Calling all proud Virginians......

[maddhatir]

Hi!

i hope i have your attention and maybe your help!

i am from NJ (yes-- a yankee) and looking to move to VA-- i have a print out of every city in VA with 6000 and above residents and one with small towns and villages in VA with less than 1000 (hey what if i want in between??... )

anywho.....i dont know where to start my search for a nice place so i figured.......why not ask all the good people of the DIS boards for advise who actually live in VA!!!

me and DH are looking to move to VA because the cost of living in NJ (south jersey) is CRAZY!! we pay almost 5000.00 a year in property taxes-- about 1500.00 a yr in auto ins, we have two cars and one is full coverage the other liability only.

the price of homes are crazy (which is good for us to take or NJ $ and go somewhere else) but there is no way we would want to pay these prices for another home in NJ! forget about buying property you can spend 50,000 for a nice -small- piece of land!

i have always wanted to live in VA (its a past life thing- i am sure of it--but that is a TOTALLY different topic!! ) we have visited Williamsburg a few times years ago-- and about 4 years ago we stayed in a little village called Ivy-- not too far from Monticello and UV- i really liked it, but i need to get some of your opinions and suggestions.

a friend of DH just bought some property in Danville VA for about 1000.00 an acre-- to me that sounds extrodinarily inexpensive! and great! is this possible to get a great price like that in a nice area??

we are looking for a small "quaint" and quiet town- about 20 acres of land to build on preferrably wooded maybe with a small lake on it. we want to build 2 or 3 houses on the property-- will take mom with us (and maybe brother thats another story) pay off the houses as they are built so that we have no mortgage.

anyway additional things we are looking for are-- a town maybe a 20/30 minute drive away that has shopping (starbucks- old navy- barnes and noble-you know- those kinds of places)

i would like to hear some great things about your town and why i might like it!!!!


thank you all for your help!!!!

 

[mrsltg]

Yikes! I love Virginia. I have lived here 9 years. In the past 3 years my home has appreciated almost $300k. I live in NoVa so that's definitely not what you are looking for. Southwestern Va, Williamsburg, and the Shenendoah are all creeping up, too. Depending upon your need for work I would break out a map and look for an area not near a "big" city. Some places are virtually untouched but those places are becoming few and far between. Are you looking for retirement? If so, I'd go a little West into W. Va., KY, TN area. There is still a wealth of affordable areas and property to be had.

Good luck!

Erin

 

[jlaspoq]

Kind of depends on what you like..... Do you want to be nearer the mountains or nearer the water? If water, then there's the area along route 17 between Fredericksburg and Gloucester - fairly rural feeling, but not too far from F'burg, Richmond, or York County / Hampton / Newport News depending on where you are along the stretch. We live in a small town that is adjacent to Hampton / Newport News - but I'm not sure we have any 20 acre plots left. Gloucester / Hayes area probably does, and it's not far from Williamsburg either. We love Virginia! Hope you find something you like!

 

[maddhatir]

Yikes! I love Virginia. I have lived here 9 years. In the past 3 years my home has appreciated almost $300k. I live in NoVa so that's definitely not what you are looking for. Southwestern Va, Williamsburg, and the Shenendoah are all creeping up, too. Depending upon your need for work I would break out a map and look for an area not near a "big" city. Some places are virtually untouched but those places are becoming few and far between. Are you looking for retirement? If so, I'd go a little West into W. Va., KY, TN area. There is still a wealth of affordable areas and property to be had.

Good luck!

Erin

We are not retiring yet-- we are 39. we just figure we better get a jump on things before its too late- as you said things are creeping up in VA-- we dont want to "miss the bus"

we paid 175000.00 just 2 yrs ago for our 1200 sq foot rancher on about a 1/2 acre-- can can probably get maybe 275000.00 now.

i have looked at a map-- things look good on a map however, looking good on a map and reality are 2 different things--

we are not sure if it a "good part of town" etc. i know you can get a pretty good deal on a home here in NJ-- but you would never want to actully LIVE in that particular town!!!

that is why i am just trying to get ideas about where pepole live and the prices of land-- if someone tell me they live in a nice area- i can check it out on the internet and do a bit more research instead of going into it "blind"

Thanks!

