re: Looking at a promotion in Birmingham- Need insight.

Where is the office? Downtown is nice now. I’ve worked downtown for about 6.5 years. It is trending up. I live in Vestavia and my commute isn’t bad. Maybe 15-20 minutes. Mine takes longer during school because I drop mine off but Hoover and other suburbs have busses. Hoover, Homewood, Vestavia, and Mountain Brook are all great schools. The ones out in Shelby county are good too. Used to work in Alabaster/Pelham area so shoot me any specific questions about those too.

b'ham is a very decent place to live ... it is not some crappy, crime-ridden shithole ... it has some nice momentum and vibe built up over the past 10 years ... there are some neighborhoods that have been 'gentrified', for lack of a better term, and are lively with some neat restaurants and shopping areas ... people out and walking about ... however, they are for childless folks only as they are located within the b'ham city district, which is not where you want to send your kids ... mountain brook is very upper middle class and a neat place to live, though very pricey with a shortage of homes ... vestavia is a bit older with fewer neat places, though the schools are also excellent ... hoover is a rather typical suburb, but decent enough ... more affordable housing there ... homewood is also a neat place with a very decent school, but housing, while not as tight as the brook, is also pricey there ... you will not have anything near the soccer programs at suburban schools in dallas/houston (i lived in houston for 20 years before moving back to alabama) ... but i assume they are growing, overall, as most soccer programs are ... the traffic is a bit congested, but doesn't seem you will be in that ... plenty of stuff to do in the outdoors, both at your doorstep and within an hour or so of driving ... canoeing, fishing, & hiking, esp at oak mountain ... and as others have said, you are 3 hours from atlanta, n'ville and another hour from decent beaches ...

if you are on acton road for work, you can see a map of vestavia where some pieces of it cross 459 ... overall, vestavia is a better school system ... you could consider something in shelby county (pelham, chelsea, etc) since you don't have to work in downtown, but i'm not a fan of those types of tweener places ...

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Southeast- just east of Hoover on the city side of 65 and 459. Don't want to dox myself, but it's on Acton Rd

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So your office is in Vestavia.

I'd live there. I grew up off rocky ridge road, just a few miles from there.

Briarwood elementary will be right next to your office if you've got little ones. My sister is a dean there. Great private school.

Wherever you are going you have to take 280

Unless you are moving to mtn brook, pass

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Don't want to dox myself, but it's on Acton Rd.

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That’s right where I live but I’m on the Vestavia side.

You’re golden. Look at the Tanglewood or Countrywood neighborhoods off Rocky Ridge and Dolly Ridge. If you can afford them, you’ll be ten to fifteen minutes from everywhere.

Do not look for any houses that require you to commute down hey 280. You’ll hate B’ham for that. Rush hour traffic can be a nightmare on that road.

Mountain Brook

didn't they widen it 5 or so years ago? ... i just moved back 3 years ago ... and it's already a nightmare once again ... think the adot has something in the works for the intersection of it and 459 and the summit, though i don't see how that will possibly last long enough ...

Median home value in Mountain Brook is $633k and MB has much higher property taxes than any other suburb.

$150k can’t afford Mountain Brook without some wizardlike financial planning.