Elizabeth Ramsey Cooper-Golden

When I made the decision to relocate to Huntsville Alabama, I quickly discovered there were many great options in the Real Estate market here. I have written several articles, about various areas of Huntsville. In doing so, I hope this makes your home search a bit easier!

East Limestone County has experienced tremendous growth in the last few years. For example, since the year 2000 the Limestone County Commission has approved 68 new residential subdivisions with 2,342 single family lots, in this area to the west of the Huntsville and Madison city limits. This has of course drawn the attention of both cities, which have annexed 1000's of acres of East Limestone County in the past year alone.

This is a natural area for the progression of growth as it lies between the city of Athens and Interstate 65 and the cities of Huntsville and Madison. The land is much flatter than the mountain foothills to the east of Huntsville, making it well suited for residential Real Estate development. One of the Madison annexed areas of Limestone County will be the home of Madison's new High School. The city of Huntsville committed to building a new K-8 School and city park as part of its recently approved 5,000 acre Limestone annexation. The unincorporated portion of the area lies within the Limestone County School District and is supported by Creekside Elementary School (k-5) and East Limestone High (6-12).

Why should you include this area on one of your House Hunting Trips?

• It is an unincorporated area with metro/city conveniences. Close to major Madison shopping areas, I-565 and Hwy 72 access provides reasonable commute times, and it is conveniently located to the Huntsville-Decatur International Airport.

• The property tax rates are significantly lower than the Huntsville metro area.

• Average property prices per sqr/ft are less than in the major metro areas, and yet overall, long term appreciation rates are good.

• With the combination of all these great factors, this MLS area represents an especially good real estate value for the Huntsville Alabama area!!!

To demonstrate some of the search capabilities of our new RETS/MLS search engine, www.NorthernAlabamaHomes.com; We have put together a few custom searches to narrow this particular home search to just those areas that best characterize the criteria presented in the above list.

Some of the more well known neighborhoods in the area that you may encounter in your house hunting trip are Brentwood Village, Kingston Place, Newby Plantation, and Southern Breeze.

These particular custom searches select not only the explicit Limestone County MLS area of interest, but also filter the results to only the East Limestone High School area that borders the western Huntsville and Madison city limits respectively. We have further segregated these areas into the following price ranges:

• East Limestone County $100k-$200k
• East Limestone County $200k-$300k
• East Limestone County $300k-$400k
• East Limestone County $400k-$600k
• East Limestone County $600k - Up

Interest rates have dropped in the past week. If you have been considering a move, now would be a great time to do so. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me anytime! To read past articles about our Huntsville Real Estate market, visit www.Huntsville-Realestate.net

                                             

Huntsville Alabama's coolest neighborhood is Historic Five Points, and the surrounding Huntsville Historic Neighborhoods of Old Town and Twickenham. There won't be a doubt in your mind, when you find Five Points, located on the Northeast side of Huntsville Alabama!  Five points is artsy, eclectic and hip!  From a Realtors point of view, Five Points is a great place to own Real Estate!

Five Points is named after five streets, coming to a point, in the middle of Huntsville.  The picture I have posted above, shows the street signs with the star.  You will know you are still in Five Points by the street signs. I had so much fun touring and taking pictures here.  Five Points is one of Huntsville's trendiest neighborhoods, with small shops, art galleries, and restaurants lining the streets in the area.  This is definitely a neighborhood for walking. No need to drive anywhere!  You can walk to the local dry cleaners, grocery store and there is a great assortment of restaurants, from local diners to upscale dining.

      

Five Points Historic District was the third historic district to be designated in Huntsville, Alabama. It features homes built around the turn of the 20th Century in several styles, including Bungalow and Victorian styles and also Cape Cod's, dating from the late 1890s through the early 1900s. The neighborhood still retains its 19th century grid layout of broad, parallel streets.  Tree lined streets add to the charm.  I enjoyed taking these photos of a variety of homes in Five Points and Old Town.  Now THIS is curb appeal!  True beauty, through my eyes.  The tree lined streets seemed to envelope me.

       

Located next to Five Points, is another wonderful Historic neighborhood, Old Town.  Pay close attention to the street signs.  This will let you know which neighborhood you are in at all times!  Here is the Old Town sign.  Each street in Old Town will have the logo on the sign, and the same with Five Points and Twickenham. 