 

[RadioFanatic]

I would recommend Roanoke wholeheartedly - I grew up there and loved it. Great place to live, cost of living a lot less; great schools, beautiful scenery, I wish I could return! what are your jobs?

 

[Tina]

Well, anything close to Northern VA will not work out for you. You can't even buy a townhouse for $275k here. I recommend looking in the area surrounding Charlottesville. There are some beautiful mountain views down there and Charlottesville is a nice, college town, IMHO.

 

[maddhatir]

I do medical billing and collections for a radiology facility right now- however, i have done both for private doctors and physical therapy facilities also.

i can work for a hospital also in the billing dept- i have been in this field since 1995

DH is an auto mechanic-- but he can work on anything- he has been working on cars since he was about 15, he works on his cycle and his john deere.

DH would prefer to be closer the the water (we are about 40 minutes from ocean city NJ right now) but being on a lake with lots of trees would be just fine. i would love to actually live in a very rural area, but as i said-- have some good shopping not too far away.

keep the suggestions coming-- this is great!!

thanks guys!

 

[maddhatir]

Well, anything close to Northern VA will not work out for you. You can't even buy a townhouse for $275k here. I recommend looking in the area surrounding Charlottesville. There are some beautiful mountain views down there and Charlottesville is a nice, college town, IMHO.

that is where the Village of Ivy was that we stayed-- it was right outside of Charlottesville- i LOVED it!! we took a ride down skyline drive-- all through the different towns and very curvy roads---

OMG!! DH had to stop and let me drive because he was getting motion sickness from the curves-- I SWEAR!!

oh- and we saw bears running across the road-- OK this is how naive DH is-- he pulls over and wanted to get out-- i said WHAT ARE YOU NUTS!! we dont see nay bears in our part of NJ-- but hey i watch TV-- i KNOW that is not a wise thing to do-- i would be yelling- curl up in a ball !!

maybe VA is not a very safe place for him to be!

 

[Tina]

I do medical billing and collections for a radiology facility right now- however, i have done both for private doctors and physical therapy facilities also.

i can work for a hospital also in the billing dept- i have been in this field since 1995

Charlottesville may be just right for you then. UVA has a huge hospital (and a pretty nice one at that!).

 

[maddhatir]

Charlottesville may be just right for you then. UVA has a huge hospital (and a pretty nice one at that!).

we stayed at the Ivy Rose Cottage in Ivy VA

has anyone ever been-- it was like a fairytale!

the whole cottage is all yours!

 

[mommyoeo]

Stay away from Hampton Roads (Norfolk, VA Beach and Chesapeake) because the housing prices are the same as NJ. You won't be any better off. As much as I LOVE Chesapeake, we could never afford to live there again as long as I want to stay home. I'd guess that anything along the coast and up to Washington is about the same. Head west a little to find lower prices. Good luck!

 

[Pin Wizard]

Have to disagree with the previous poster as to why to stay away from Hampton Roads. I'm sure it's cheaper than NJ. DH and I left NJ and moved to Boca Raton, FL. After 15 years there, I was ready to move. Hampton Roads is definitely cheaper than Boca and Palm Beach County! However, if you're looking for rural, yes, stay away from this area. But we do have the BEACH!! However, VA loves to tax you to death!!!

Love the mountains though. I'm sure you can find something out there. Good luck!

 

[swea_pea1]

However, VA loves to tax you to death!!!

I don't find that to be true here in Richmond. We pay 1/10% of assessed value in property taxes - on a $200,000 home, that's $2000 - and have no local taxes. We pay the county personal property tax (for our cars only), but even that is 75% covered by the state and ends up being only a couple of hundred dollars a year. Is that state-wide or specific only to the counties surrounding Richmond, I wonder?

