What's the Huntsville/Decatur AL area like?

[Monkeyleg]

Is anyone here familiar with the Huntsville and Decatur area of Alabama? My wife wanted me to expand our search for places to live beyond AR, TN, KY and so on, and I found that taxes and home prices are very reasonable in AL.

I found a beautiful house in Anniston, AL, but then I looked at the town's crime rate. It's even worse than Milwaukee's. Huntsville and Decatur seem to be pretty tame.

[Northwoods]

Huntsville is nice from what I remember from an AIAA conference I went to while I was in college.  When I was looking to leave my job in Yakima I had to beat off recruiters for jobs there with a stick.  There's tons of work at Marshall if you're into aerospace work like I am.  A friend lives there now.  He really, really likes it.  Housing is cheap and good quality, there's more engineers and Ph.d's in that town as a percentage than I think anywhere else, you're only 20-30 miles from the TN border, so you're not right on the coast (think Katrina).  If my wife had been willing I'd have seriously considered moving there instead of Seattle.  In fact, I'd have pursued a job in Cleveland over Seattle were it not for my wife.  That was a cool job from the sounds of things (NRO satellite programs). 

[yesitsloaded]

Seems to be engineering city from all of my engineer buddies that live there. You have NASA, Mil-Tec, and Cummings Research Park among others.

[209]

Housing is cheap

What's "cheap"?  I may be taking an early retirement and my retirement pay isn't going to be great.  Definitely not enough for CT living (not that I was planning on staying up here anyway!)  I'll have to wait 3 yrs for my military retirement to start and then another 2 for early SS.  I was looking at TN, but AL is nice.

[Monkeyleg]

What's cheap? Well, we found this house while searching realtors' sites. It's the style of house my wife wants most of all, if possible.

We're trying to stay under $150K. When I did a Google and MSN maps search, though, and looked at the neighborhood from satellite, it didn't look all that great. We'll keep looking, though.

I did find a beautiful house in Anniston. When I looked at the crime stats, though, I found that Anniston has a violent crime rate that's twice that of Milwaukee, which is pretty hard to do. It's the highest violent crime rate of any city or town we've looked at so far. The Anniston Gazette (or whatever their newspaper is called) had a "crime map" that showed recent crimes. In the last two weeks there were several violent crimes, including a murder, a rape, and a gang rape, all within three or four blocks of that house.

So, I guess we keep scouring the realtor listings.

[roo_ster]

I, too, am interested in the area for future employment prospects.

[Boomhauer]

My aunt lives in Huntsville and works at the Auburn University library.

She seems to like it a lot.

[Northwoods]

Housing is cheap

What's "cheap"?  I may be taking an early retirement and my retirement pay isn't going to be great.  Definitely not enough for CT living (not that I was planning on staying up here anyway!)  I'll have to wait 3 yrs for my military retirement to start and then another 2 for early SS.  I was looking at TN, but AL is nice.

$200k will you get A LOT of house there.  I've not priced it in quite a while, but I'd imagine that servicable homes in reasonably safe neighborhoods could be had for $100k.  Contrast that with the area of Seattle I'm living in now and a shack that's falling apart in a rough neighborhood is still selling for $250k.  Anything you'd want to live in starts around $350k, and that $200k home in AL would be $1million. 

[Stetson]

My sis in law lives in Madison, just outside of Huntsville.  I can get you cost of living stuff if you really need it now. 
I know they are doing okay.  She works for the .gov there and bro in law is a sherrifs deputy.

[MillCreek]

Geez, I look at these house prices in other areas of the country for very nice houses and it just makes me want to scream.  And I own a house already up here in the Seattle area.  It is all relative though, in that our houses look cheap to someone from the Bay area in California.

[freedom lover]

I know little about the South, But if you're from Wisconsin the heat and humidity might be to much for you.

Edit: I suppose you'll get used to it. My grandfather did.

[Monkeyleg]

We have hot and humid weather in the summers here, so it's not as though I haven't experienced such weather. I'd much rather have that than 18" of snow in a few hours and temperatures below zero.

By the way, the house I linked to above is apparently in a run-down part of town. Prices in the better areas are higher, but not like they are in most other states.

[209]

Wow, I checked out the area via the internet.  It looks pretty good.  And housing is indeed cheap!

[Hutch]

Y'all come!  BUT...

Keep in mind a few things about Southerners, and you'll be welcomed with open arms.

1)  Don't make fun of us.
2)  Don't make public remarks about how much better some particular aspect of you previous life was.
3)  Football is played on Friday nights (high school) or Saturday (NCAA).  What happens on Sunday is not really football, since you wouldn't trade your chance at redemption just to have your pro team beat its arch-rival.
4)  Courtesy in address is highly regarded.  "Sir" "Ma'am" and "Please" can take you a long way.
5)  Do not equate slow speech cadence with imprecision of thought.
6)  Traditions and precedents play a greater role in life here.
7)  You can't buy your friends or respectability here.  Tawdry displays of conspicuous consumption may impress some, but not those whose high regard you should value.
8.  Circumlocutions and inference are crucial to polite conversation.  Don't curse or swear gratuitously, especially in front of ladies and children or men with whom you are not acquainted.
9)  Be careful of how you talk about others.  Most everyone has a wide circle of friends, and unkind remarks are remembered a looooooong time.
10)  Who you know is much more important that what you have.  You will absolutely NOT be able to buy your way into a good hunting club or into a quality dove-shoot.
11)  There's no better friend or worse enemy than a Southerner.

Hope the above helps, and doesn't seem to pompous.

