Anyone here from the Harrisonburg VA area?

[welovedis]

Looking into moving to that area in 2, possibly 3 years and wanted to get as much info as we can. My FIL & his wife are going to retire to that area & already own a large condo right in Harrisonburg, near the city limits. While they love the area and talk about how much they like certain things, they aren't at the same point in their lives as we are, so we are looking for unbiased input!

Any areas to avoid in looking for homes? I know I can look up schools online, but wondering if anyone here has some firsthand knowledge of some really good (or bad) school districts in the area. DS would be going into either 6th or 7th grade at that point.

What communities are close to Harrisonburg, like a 20-30 min drive? We've seen some houses online in places like Elkton, Shenandoah and other towns, and can see how far away they are "map-wise" but wondering how far apart they really are? We will be coming from an area where housing is really affordable and understand that housing there is much more expensive. Ideally we'd like to spend no more than $225K on a home but because there are 3 of us we don't need a mansion, just something decent, is that realistic for a home that is not on top of someone else or a shack?

Any good small towns in that area, that are close to amenities but have a small town feel? We live in a close-knit community and it will be hard leaving that unless we can find something similar.

Thanks for your input in advance!

 

[lbgraves]

I lived in Hburg, VA while attending JMU. I graduated in 1988 so I know the area has to have grown some. Staunton was about a 30 minute drive from the college. I worked in town so got to know some of the non students & went to their homes. It is beautiful up there! Back then it had a small town feel downtown where I lived. I had friends in Bridgewater and that was very spread out.

 

[cgcruz]

My Girlfriend is finishing up her senior year at JMU, so im there all the time. That city is just always so dead! Its a little too far away from everything. Also, the town always smells like chicken crap! They have tons of slaughter houses (industrial buildings) so you can always smell the nasty odor, especially at night. Washington, D.C. is about 2 hours away. Also, my GF did a lot of volunteer work with one of the local elemetary schools and she was telling me Harrisonburg has one of the worst school systems in the VA area.

 

[my3kids]

It really does smell there....the other poster isn't kidding. Winter isn't bad....but warm weather and the poultry industry do not go well together in an aromatic kind of way.

 

[welovedis]

Also, the town always smells like chicken crap! Also, my GF did a lot of volunteer work with one of the local elemetary schools and she was telling me Harrisonburg has one of the worst school systems in the VA area.

OUCH! That sounds terrible!

Any other suggestions for a nearby community? We'd essentially like to be about 20-30 mins (no farther) away from them, I believe they are right on the Harrisonburg city limits, near the Mennonite University.

 

[welovedis]

It really does smell there....the other poster isn't kidding. Winter isn't bad....but warm weather and the poultry industry do not go well together in an aromatic kind of way.

OMGosh! I'm interested to see what the "smell" will be like when we go down to visit the area and scout things out! Maybe we should be looking elsewhere like on the other side of the mountains! Culpepper is looking nice now!

 

[slyjly]

Hi! I moved to the Elkton area almost 20yrs. ago from OH and I love it here. The area is beartiful year round. Harrisonburg is growing very fast and housing developments are poping up in all directions. I now near the Massanutten Resort and so far the traffic isn't too bad yet. They just opened up a new water park so I am wondering how bad it will get this summer. When we first moved here there were maybe 3 traffic lights between Elkton and Harrisonburg on St.Rt. 33. Now there are at least 7. It takes about 15 to 20 min to get to Harrisonburg from my house near Massanutten. Harrisonburg doesn't have any poultry plants in operation now. There is one in Dayton, VA,about 5 miles outside of the "Burg. One in Hinton a little further out going West. What the previous posters were smelling was the feed mill near downtown area. And it really isn't that noticable. There are trucks carying live poultry that travel through town going to the plants. All in all, Harrisonburg and the surrounding area is a very nice place to live and raise a family. We are about 45 min. from Staunton, a hr or so from Charlottesville and 2 hrs from D.C. and Roanoak. Harrisonburg is a collage town and does have a lot to offer. You should come down and visit us - the dogwoods will be blooming soon! I mis Ohio, but the Shenandoah Valley is my home!

 

[slyjly]

Hi again - just reread all the previous posts and noticed where your DILs will be moving. You need to check out the Broadway area. It beautiful and is only a few min. away from EMU but still has the small town feel. Lot of nice houses be built in that area too.