When we moved here 6 years ago from Pittsburgh, we were pleasantly surprised by the low taxes. There, we owned no real estate but 1/10% of assessed value was pretty standard in most suburbs. We paid a borough tax of 1% of income (definitely more than the $200 in personal property tax we pay now) plus we paid an annual occupation tax for working in the city.

There are areas surrounding Richmond that are very rural, if that's what you're looking for. Goochland county, and up near Ashland both have wide expanses of land.

When we moved, I found some Virtual Relocation site that gave me average price of home, taxes, utilities, insurance, etc. It was a great tool to help me decide on an asking salary.

Good luck to you and remember...Virginia is for lovers!

 

[2BigKIdz]

Hi! I am from Charlottesville, born and raised. We now live in a small town 20 miles east of the city called Palmyra, we are not too far from Monticello. Charlottesville is a very nice town but it has become very expensive, I think we are 2nd only to the Northern Virginia area for cost of living expense (Ivy is a very expensive area btw). Here is a website that shows all available property in our area http://www.caar.com. There are some rural areas around here that you may be able to find what you are looking for, but they would probably put you 40 minutes or more from a city. 20 acres close to C'ville is going to run over $200,000 and that's the low end. A 2 acre lot in the city in the neighborhood I grew up in is listed at 1 million $$$$. We are driving distance to lots of cool places, 2 hours to DC, an hour to Richmond, 3 hours to VA Beach, an hour to Kings Dominion and less than 2 hours to Williamsburg and Busch Gardens.

I also work in a hospital, here is our website if you want to check out available jobs- www.marthajefferson.org

 

[Tiggerlover91]

Okay, I must've worked entirely too much today and must be REALLY tired....because I saw PROUD VIRGINS!

 

[disneyfanz04]

Okay, I must've worked entirely too much today and must be REALLY tired....because I saw PROUD VIRGINS!

Don't worry, I had to take a second glance too... I saw the same thing !

 

[katerkat]

I grew up in Jersey and transplanted to Virginia for college - went to Washington & Lee University in Lexington, about an hour SW of Charlottesville. Lovely town, I'd go back in a heartbeat. Prices are still decent as I recall. It's about an hour north of Roanoke, as well, which has all the mall stuff. (Lexington has very little but is slowly building up.) My husband proposed on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

I've also lived in northwest Virginia, near Winchester. Also a nice area - it's starting to build up as a DC bedroom community but it's not too bad yet. About 90 minutes to DC, and there's the mall stuff in Winchester.

 

[Charade]

A quick glance at the title of this thread made me think it was about something COMPLETELY different!!

Although they say "Virginia is for lovers".


Carry on...

 

[mylilnikita]

Hi
I live in Newport News Virginia. Actually Virginia isn't for lovers, it is for people who like crazy weather! Last week, we had 2 nice days in the 60's then that same week, had snow and DD had a 2 hour delay for school. Seriously, I like where I live, even though it is expanding and the traffic is expanding as well. I live 30 minutes from Chesapeake-there is a Disney Store at the mall-30-45 minutes from Norfolk. but I dont go there. I live in a nice quiet neighborhood, DD goes to a great school, so I can't complain. If you are thinking more rural, I suggest near Richmond, a place called Sandston. Williamsburg, nope don't move there too many tourists and tourist buses, I worked up there for years. Va does love to tax for everything. Yorktown, Seaford, Poquson, all lovely places, but not a good place when a hurricane comes through, some people are still living in Fema trailers. I hope wherever you live, you are in a place you want to be.

 

[ChrisnSteph]

Okay, I must've worked entirely too much today and must be REALLY tired....because I saw PROUD VIRGINS!

I thought the same thing, and when I saw all the replies I thought DANG there can't be THAT many virgins here!