[Thor]

Dick, since I left Minnesota, I returned to my home. There are a number of houses around here, well under $100K, similar to what you are looking at. The heat and humidity haven't been unbearable for me this summer. I've even got used to it!!  The downside is that the job market isn't real great here. Taxes seem a little on the high side, dollar for dollar. Good fishing and hunting are nearby. Anyways, you MAY want to consider North Central Texas. I live in Denison now.

[coppertales]

Take all your guns and ammo with you.....the Russians invaded Georgia and Alabama is next...........according to Hukibee anyway......chris3

[Monkeyleg]

Hutch, I've already become accustomed to addressing people by "sir" or "m'am." As for spending my way into anything, I can barely spend my way into WalMart.

"The downside is that the job market isn't real great here." That's why we're moving. Now that my website is providing a full-time income, we can move anywhere we want. And we can move to areas where our dollars will go farther. $400 a year for property taxes beats the $4000 we pay here in WI.

[Northwoods]

And we can move to areas where our dollars will go farther. $400 a year for property taxes beats the $4000 we pay here in WI.

Heh.  When I was considering a job near Birmingham I looked at some houses while on the interview.  The realtor was almost appologetic about how much the property taxes would run.  She said they'd be around 3.  I asked if that was 3 thousand.  She said 3 hundred.  I asked if that was per month.  She said it was per year.  I couldn't believe it.  These were on $120k homes.

[MillCreek]

I pay around $ 4600/year in property taxes on a $ 400,000 home.

[Monkeyleg]

Millcreek, here in Milwaukee you'd be paying close to $10,000 on a $400K house. Outside of Milwaukee county you'd pay a bit less.

[209]

Y'all come!  BUT...

Keep in mind a few things about Southerners, and you'll be welcomed with open arms.

1)  Don't make fun of us.
2)  Don't make public remarks about how much better some particular aspect of you previous life was.
3)  Football is played on Friday nights (high school) or Saturday (NCAA).  What happens on Sunday is not really football, since you wouldn't trade your chance at redemption just to have your pro team beat its arch-rival.
4)  Courtesy in address is highly regarded.  "Sir" "Ma'am" and "Please" can take you a long way.
5)  Do not equate slow speech cadence with imprecision of thought.
6)  Traditions and precedents play a greater role in life here.
7)  You can't buy your friends or respectability here.  Tawdry displays of conspicuous consumption may impress some, but not those whose high regard you should value.
8.  Circumlocutions and inference are crucial to polite conversation.  Don't curse or swear gratuitously, especially in front of ladies and children or men with whom you are not acquainted.
9)  Be careful of how you talk about others.  Most everyone has a wide circle of friends, and unkind remarks are remembered a looooooong time.
10)  Who you know is much more important that what you have.  You will absolutely NOT be able to buy your way into a good hunting club or into a quality dove-shoot.
11)  There's no better friend or worse enemy than a Southerner.

Hope the above helps, and doesn't seem to pompous.

I can probably manage most of those, although I do slip with four letter words quite a bit.   

As far as comparing CT to AL, I don't think I'd have much good to say about CT. 

Tawdry displays of conspicuous consumption won't be an issue- I'm poor! 

[El Tejon]

I spent a week in Langston, Alabama this year while attending Shootrite and will be back next February. 

No one said a single unkind word to us despite our accents but North Alabama was pro-Union during the Civil War.  It was very different than we had imagined/feared.

Have you looked at Guntersville?  http://www.guntersvilleal.org/index.php

Fritz and I will probably stay there next year and drive to school.  Good luck with your search, Monkey.

[roo_ster]

I met a farming family on the road once that hailed from N Alabama.  Very nice folks and their 5-7YO boy was a hoot.  I have never seen a person more enthusiastic about farming in general, and "driving daddy's tractor" in particular.

[El Tejon]

When I mean no long uttered an unkind word to us, I mean it.  Nothing, not even a curious look and believe me my radar was at max gain.

I give you this example.  It was Thursday night and I had only brought one pair of Captain Tactical pants (I wear the Sigs that I buy from Dillon) to save space and weight.  Well, the pants were getting a bit "gamey" and since Heidi (Clint's wife) and Gretchen (Tiger's wife) were around I decided that I simply must wash them for the next two days of instruction.

Fritz and I drove to Scotsboro to go to Ruby Tuesday for dinner and Wal-mart for ammo and fruit (Fritz and I both snack on fruit like monkeys).  Before we went to dinner, I stopped at a laundry mat to throw my clothing in the washer.

We went to dinner and then to Wal-mart and then returned to the laundry mat to dry my clothes while we would read and talk on our cell phones.  The clothes were already dry--AND FOLDED.

A lady at the laundry mat had seen us dump our clothes and then leave and noted our Illinois plates on our car.  She assumed we were visiting and would come back eventually so she threw our clothes in the dryer and then folded them!

Never met this woman before, she just decided to do it.  We offered money, but she refused any money with the exception of $.75 for the dryer.

Fritz and I both left in a state of semi-shock.

[Hutch]

Monkeyleg, since you are not chained to a particular location, and North AL is on your short list, there are some other places to check out.  I don't know how close you want to be to shopping, movies, etc. (for me, it's a non-issue).  That being said, the extreme NE corner of Alabama is comprised of Jackson and DeKalb counties.  Biggest towns of any size are Scottsboro (Jackson) and Ft. Payne (DeKalb).  For my taste, these are the prettiest, most "moutainous" part of the state.  Also the coolest.  Believe it or not,  there's a little resort community in Mentone, AL that sprang up and flourished prior to the common availability of home A/C because it's relatively cool in the summer.

If I were independent of travel/commute, I'd look farther east into the Western Carolina mountains.