                                      

Five Points and Old Town attract home owners of all ages,  from singles, to families, to retiree's.  Real Estate in these Huntsville Historic neighborhoods are still affordable.  Construction will soon begin on the new Lee High School this fall, with an estimated completion time of Fall 2010.  I would suspect that property values should increase after the school is completed.  Home values have always held steady in the Five Points, Old Town and Twickenham area, and this should only strengthen their values further, in my opinion!

Current Five Point MLS Listings Current Old Town MLS Listings

The Huntsville Convention & Visitors Center hosts a free walk through the neighborhoods of different historic districts in Huntsville on Saturday mornings.  You will tour Twickenham, Old Town and Five Points.  For more information, visit http://www.huntsville.org/abouthsv.php   If you do venture down to the Historic District in Huntsville Alabama, be sure to visit Harrison Brothers Hardware, located in Five Points.  Harrison Brothers has been in business since 1879, and in it's present location since 1897!  Very charming and you really don't want to miss this!  http://www.harrisonbrothershardware.com/ 

Here is a recent post I wrote about Twickenham.   My Love Affair with Historic Huntsville Alabama Twickenham. I hope you find this historic area as charming as I do.  Enjoy your tour!

            

          

When relocating to a new area, I realize how difficult it can be. I have worked with many RELO'S that only had 3 days to make the decision of which area in Huntsville will be home. In the hopes of simplifying things for my buyers, I have started a series about the Huntsville Alabama Real Estate market, breaking it down into MLS search areas. My first entry in this series was the Madison Alabama Real Estate area. You can find that here: Madison Alabama guide to home shopping

The southeastern area of Huntsville is one of the more popular and unique areas of the city. It is characterized by a variety of smaller neighborhoods with a wide assortment of homes in all price ranges. The area is serviced by 4 Middle Schools (Challenger, Huntsville, Mountain Gap, and Whitesburg) and 2 of the more popular High Schools in the region; Grissom and Huntsville High.

If you are on a house hunt in Southeast Huntsville this fall, it would be good to have a general feel for market conditions in your particular price range, prior to actually visiting neighborhoods and viewing specific Homes.

Feel free to browse some of the current listings with these custom home-searches targeting the 4 different Middle School areas of Southeast Huntsville at various price points:

• $100k-$200k Challenger, Huntsville, Mountain Gap, Whitesburg
• $200k-$300k Challenger, Huntsville, Mountain Gap, Whitesburg
• $300k-$400k Challenger, Huntsville, Mountain Gap, Whitesburg
• $400k-$500k Challenger, Huntsville, Mountain Gap, Whitesburg
• $500k-$800k Challenger, Huntsville, Whitesburg
• $800k - Up Huntsville, Mountain Gap, Whitesburg (No homes in the Challenger zone at this time in this price range)

Now that you have a feel for the homes currently available, review the following graphic to get an understanding of current market conditions in Huntsville Alabama across the various price ranges.The chart takes a snapshot of the seasonal demand and current inventory of homes. It also captures the absorption rate inventory and average price per square foot across these categories.

Note the variety of market conditions and especially the market bias in your particular price range. For example, if you are a buyer in the upper end price range you can expect some seller flexibility. With a 17 or more month supply of inventory these sellers are likely experiencing some longer than normal time on market.

Southeast Huntsville Alabama - July 2008 Market Snapshot
Price Range	Demand Per Month	Current Inventory	Months of Supply	Price/SqFt	Market Bias
$100k - $200K	24	113	4.71	$93	Seller
$200k - $300K	10	122	12.2	$100	Buyer
$300k - $400K	4	49	12.25	$103	Buyer
$400k - $500K	5	23	4.60	$112	Seller
$500k - $600K	1	12	12.00	$113	Buyer
$600k & $800k	1	17	17.00	$150	Buyer
$800k & Up	1	31	31.00	$214	Buyer

If you'd like a more in-depth analysis, feel free to give me a call or email. www.Huntsville-Realestate.com

Happy House Hunting - Elizabeth

I love going to Bridge Street Towne Center, here in Huntsville Alabama.  Yes, it is a shopping center, but I can honestly say it is the only shopping center I can get my husband excited about going to! 

We have a weekly "date" with each other and last week, we chose to go to a movie at the new Monaco Theater, at Bridge Street. WOW!  We were both impressed when we first stepped in the door.  Incredible!  Talk about atmosphere. You will find it hard to believe you are in a movie theater, really!

