O/T ... CONSIDERING MOVING

[SandyinMonterey]

My husband is considering applying for a job in Newport News VA. Reaching out for any and all information I can gather. Is it a nice place to live? What's housing like, especially cost. And very, very important to us are schools, public and if there are private. If Newport News isn't a good area, how about the surrounding towns? Thanks everyone!

 

[redsonja76]

Hello! I live in the Hampton Roads area. We have been here 1 year and I quite like it! There are a lot of towns here in this area to live in. If you want to stay on the peninsula you have Hampton, Newport News, Yorktown, Williamsburg. If you go more north there's Glouchter, and if you go across the water south you have Norfolk, Portsmouth, Smithville, and a host of other towns. My absolute favorite is Yorktown. If your hubby works in Newport News his commute from Yorktown would be 15-20 minutes depending on where he works and how far north into Yorktown you'd live. IMO the York county schools are the best in the area. We specifically picked that area because of the schools. Housing prices are all over the map here, it really depends on the area you look in and what you're wanting. The historic triangle is amazing, we love it! There are so many things to do with our daughter here like the Mariners Museum, the Virginia Living Museum, the live action encampments at the historic villages, beach, busch gardens, etc etc etc. I'm very happy here.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

redsonja76...thank you so much for your response. I went online to research some of the other areas you mentioned and it appears that Yorktown is very nice. The Running Man neighborhood came up a lot. Do you know anything about that particular neighborhood? It also seems that the public schools in Yorktown (Tabb) seems to be better rated than private schools? My mind has been eased a little bit. If this move does happen, my main concern is my daughter. She's 10 and so sensitive. She loves her school and her friends and my stomach is in knots thinking of how she'll react. Thanks again so much.

 

[DisneyMandC]

DH lived in VA Beach his whole life until moving in with me, but his parents still live there and we visit frequently. I would NOT recommend living in the city of Newport News! Yorktown is a nice area though, and Williamsburg is very nice. Both would be a very manageable drive to Newport News. Parts of Virginia Beach and Norfolk are very nice as well, but you'll have to go through a tunnel to get to them, and tunnel traffic is horrendous. I would recommend looking online to ensure that any prospective jobs, houses, etc. don't require you to go through the tunnel. I drove to VA Beach from Richmond to see DH every other weekend for 6 years, and there are only a handful of times I can think of when there wasn't a backup at the tunnel. As long as you steer clear of that though, you'll be in good shape!

 

[got2sammies]

Hello! I live in Hampton Roads and I second that Newport News isn't where you want to be (or Portsmouth or Norfolk). Yorktown and Williamsburg are better schools and neighborhoods but the prices are going to be more. Williamsburg might have higher tax rate since its considered a tourist town. I would also throw in North Suffolk.. Schools are decent and it have been experiencing a lot of growth and new construction (and only a bridge away NO TUNNELS!) Western Branch of Chesapeake has good neighborhoods and good schools as well (all accredited). If you do decided on moving look into the annual passes for Busch Gardens and water country

 

[redsonja76]

redsonja76...thank you so much for your response. I went online to research some of the other areas you mentioned and it appears that Yorktown is very nice. The Running Man neighborhood came up a lot. Do you know anything about that particular neighborhood? It also seems that the public schools in Yorktown (Tabb) seems to be better rated than private schools? My mind has been eased a little bit. If this move does happen, my main concern is my daughter. She's 10 and so sensitive. She loves her school and her friends and my stomach is in knots thinking of how she'll react. Thanks again so much.

I don't know anything about the running man neighborhood, but it is very close to where I live now. We used to live off of Dare Rd farther north and we LOVED it up there. Just loved it. The only reason we moved was to move into military housing. My daughter is almost 9 and she goes to Dare elementary. We are completely in love with this school. It's small, has an all female leadership (which is awesome for girls I think), and ranks very well. I don't know what your price point is for houses, but so long as you stay in the York schools you'll be fine. We really are very happy here, with so many wonderful things to do and see, and so much history, four seasons, and beautiful lakes and trees. I love it! My daughter also does horseback riding and swimming lessons here, plus I am her girl scout troop leader (our girl scout council rocks!). We go camping at Triple R Ranch down in Chesapeake once a year (it's great!), and even have a beautiful campground at Newport News Park right in the middle of town!

 

[redsonja76]

Also, the Tabb schools in York county are very good, but the Grafton ones are equally awesome, so that gives you a large area to look for housing. Try looking in zip code 23692.

 

[SandyinMonterey]

Thanks again, redsonja76. Our price point for a home would be $500,000 to $800,000. I've focused on Running Man neighborhood because of the schools but I've come across another neighborhood, Taylor Farms, but uncertain of schools in that area (if it's Yorktown or another district). My daughter goes to a private school which she loves. The school is awesome and it's just a small school with a great student body. It really tears at me that we may have to pull her away from that. She's such a sensitive girl. We're originally from NJ but been living in California for the past 15 years. I change to all four seasons will be most welcomed!

 

[redsonja76]

At that price point, give a look to the "Lakes at Dare" neighborhood. I am super partial to that area, because that's where we were, but it's so beautiful, and Dare is such a great school, just really fantastic. Also at that price point you could probably get a property that has water access. A lot of our friends live up to the water and just take their boats out at night because it's so beautiful.