Starting Over
Dear Community,
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Moving
Hello all! I'm new to this board and looking for some free advice. I got divorced in February of this year, and am now looking to move out of the area where my ex and I lived together (BTW - he still lives here with his new girlfriend and new baby - awesome right?). I am a Speech Pathologist working in the schools, and would like to stay in VA to keep my retirement benefits from the public schools. I am trying to decide between Richmond VA or Northern VA. Any suggestions? I have always been a small-town rural kind of gal, but am looking to move to a city - meet new people, have some new experiences, make more money, etc etc etc! Thanks in advance for any suggestions 
Re: Moving
hi Amy and Welcome. I live in VA and also work with the schools. While I dont know VA that well (only been here 3 years) I'd personally opt for an area closer DC but in the burbs
Best of luck!
I live in VA and just moved away from Northern VA. My H and I've lived in Northern VA for 2 years and we HATED it. The cost of living is ridiculous. Your money won't bring you far. Yes, some jobs up there do pay you well, but it doesn't really take you far. We lived in an apartment a little over 950 sq. ft for 1450 a month and that was apparently a steal. Our rent went up to 1900/month at the time of our renewal.
Basically, when you first move up there...you'd find apartments where they give you "specials" and you get a huge discounted rate. However when your year lease is up, they'd offer you a renewed lease at their original price which could jump up 300+ month. This is very common and I heard this ALL the time while living up there.
Oh and if you want a house...and you have a 350K budget, you'd end up with a 1950's ranch style home that's a little over 900 sq. feet. Nothing will be remodeled in there. You'd have yellow/green refrigerator and no dishwasher. This is coming from a close friend of mine who was thrilled when she bought a home up there.
My husband and I even looked into Richmond before we moved back here to our hometown. Richmond has nice areas and they have great cost of living. Amazing. You can easily buy a decent house for a reasonable price.
Ditto PPs about the HCOL in DC. Not sure where you're currently located, but Charlottesville would be another town to look into--it has a lot of the offerings of a bigger city (art, music, FOOD, etc.), but it's really not that big, so it still has a bit of a small-town feel. I would guess that the COL is probably a little higher than in Richmond because having UVA there tends to drive up the housing prices, but I am absolutely in love with C'ville (have lived there 3 1/2 years).
Also, the Virginia board is dead. Check for replies in, like, 2 weeks.