Questions about Birmingham, AL...help!

[Tygger7]

I'm hoping to hear from anyone living (or that has lived) in the Birmingham, AL area. There's a very good chance that my husband will take a job down there within the next year, and we've actually never visited the area, and know NOTHING about it. Any advice for potential homebuyers? Places to avoid? Really good places to eat? Pros & cons of living around Birmingham? Any info you can send my way would be GREATLY appreciated.

PS...DH sold me on the idea of moving when he said, "But honey, instead of being 16 hours from WDW, you'll only be about 8 hours away!"

[Strmchsr]

Went to high school in Birmingham, my wife was born and raised there, and my in-laws still live there. I actually live 45 min south of Birmingham on I-65 and come down all the time.

In general the areas you'll want to look at living will be in Shelby County (south of Birmingham), Trussville/Clay (NE part) or Gardendale (northern part). Do you know where the company your husband is looking at would be located? That would help me know better how to tell you.

Birmingham is a nice city. Nothing too exciting about it, but it gets the occasional cultural event and it's a friendly, southern city. Atlanta, Nashville, and Chattanooga are 2-3 hour drives and the beach is only 3-4 hours. You can get to the mountains or the beach in less than 4 hours. And WDW is about a 9 hour drive (or SWA flies out of BHM, which makes it cheap to fly to WDW). Dreamland BBQ is awesome and there are other nice places to eat. Of course, if you live here you immediately have to pick Alabama or Auburn. College football is a way of life 365 days a year down here and we don't allow folks to sit the fence on that one. (Here's a hint - pick Alabama). The only real cons are the traffic at rush hour and the fact that there's not a ton of stuff to do if you're big into cultural events. They do have a very nice zoo, an awesome children's museum, and some other smaller cultural activities, but, like I mentioned above, Atlanta and Nashville are only around 2 hours away so anything "big" you can catch there.

Feel free to PM me with specific questions. Having lived there a total of 12 years I know it pretty well, and what I don't, my wife does.

[Ed]

Of course, if you live here you immediately have to pick Alabama or Auburn. College football is a way of life 365 days a year down here and we don't allow folks to sit the fence on that one.

Chris, you've got that wrong. College football is not a "way of life" in the South. It's more like a religion !



PS - Go, Gators!

[Strmchsr]

Chris, you've got that wrong. College football is not a "way of life" in the South. It's more like a religion !

You're 100% right about that, Ed. But we have to break these northern folks in slowly.

[Strmchsr]

I should also mention a con is that it's hot as h-e double hockey sticks during the summer (as of today we've had our 40th straight day above 90 degrees) and we don't really have winter. You might see an inch of snow every now and then, but it's usually all melted by early afternoon and most winter days are pretty pleasent. Occasionally we go throw a "cold" snap with highs in the 40s and 50s. So, that might be a con or a pro. If you love winter and snow, like I do, it stinks, but if you're tired of snow and never want to shovel snow again, you'll love Alabama. Basically, if you can survive July and August here you'll be okay. And, you're used to tornadoes, but hurricanes are an issue down here, too, but that's all pretty rare and we have the best weather folks in the business hands down in Birmingham. I've traveled all over the US and have never seen a better group.

[Basket Mommy]

I grew up in Gardendale, a suburb that's about 10 minutes north of the actual city of Birmingham. If I was to move back to the area, I'd consider anything south of Birmingham - Hoover, Vestavia, Homewood, even Shelby County. Those cities are closer to malls and better shopping and have better schools (if you have kids). Gardendale is nice, but smallish, IMO.

I haven't lived in AL since 1996, but my parents and sister still live there. I'd be happy to answer any questions, but I'm sure Strmchsr has more up to date info about B'ham.

Oh, and WAR EAGLE. ; )

[Tygger7]

Thanks so much for all the responses! As far as football, well....we live just north of Columbus, Ohio now, so if you aren't a Buckeye fan, you just better leave town.

Having grown up in the north, we'd actually welcome a break from the extreme winter weather. And, my parents lived in Bradenton, FL for about 15 years, so the heat doesn't bother me at all...now my DH, well, he doesn't care for it too much, but that's why there's air conditioning.

I can't for the life of me remember the name of the company, so I'll have to get back to you on that. I'll send you a PM after I find out the exact name from my DH.

Thanks again for all the helpful info!!