We weren't quite sure which movie we wanted to see, so we walked up to the "concierge desk" where they proceeded to give us the low down on all of the movies playing.  Really, it is a Concierge desk...need anything? Just ask!  Very impressive.

We went early enough to eat lunch at the Scene Restaurant, located IN the Monaco.  The Scene is very hip, and chic with a full bar and a Sushi Bar. I can honestly say the food was pretty darn good!  I had the Chicken Quesadillas  which was $9.00and my husband had the Derby salad which was $11.50. Tim's salad looked delicious and was very large.  Both were very tasty!  Our waiter, James, was new, but you would never have known it. He was all smiles and never missed a beat. Our service was wonderful.  The prices were reasonable.  The seating was very comfortable. We had a nice, relaxing lunch, at the movie theater! 

After lunch, we strolled upstairs to the Prive', the private 21 and over area of Monaco.  We found a full service bar, a wine tasting bar and plenty of seating in the open lounge areas.  We were both awed by all of the chic surroundings. At a movie theater no less!  This is how they describe the Prive' area on the web site:  I found this description to be very accurate!
A private glass elevator awaits the Prive' guest, taking them to the exclusive 21 and over Prive' level of Monaco. Prive' guests can enjoy an elevated lounge featuring a Wine Tasting Bar, appetizer dining, and upscale concessions. Enjoy a glass of wine while watching the show along with reserved seating in our custom-designed high back leather recliners. Prive' VIP delivers the ultimate luxurious experience.

Guests can experience the Prive' lounge before, during, or after the movie. No time for a movie? Prive' is also the perfect place for gathering with friends after a long day of shopping or winding down after work. Must be 21 and over.

Menu | Wine Tasting

The movie was about to begin, and I just HAD to get my buttered popcorn. I now love Monaco even more, if that is possible. There is a popcorn bar, to add your own butter!  Yes, I was in buttered popcorn heaven, to say the least!   The seating in the theater was great!  Our movie choice, well, not so great, but that was our fault:) 

I can't wait to go to the Monaco again. We will definitely dine there again.  They offer wine tasting parties and so many different events. Be sure to check out the web site for all of the latest happenings!  Going to the Monaco is definitely an experience you don't want to miss! 

Monaco offers a Kids Summer Movie Festival each Monday and Wednesday at ll:00 am.  FREE to the entire family. FREE!  

For your convenience, here is the website.  http://www.monacopicturesusa.com/index.html

Driving from downtown Huntsville Alabama, drive up and over the mountains. To the east on highway 72, and within a few miles, you enter a lovely valley surrounded by Alabama's Appalachian foot hills. At 8 miles from downtown Huntsville, you will find this charming neighborhood. Nestled up against the Flint River Nature Preserve covering several hundred acres, is the northeast Huntsville Neighborhood of: Mt Carmel - By The River.

The neighborhood's amenities include 2 community pools, lighted tennis courts, playground, and an attractive club house known as the Manner House. The Manner house features an open air cabana and stacked stone outdoor fireplace.

In addition to these man-made features, there are over 50 acres of stocked lakes available for community use and over 100 acres of common area adjacent to the Flint River Nature Preserve for picnicking, launching a canoe, taking a hike, fishing, etc.

Three of the lakes within the community have spillway capability. They seem to cascade from the top of a local bluff downward and into the Flint River watershed. They are simply lovely, with many water front homes, some of which have swimming pools surrounded by wrought-iron fences open to the views of the lakes.

[Show as slideshow]

The schools include Buckhorn High School, a national school of excellence, along with Mt Carmel Elementary, and Riverton Middle School. The elementary and middle schools are actually adjacent to the neighborhood and thus very conveniently located. An interesting tidbit is that the High School is located at the site of the American Civil War Battle of Buckhorn Tavern, fought on October 12, 1863.

Close by shopping is located on Winchester Drive and with downtown only 8 miles away entertainment and cultural events are only a 10-15 minute drive with Redstone Arsenal and Research Park employments centers only an additional 5 miles away.

There are currently ~20 Huntsville Homes listed in the neighborhood ranging in price from $209,000 - $492,100 ...click here to view the current listings...

If you are searching for real estate in Huntsville Alabama, this area is a true must visit!