According to tax and real estate records, the authority in January purchased
three smaller apartment buildings on Mahogany Row in southeast Huntsville.
The dead-end, tree-lined street runs along Aldridge Creek near the
intersection of Bailey Cove Road and Weatherly Road,
about a mile south of Grissom.

[HSVbulldawg]

If you decide on Madison, purchase a home on the eastern/southern side to avoid the traffic problems (there are major traffic problems in Madison (for the Huntsville area)).

Hampton Cove is probably the best area for young families. Almost everyone in your neighborhood will probably be a young family. The drive is the drawback - it's probably the most dangerous commute in the area. The Governor's drive used to be notorious for accidents/deaths, but they have done a lot with it in the past decade. I personally consider it a drawback, but I know many others who don't.

If you buy a home in SE Huntsville, try to buy one in the Jones Valley area or between Whitesburg and the Parkway south of Governor's (partly a Huntsville High zone.) The commute times from these areas are very short, and there's not really more land to develop in these areas (until farmer Jones or his family sells more land some day.) The drawback in this area is that the homes are older.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of the three locations, but since (you are a young family?) I would lean towards Hampton Cove.

There is a definite rivalry between SE Huntsville and Madison. Anyone who tells you that either area is inferior to the other is speaking from their own personal bias. Both areas have advantages and disadvantages.

[dsb1829]

Honestly, there is some very good discussion here. Also the areas you are interested in are often discussed on the board.

Choosing schools by the numbers is nice and all, but it isn't absolute. We moved to SE Huntsville, actually in the neighborhood effected by this section8 business. We chose the area for many reasons, one of the biggest was for Chaffee Elementary. It had good scores and also smaller class sizes. Well, this year they changed everything around and had classes to maximum legal capacity. So one of the biggest reasons for choosing that school got blown out of the water. Sounds like more of the same next year.

Regarding the locations you have listed. We obviously chose SE and in direct access to a school.

Hampton Cove looked good on paper, but it has some distinct disadvantages. I think it may end up very nice IF Huntsville can grow out to meet it. But as it sits currently there just isn't enough shopping close by. Between that and work most everything would have us traveling back over the mtn to Huntsville. It is newer homes and maze-like communities. Prices are a fair shake higher than the other areas. For a lot of transplants this planned type of community is a good thing. Personally we just like the more established neighborhoods like SE Huntsville, Bailey Cove, and 5 Points.

Madison has some nice neighborhoods. Edgewater is very nice IMO. Agian, higher prices. But it has much less of that cookie cutter tract housing feel. We also liked some of the communities back around Dublin Park. But stretching out from there we didn't like it. There seemed to by a lot less sidewalks in the communities, less parks and play areas for the kids, and more cars parked on the street. Madison does have better shopping than HC, so there isn't the need to constantly be heading back to Huntsville.

I think we got a good feel for Huntsville by touristing it for a week before moving here. However I think the best thing we did was to rent for a while prior to buying. It gave us plenty of time to decide where we wanted to be. We looked around much more thoroughly and were able to get exactly what we wanted. I know renting sucks, but I would take 6-12 months of rental hassle over buying the wrong house and deciding it isn't where you really want to be.

[Mawoods]

I lived in Madison from 04- 06 and I can tell you for sure that planes do fly very very low and so low that we sometimes could practically wave to them. Particularly on Fridays there were touch and go maneuvers for hours .The whole house would shake and the cat would cower. I often wondered about it just a matter of time for one to hit us. Loved our house and neighborhood but now live on the other side and love it. A Lot quieter. I live in McMullen Cove and it only takes me 20 minutes to get to Super Target over the mountain in Jones Valley and 20 minutes to get to Parkway Mall over Governors and we get on 72W and head straight into 565 and BridgeStreet. After living in Atlanta this is NOTHING. My husband works on Sparkman and it takes him 30 minutes and that is not bad. ALl perspective. We also like being closer to Huntsville per se. Just take your time and you will find the right place to call home.

[seoguy]

I would like to thank everyone for their input.

We've decided on Madison away from the airport.

SE Huntsville homes, as someone pointed out, are just overpriced dumps.

Hampton Cove is too risky with Huntsville buying the apartments for public housing.

See you in about 10 days.

Chris