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Please help...family of 4 relocating to VA...need advice...
Hello! Hubby has a job opportunity that we are considering that would relocate us from the suburbs of Philadelphia (West Chester, Chester County) to Virginia. I raise children. He's in sales and his base would be out of the house with significant travel to territory "hot spots" (for lack of better words). The following cities or city clusters would likely be his major focus areas in order of importance...Vienna/McLean, Richmond, Norfolk/Virginia Beach, Roanoke, Williamsburg and Charlottesville. As I'm beginning to understand, the above are really quite spread throughout the state so living in close proximity to all doesn't really work. We are prepared for work-related travel and how the territory is navigated is really up to him. With that being said, we are really looking for advice about places to live while weighing the following criteria in order of importance.
1. SCHOOLS - We have two boys ages 4 and 2. We are really looking for the best, as we are coming from GREAT schools, and our 4 year old is naturally gifted in some areas...and very age appropriate in others. ;o)
2. Clean, suburban, family oriented town. We really like the area we are coming from in that there is a nice balance between reasonably affordable ($500,000 or so) colonials on about an acre and TONS of things nearby for families to do (children's museums, sports facilities and stadiums, many kid friendly activites ~ storytimes, pool clubs, music classes, arts, Moms clubs, etc. We would love to find something similar there. I really like the idea of traditional neighborhoods (don't mind cookie cutter homes...) with sidewalks and curbs and young families.
We aren't naive/oblivious to traffic as we know Philadelphia and I'm originally from Central Jersey but can't really get a grip on how different the traffic situation might be in Northern Va. or surrounding areas.
3. Good Shopping: I'm a mom and my fashion sense has, shamefully, long been squashed but I like being able to access what I need. I can't live in a place that's excited to be getting a Target but I don't need to be walking distance from Bloomingdales. That being said, I would like to have reasonable access to good shopping...malls, chain stores, FOOD shopping. Please tell me you have Wegmans, Trader Joes, Whole Foods!!!
I know this is really long-winded but if you can shed some advice on where I might consider living, I'd really appreciate it!
Re: Please help...family of 4 relocating to VA...need advice...
What is your current idea of traffic? NoVA traffic can be brutal, like 4 hour commute home for a 15-20 mile trip brutal. As far as shopping, most of those areas being cities are pretty good, I think Charlottesville is the smallest. As far as schools go VA Beach and Roanake have great schools. In fact out of the top 10 elementary schools in VA, 5 of them are in your listed areas.
Loudoun county is known for good schools and it isn't so deep in the NoVA that its terrible traffic wise. Another thing to look at is CoL. Generally NoVA is more expensive than the rest of the state. Ex. I'm in Fauquier (southern NoVA) and our salaries are bigger, but so is everything else. The price I paid on my house would get me much more in Culpeper. That being said, I would never put my fictional children in a Culpeper school.
In the Hampton Roads area (which includes Norfolk, VA Beach, Chesapeake, etc) you'll find:
1. Schools: Virginia Beach and Chesapeake have the best public schools in the area.
2. Family Oriented areas: Again, Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are going to be your best bet. Although the Ghent area of Norfolk is nice. You will also find a range of housing options. We have everything from ghetto to multi-million dollar homes. Traffic to and from the suburbs/neighborhoods can be crazy because we are a military area in addition to lots of private sector jobs. There are 2 major tunnels (Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel and Monitor-Merrimac Bridge Tunnel) that connect the Peninsula and Southside sections of this area. The Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel is a headache and all around traffic can be chaotic on summer weekends because the Hampton Roads area is the main thoroughfare for traffic headed to the Outer Banks of NC.
3. We have access to a variety of shopping. Norfolk and VA Beach have more upscale shopping and we're close to outlet shopping in Williamsburg. VA Beach will be getting a Whole Foods soon and already has a Trader Joes.
1. SCHOOLS - I don't have kids so this is only from what I hear. I agree with the PP that NoVa schools are good. I also lived in Richmond where the Henrico school systems were said to be really good as well. Richmond city, not as much (unless you go private). Cannot say for any of the other places.
2. Clean, suburban, family oriented town. - Traffic is pretty awful in NoVa, not so much elsewhere in VA. NoVa is great - some places like Alexandria is being built up to be a walking town (my friends who live there do not even own a car). The proximity to DC, Potomac River, and mountains (Old Rag) gives you plenty of activities.
That being said, the cost of living is high. I lived in Richmond for 5 years and thought the costs were reasonable. It is a bigger city than other central VA places (like Roanoke, etc), thus more to do. There were not any major league sports, but plenty of minor leagues that were cheap and family-oriented. Charlottesville has a lot of colleges and grad schools so I can imagine there are plethora to do there. Williamsburg is great for history buffs. Roanoke is cheap, but being from a big city myself, I felt a little to insulated there for lack of culture! But it is very close to outdoor activities.
3. Good Shopping - As I'm sure you know, Williamsburg has the outlet mall, which is where I did most of my shopping. But NoVa being close to DC has its fair amount of shopping. Richmond has within the last decade built up many malls, one that I rarely go since it's very upscale with shops like Loius Vuitton (can't afford it!) I worked in Roanoke and cannot imagine the shopping to be anything similar to that. I can only imagine VA Beach would have decent shopping since it's touristy.
As for food shopping, you can check out Trader Joe and Whole Foods websites. NoVa and Richmond has them. I don't think Roanoke or Williamsburg would but they probably have their own independent ones, which I think sometimes can be better. Wegmen's is northeast thing - recently only expanded in MD (and maybe NoVA?)
Hope this helps and good luck.
From where he has to go for hotspots I have to say fredericksburg could be perfect.
1) schools - Spotys County schools are womderful. Very well ranked in the State.
2) Housing - many neighborhoods offer homes around 425K on .6 of an acre (homes are about 3400 sq not including basement)
3) things to do, Spotsy towncenter is okay, but I have to say Short pump in richmond is better. Spotsy is up and coming though. There are many parks and activities for the kids, county sports are huge. I like the area because you are 1 and 1/2 hour from the mountains (nice ski resort with great indoor waterpark at massanutten) about 2 hours from williamsburg, 45 minutes from Kings dominion, 2 and 1/2 hours from the beach and only 1 hour and 10 minutes from all the great things to do in DC.
They are both nice West Henrico more so from what our firends who live down there say. make sure that where you buy things are okay from the earthquake. Mineral is still suffering from after shocks