 

[welovedis]

Thanks for the info, I'll add Broadway to the list of areas to check into. The houses in Shenandoah seem to be the most reasonable that we've seen without being too small or on tiny lots. Glad to hear you like the area so much!

 

[slyjly]

I wish you luck and happiness in what ever you choose!

 

[momoflizandains]

in Stanardsville. It's beautiful...the mountains are gorgeous. No chicken feces here. It takes about 25-30 minutes to get to Harrsionburg, and we don't have the huge immigrant population that Harrisonburg has (some schools have 20 languages spoken). Check it out...Greene County. I work in the schools and we have several teachers who live in Hburg and teach in Greene. Good luck!

 

[BonnieA]

in Stanardsville. It's beautiful...the mountains are gorgeous. No chicken feces here. It takes about 25-30 minutes to get to Harrsionburg, and we don't have the huge immigrant population that Harrisonburg has (some schools have 20 languages spoken). Check it out...Greene County. I work in the schools and we have several teachers who live in Hburg and teach in Greene. Good luck!

HI momoflizandains
I live near Ruckersville! We're almost neighbors.

 

[momoflizandains]

Wow! It's a small world!

 

[welovedis]

Thanks for the tip about Greene County, I'll look into that as well!

 

[mallcat]

Winchester is a beautiful town. Grew up here, and wouldn't want to live anywhere else. We are growing like crazy. We are an hour west from DC, 2.5 hours north from Richmond, an hour south from Harrisonburg.

I'm glad to know I have neighbors on this board! Howdy, neighbors.

 

[Twingle]

Wow, look at all the Virginia people! I live in Culpeper

The other posters are correct, the aroma in that area would not be something Yankee Candle would produce.

My husband is a Soil Scientist, and works in and around most counties in all of Central and Southern Virginia. If you have questions about what properties are going for, I can get that information to you - just pm me.

Enjoy your search - I love it here!

 

[WHIT1]

I live in grottoes its a small town about 20 min away from harrisonburg. I like it here because they keep the town small and am strict about people being noisy. You don't see kids on the streets late at night. They are building more townhouses in town,which look nice and have alot of nice houses also.They aren't expensive so far. We have a beautiful park,Food Lion and 2 video stores. and good eating places.It does smell when the farms clean out their barns but hey thats just your country air. Its not all the time. We have lived here for 10 yrs and wouldn't live anywhere else. The crime rate is very little and you feel safe walking on the streets.We also have Grand Caverons which is big around here.We about 45 min from charlottesville the next big city. Elkton is ok but perfer Shenandoah its not as built up yet. My son lives there and loves it.They just put in a race track about 5 min from him.so thats the biggest thing there. Like other people have mentioned,Timberville,Broadway,New Market,Mt Crawford,would not live in Waynesboro or Charlottesville. So I would say Grottoes is a close -knit community.To me Harrisonburg is centered around JMU and they are trying to build up and be like Charlottesville.So hope this is somewhat helpful. and good luck on where ever you may decide to live.Also welcome to Va.

 

[mjbaby]

We just moved from near Charlottesville, not far from Standardsville and Ruckersville and just over the mountain from Harrisonburg.

We went to Harrisonburg every now and again and I don't remember ever noticing a bad smell. That said, I'm still not sure it would be my first choice for relocating. We liked Charlottesville well enough (actually lived north, near Greene County line) - the county schools are good, the park system simply cannot be beat (almost every park has a fantastic play area and some have wading pools for summer heat - great for kids!) and the library system is one of the best I have ever seen with many awesome programs for kids of all ages, all free. The taxes are low, too. For grown-ups there are wonderful restaurants, galleries, nice shopping and cultural activities - not to mention a steady stream of available babysitters thanks to the university (which also has an endless array of concerts, lectures, art events...every day of the week all year round has something cool going on there).

Living where we did, we were about 20 minutes from downtown Cville and maybe 30 from Harrisonburg (longer in poor weather since you have to drive over the mountain - but what a nice drive it is!). Whatever you decide, I think you're right to do your homework well in advance. Not every small town is really welcoming of newcomers and some of the larger ones - while really not that big, relatively speaking to some of the mega-suburbs springing up now - might be just the ticket for you.