re: Possibly Moving to Bham

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Mid-upper 20s and sounds like no kids?

I'd look to rent in Crestline Park (somewhat pricey - not anything near MB, Vestavia) or Homewood if you're OT baller rich. Crestwood if you're not OT baller. Avondale if you're edgy. Southside if you're REALLY edgy. It also depends somewhat on what part of town you work in. I worked downtown and lived downtown and loved it when I lived in Birmingham. There are a ton of nice apartments down there (Pizitz, TJ Tower, 20-Midtown in CBD/Midtown) plus some on the fringes of downtown (Park35, 29 Seven). If you're not necessarily deadset on the fancy amenities and just want an basic/relatively cheap apartment, H2 Real Estate is constantly renovating apartments in Avondale and Southside with prices of ~$800 a month for 2/1 type apartments.

ETA: This answer changes greatly if you have kids or work south of 459.

ETA2: Answer would also change if you planned on staying long term and purchasing a home.

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this ... although some bad pockets are starting to tick up just a touch, so buying and selling in 2-3 years might turn out very well for you ... east lake hasn't really surged yet, far as redevelopment, but it's probably the next 'spot' ... crestwood might still have affordable rent ... top golf is opening a site downtown, and the area around it looks primed for redevelopment ... depending on how you enter the city for work, you will def need to check out traffic changes due to the interstate construction through downtown ... will be affecting traffic for the next two years ...

lol at the yahoos and rubes that don't like the ham ...

Crestwood house if you wanna be close to the downtown scene and avoid paying a ton for the suburbs. Great community with a lot of 27-40 year olds. Close to everything downtown.

Lived in the Highland area for awhile as well. Loved it, walked and rode my bike everywhere.

I refuse to live in the suburbs until I have to start worrying about school systems. Bham has a lot to offer and a cheap cost of living.

if the Mrs will be at UAB don't even think about Chelsea, Pelham or Alabaster --anything in North Shelby. Traffic is horrible.

I live in Vestavia Hills. Drive into town on 65 isn't too bad.

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Ding ding ding

My Brother in law lives here and BHam is an amazing city now. It had so many top restaurants parks. You will enjoy it if you explore it.

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Nice target

Consider buying an older, smaller house in Cahaba Heights.
CH is a very small enclave connected to Vestavia Hills and Mountain Brook and The Summit shopping center. Safe, unassuming pocket of Birmingham with a lot of shops, bars, and restaurants. A lot of older homes, some in disrepair. But it is changing rapidly. In two years, sell, profit, and move back to the nightmare that is Atlanta.

**If I bolded it, that means I heavily advise an area. Bolded and underlined means you better fricking listen to me you daft bastard.

Look at Moody, Leeds, Odenville, Trussville, and Springville to the East and North East. Pell City, Lincoln, or Ashville would be good, but further, options too. All depends on how far you're willing to commute.

They are all in a great spot. Commuting in on i20 or i59 is far faster than 280 or i65. Specifically, the morning and afternoon traffic on the 280 corridor is horrendous. I mean horrendous. Even during non peak times it's pretty bad. At 7pm on a Friday evening it can take forever only to drive a few miles. On the flip side, my wife travels to downtown on i20 every day, and rarely has an issue.

Also, they are generally a good bit cheaper to live in than Mountain Brook, Hoover, Homewood, Vestavia Hills...etc. Moody and Springville are the best towns to look at, imo. There are several good neighborhoods in both cities now. You can get a nice, 10-15 yr old, 1500-3500 square foot house for anywhere between $80,000 to $250,000. Or rent the same house for $800-$1400.

I personally know of a 1700sqft home in Moody that was recently remodeled from top to bottom, and has 3 acres of land, for $900/month.

All of the things you want from the other areas are within easy driving distance too. 15 minutes or less to 90% of the things you would want to do.


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Specific areas around Bham for a younger couple, that I would advise looking at:

In Birmingham city limits:
Altamont
Avondale,
Southside,
5 Points South.
Clairmont Ave specifically, in that area.

Metro Area/Burbs:
Cahaba Heights- Highly advise if you want to be in the city. Highly, highly, highly advise. Fantastic location, and well priced compared to surrounding areas. Cahaba Village specifically. 150 Summit and Cameron at the Summit- 2 apartment complexes in Cahaba Heights that are at The Summit, the most popular "high end" shopping district in Birmingham.
Overton Road

Around Brookwood Hospital and Mall and the zoo/botanical gardens.
Which means:
"Downtown" Homewood area near where Oxmoor Rd meets Hwy31.
English Village
Mountain Brook Village
Crestline Village


Homewood, but only EAST of 65. Actually, don't go anywhere west of 65 until you reach Hoover, south of Homewood, or North of Fultondale.
Crestwood has a ton of newly remodeled homes for rent at fair prices, it's one of the areas undergoing rapid gentrification.

Ross Bridge area in Hoover is really nice, so is Liberty Park. Problem is finding an affordable home.

[/b] Anywhere on Caldwell Mill Road. Specifically the "The Kenzie Apartment Homes", has a great location for the price, and recently remodeled too. My wife and lived there for several years. Loved its location in relation to everything else.
Tons of other, newer apt complexes near by though. I mean TONS. The Kenzie will be a good bit cheaper though.
Altadena, the general area around the northern end of Caldwell Mill Road.
Shades Crest Road
Rocky Ridge Road

Anywhere on 119 from Odenville to Alabaster.
Anywhere along the 459 corridor.

You could go North of the city, but you can't get into Birmingham without going through what's called "malfunction junction" from North of town. And they are about to be rerouting the junction with a multi year construction project. Traffic will be absolutely atrocious for several years.

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Mountain Brook

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Subtle brag

B’ham gets ragged but it’s on the up. Lots of renovations and development downtown and throughout city/suburbs.

Good for you. Birmingham is definitely an underrated city. It's fairly scenic, has a strong food scene for a smaller city, some really good breweries, is cheap to live in, has good public schools, and is close to the beach, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Nashville.

I wouldn't be kicking and screaming if we had to move there.

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People shite on Alabama here, but overall, Alabama probably has more nice towns than the maybe 4-5 in Louisiana.

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That's about all I know of.

Birmingham
Huntsville
Mobile/Fairhope
Florence

If you are only going to be here for a few years I would stay south of 20/59 and somewhere close to downtown. They are going to close off the 20/59 bridges in 2018 and that is going to be one cluster for traffic coming into downtown for years.

As others have suggested there are some really nice places close to downtown.