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living in VA Beach vs. DC area
DH, my baby girl, and I are considering what it might be like to move to VA Beach from Alexandria--in part because we'd love to live near the beach and in part to escape the very expensive housing and "rat race" of the close-in DC suburbs. Right now, we love our neighborhood in Alexandria (Del Ray). We can walk to what would be DD's school, 2 yoga studios, and some really great coffee shops and restaurants--it feels more urban than suburban, to me. What I'm wondering is: Are there neighborhoods in VA Beach that would have a similar feel? Places where there are cool independent coffee shops and non-chain restaurants?
Thanks for any insight you can share on the differences between the two areas. We've been to VB but only for short vacations, so we don't know what it would actually be like to live there. We've looked at real estate online and we know we can afford the house we'd like to have (~4br SF) there for significantly less than we bought townhouse in Alexandria for. TIA!
Re: living in VA Beach vs. DC area
I'd say somewhere in the Pembroke area, near VB's "downtown" of Town Center. If you want real a real local feel of restaurants, apartments, single family homes great local restaurants and more - look no further than the Ghent neighborhood in Norfolk. Most of the houses were built at the turn of the last century. Ghent is also close to downtown Norfolk. Both Pembroke and Ghent are just a short ride down 264 if you're looking to hit up the beach.
Let me know if you want more info. I'd be glad to see what I can gather. The metro area has many unique pockets of neighborhoods that I'm sure you all would find something to fit. Just like you all, the commute to work and tunnels are the largest obstacle.
You can also email if you prefer: mknight@radford.edu
Happy hunting!
Hi Allison- My DH and I moved to the VB Oceanfront two years ago (from Howard County, MD), and just purchased a SF home...yesterday!!! Howard Co is also HCOL and moving down here for DH's job certainly helped to fatten the checkbook a bit. The pp is correct, Ghent is an area in Norfolk that is more trendy and being in the city, close walking distance to a lot of stuff. I'm not that familiar with Del Ray, but if you know Fells Point or Federal Hill in Baltimore city, that is what it reminds me of. Same thing goes for the Town Centre area. TC has a relatively brand new, central shopping area but the restaurants are mainly chains. You would have to drive there from any SF homes and the traffic through there can get pretty congestive. Luckily, we found a great neighborhood only a couple blocks from the beach that we fell in love with. It's called Shadowlawn and it has a very neighborly feel. Because the main roads to the oceanfront avoid this area by design, you don't suffer the tourist traffic as much. It's like no one knows we are back here even though the neighborhood begins about 2 blocks west of the beach! Of course, being near the tourist area provides tons of restaurants, bars, gyms & shopping. And although you could walk to all of them, the preferred method of transportation is biking. Everyone has a beach cruiser! There's also a lot of younger families in the area and from what I've read, the public schools are also pretty good. Like you said, homes here are very affordable, especially compared to Northern Virginia. You'll find a good mix of older SF, 5 - 10 year of SF, older and newer duplexs, and once is a while a new construction SF (which is what we bought.) But think you could definitely find what you are looking for, for a price that is reasonable. Check out www.hrmls.com and enter the zip code 23451. That zip covers more than the Shadowlawn area, but should give you a good idea of what's out there. And if you really want to go for the elite beach homes, check out the North End beach area. Very nice homes and you will be paying for the right to say "I live in the North End." Maybe one day.
Hope this helps you. I will tell you that no matter where you go in this area, the people could not be nicer. Very friendly, helpful and generally enjoy life. It was one of the things that took me a while to get used to. People do nice things for each other just to be nice, not to expect something back in return. A nice change of pace.
Thank you both SO much for the info! I think we're going to take a short trip there soon to check out some of the neighborhoods, and this is really helpful. I'll look into the ones you mentioned.
I'm happy to hear that there's a mix of housing types, too (even if we end up in a new house, I like neighborhoods where not all the houses look alike). And I meant to mention that I'd rather be somewhere with some racial and socioeconomic diversity, too
I moved to VB about a year and a half ago from the Baltimore area. I LOVE IT! I chose to live in Glenwood area which isabout 20 min. from the beach, 20 min. from Norfolk, 20 min. or less pretty much from everywhere. I love where I live.
That being said, I teach in Pembroke and that that area is very convenient. The area is very mixed between blue and white collar. Our school fluctuates between being Title 1 and not almost every year. The school is excellent and Pembroke Meadows is the other school right there. However, there are a bunch of other schools there too that are nice. A bit down from there, towards the beach (Shore Drive area) are some really nice houses on small waterways.
Out by me, I recommend Glenwood or Salem Woods for a house. A lot of people like to live near Hilltop area (worst road situation ever due to access roads) but tons of shopping, etc. and not too far from the beach. Great Neck is popular too.
thanks again for all your helpful responses. We actually visited recently and drove around neighborhoods a little bit. We loved what I guess is Lynnhaven Shores, but it's definitely on the pricier side of the things we looked at online, so I don't know if we'd be able to find a place there that we like and can afford. We didn't like Pembroke or Chesapeake as much. We thought Ghent was great, but we think we'd rather live closer to the beach. Now we know where we want to spend more time looking the next time we go.
And you are all definitely right about friendliness--people who were working in their yards would look up and wave when we were just driving by! I've lived all over the country, but I've never experienced that. We were like, did he just wave at us?!
Anyway, thanks again for all your help--especially the MRIS listing recommendations!