Homes of Huntsville, Huntsville AL MLS

Homes of Huntsville: While I like the Wheeler area for future growth, the schools and traffic are points of concern
August 30th, 2012 3:00 PM
While I like the Wheeler area for future growth, the schools and traffic are points of concern. If I was looking for a house to live in and had k - 8 children I would look elsewhere. As a long term investment the area should be fine. It will however take a year or two for the schools to improve and for the road improvements. In 2003 - 2004 James Williams Elementary lost a great, long term principle and the school began to decline. The Huntsville school system also hired the school system superintendent that was replaced last year. This previous superintendant was a horrible failure. The school system went into debt and test scores in many schools dropped. Last year the city hired Casey Wardynski as the new superintendant. He found some serious problems in the system including fraud and nepotism. After firing a lot of personnel the school system now has a multi-million dollar surplus. While some area schools will never be good, the Wheeler area is experiencing so much growth of upscale homes I believe that the schools will eventually become some of the better in Huntsville. I pointed out the Zeona house as a possible candidate after a search of the MLS didn't turn up any other candidates. I think the price and cash flow are decent and the long term prospects are good. Given time and patience I'm certain we can do better. We are working another offer on the house and appear to be close on an agreement. The link below is to an old listing of the house. http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7116290318 The link below is to the correct satellite image of the house. If it is a candidate for you We will get fresh photos of the house, neighborhood and area. We will also do a more through research for you. https://maps.google.com/maps?q=242+DE+JAN+ROAD,+MADISON,+AL+35758&hl=en&ll=34.740661,-86.783645&spn=0.000762,0.001318&hnear=242+De+Jan+Rd,+Madison,+Alabama+35758&t=h&z=20 We have had the house as a rental since 07/05/06 and it has been a stable rental for us. It usually rents pretty quickly at $1,195. The link below is to a summary of Huntsville AL MLS activity of all one story homes in the neighborhood in the past year. ( There are a few much larger two story homes in the neighborhood where the price per square foot trends lower. ) The average sold price was $94 per square foot with a range of $84 to $100 per square foot. http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7116290427 The link below is to the full listings for better comparison. http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7116290433 The $100 per square foot sale at 211 DE JAN ROAD was new construction and not a good comparison. The $84 per square foot sale at 109 AUTUMN HAVEN LANE is a much larger home at 2,270 square feet compared to the subject's 1,595 square foot. The price per square foot on larger homes will trend lower than smaller homes in the same neighborhood. We have several homes of Huntsville rentals in the neighborhood that perform well. County Line Road on the west of the neighborhood is a four lane traffic artery that goes south to Madison Boulevard / Highway 20. There is a westbound exit onto I 565 and plans to build an eastbound ramp. Commutes are easy especially for Madison which has areas of congestion. There is shopping nearby and the schools are good. 106 ACACIA TRAIL DRIVE is priced pretty well for the neighborhood is empty and has been on the market for a long time. I like the location but the lots are very small, more like a garden home. There are rail road tracks about a half mile to the south and than some lower end multi-family properties. I'm not overly excited about this one but I think there is some potential for a good buy. http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7116290492 https://maps.google.com/maps?q=106+ACACIA+TRAIL+DRIVE,+MADISON,+AL+35758&hl=en&ll=34.703734,-86.721429&spn=0.00305,0.005273&hnear=106+Acacia+Trail+Dr,+Madison,+Alabama+35758&t=h&z=18 116 BOSTON HARBOUR WAY is located just northeast of the De Jan property. It seems well priced for the neighborhood and the listing indicates it is unoccupied. It's been on the market a long time and shows as having been rented last year at $1,099. It might be possible to negotiate hard on this house. The owner paid $190,000 for it in 2005. http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7116290496 122 GREEN SPRINGS DRIVE is an older home and a foreclosure. It's not a full brick home so maintenance costs will be higher. All if the bedrooms are upstairs which will be unattractive to older tenants or families with small children. It has been on the market since 08/07/12. http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7116294924 At $61 per square foot the house is priced substantially below the average neighborhood sold price of $80 per square foot just below the lowest sold price of $62 per square foot. http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7116294927 We have two rentals in the neighborhood that have been consistent performers. Based on the quick rental comparables below we could probably expect rents in the $1,195 range depending on the season. http://nalmls.com/NALMLSReports/ListitLib/show_report.aspx?ID=7116294928
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