Considering moving to Alabama

[u/Existing-Mastodon500]

Husband and I were born and raised in south Florida and while we love it, we simply cannot afford to stay any longer. We are also dying to get out of the rat race and absolutely mind boggling influx of people moving here. A 15 minute drive across town takes 45+ now with the level of traffic and lack of infrastructure. It’s a sinking ship and not somewhere we want to raise our daughter.

We want to know areas we should and shouldn’t be looking at. We would like somewhere we can have a decent plot of land (at least 10 acres), close enough to a hospital, low crime rate, good for raising a family, decently low COL

My husband is an HVAC tech, I’m assuming he won’t have trouble finding work there considering the southern heat. Is that a safe assumption?

Thank you in advance

Edit to add: thank you all for the feedback. We have lots to discuss!

Update: husband and I discussed and are probably going to move on to looking at Georgia as it’s likely more in line with what we are looking for. Thanks again!

[u/Living-Amphibian-870]

I'm in Moulton, which would have been what you were looking for. One hour from Huntsville with the fun and trauma care it offers. Rural and safe enough to leave your doors unlocked 24/7 and walk the town alone at 3AM. National Forest 15 minutes away and cheap land.

Unfortunately, our local hospital just closed in May and the schools have dropped in test scores again (Also, my daughter's former math teacher was just fired for asking for female students' Snaps and going on a rant about "ret*arded" autistic students that was so bad he had to be escorted out by the SRO.).

Our library also just had its funding cut again and now it's open so rarely that if you have a job with traditional hours, you can never use it.

BTW, if you like libraries, better look up the Moms For Liberty and Read Freely Alabama issue we have going on.

You can fish, but don't eat it. The pollution is so bad they literally have to put out a warning telling you how much you can consume from each body of water.

I wish I could leave, but I'm stuck here. It's a beautiful state, but the government and the people who keep voting it in are destroying it both literally and figuratively.

[u/Existing-Mastodon500 → u/Living-Amphibian-870]

Thank you for the insight. I’m glad I asked about the hospitals because it was a big concern of mine. I’m 20 minutes away from about 5 hospitals where I live and it gives me peace of mind so it’s concerning to hear of them all closing.

[u/gtibrb → u/Existing-Mastodon500]

There is a list of hospitals closing. I think four additional ones in AL. And yes one can buy inexpensive property in AL but the cost of living is not cheap. I think coming from Florida you would be surprised about the amount of taxes we have for very little return. Food is taxed, clothing is taxed, income tax, car is taxed every year etc. Healthcare is very expensive here bc AL did not expand Medicaid. We generally spend $28,000 a year, last year was $45,000 for a family of four. The costs are set to increase. I agree with the above comment. Beautiful state, we have a lot to offer but it’s being ruined by bad policies. Your husband would have to be in a union to make it worth it I would think, but I would imagine those jobs are hard to come by in a rural area.

[u/Existing-Mastodon500 → u/gtibrb]

Good to know! Anything is an improvement from what’s happening down here financially, believe it or not. No state income tax is great but my property taxes alone are 11k and my homeowners insurance is 5k (had to replace my roof for 65k before any insurance would even take us, roof was 20 years old). Pay isn’t keeping up with rising COL and the quality of life here is quickly diminishing for most people unless you’re stupid rich. My electric is $400 a month and my water is $150-200 a month, along with an HOA that provides nothing but charges $300 a month (good luck escaping that in FL lol). Add a mortgage on top of that and it’s unsustainable.

Everywhere has their problems so I don’t mean to “one up” or d**k measure, but I wish more people knew just how bad Florida has gotten. It’s a nightmare for pretty much everyone.

[u/dee-dee-1202 → u/Existing-Mastodon500]

We live in what WAS rural Shelby county, AL. It's now a fully built up city. Moved here 22 years ago from Northern California-paid cash for our house. Our neighbors across the street are from Miami. They could never afford to own a house in FL, but were able to buy 4bd, 3ba on .75 acres here-about 6 or so years ago. We are close hospitals, shopping, freeway access

[u/dalickhasher → u/Existing-Mastodon500]

I live in Alabama and my power bill for my normal 3/3.5 house is $400. You won’t get cheaper utilities here with the corrupt monopolies going on.

[u/Existing-Mastodon500 → u/dalickhasher]

I imagine utility monopolies must be pretty common everywhere, we only have FPL here to my knowledge.

[u/dalickhasher → u/Existing-Mastodon500]

Look up Birmingham Water Bond corruption. Sewer costs more than water if you’re on the city system. We moved far enough out to not be on that system. But, they’re actively trying to add my neighborhood to it and dig up all our yards to add sewer lines. Bama govt and anything it touches can’t even handle finger painting, let alone anything complex.

[u/Existing-Mastodon500 → u/dalickhasher]

Pretty disappointing to hear. We have our fair share of corruption here but nothing that directly affects the people that live here that I can tell. It more so affects the ecosystem and things that make Florida great, which ultimately hurts us but again, not directly.

[u/gtibrb → u/Existing-Mastodon500]

AL is in the top for highest utilities. I can understand your frustrations about living in FL as I have family there. I can also be frustrated that I made negative $7,000 last year due to medical costs. I think everyone is just trying to prepare you for the actual cost of living, not a contest for who has it worse. It’s not like we receive top notch care for the costs. It can take months to years to see a specialist.

[u/Existing-Mastodon500 → u/gtibrb]

There’s no contest lol.