should I be this nervous?

[sancynicole]

yeah, we both really like NN alot but the job I was offered is a really great and its a tough decision. Do I want to stay here and make less money or move and have a great job but possibly hate the area????

[LILHOUSE]

VB and Chesapeake are very nice. If you look at the crime rates comparted to some other large cities, they are actually low. True, though, you cannot find anything decent anymore for under 1k rent or 250k+ to buy. If you won't be making enough to support that, don't bother. DONOT commute! The traffis is bad - especially the tunnel.

As for darzz1 - news is full of all the bad stuff, but in the grand scheme you are hearing about almost ALL of the crime in a large area. In perspective it is not as bad as it sounds. Course Ima Jersey native, so here is country to me!

[Bulldog Dan]

I am considering a move to HR area myself. I live near a Midwestern town that statistically has much crime. But where I live provides a wonderful way of life. Great schools, friendly neighbors, good churches and very low crime. Some deride it as too family oriented. We have a large military installation in town, but it doesn't dominate the area. My dilemma is do I take a job that has better opportunity (and closer to family although not really close) or keep an adequate job that assures me of a good quality of life?

I know there are some areas in which I would not take any job. NYC, DC, SoCal are examples. Those places are fine for some, but not for my family. So I believe there exists a threshold of quality of life for which I am unwilling to go below. If such a life changing event is only about making a few (or even a lot) more dollars, you will likely regret making the change.

For me, if it were only about dollars, I would not make such a change. I lived in Detroit some years back. I grew up an hour from there, so it was like going home. We lived in a nice enough area and I had a great job. But while the people were nice enough, the main recreation in Detroit on weekends is leaving town! And for good reason because it just isn't that great to be there. After having left my hometown, I found out many other places provided a better quality of life.

I obviously don't know the HR area except from what I have read or learned from various sources. I don't think one visit should determine my opinion about anything, unless the issues are blatantly obvious. After a few visits, one should begin develop a feel for an area. If that feel is uncomfortable, I wouldn't move there. We spend 50 or more hours per week on work-related activities. That means we spend more than 100 hours per week living life outside of work. You have to decide how much of your non-working lifestyle you must sacrifice to obtain the perceived improvement in employment. If there is no sacrifice and it really is "all good," then go for it and don't hesitate. If its all about the same, then you probably can't lose either way. If you have to sell your soul for that great job, its probably not worth it.

If I leave a pretty good situation in hopes of finding a great one, I might be successful in finding that great one or I might regret leaving the good one. Since we don't have the benefit of hindsight at such moments in life, we wind up having to hedge your bet.

Good Luck.

[hj2500]

Virginia Beach has 80% the population of Washington, D.C. and yet it has the layout and feel of a suburb. This must be why people are being caught off guard with the crime. You don't have the feeling of security from being close to many other people regardless of whether or not you know them.

[wjjbward]

Plus, Virginia Beach is the size of a county but is called a city. When we first moved here we were taken aback by the crime reports on the news. A lot of times they don't mention what area of VB things occur, and even if they do and you don't know the area yet, you'll be shocked. Now we've been here for 2 years and we have a better handle on where the bad areas of VB are so I know better not to be freaked out by the crime reports.

Plus, I had to take into account that we moved from a town with a small population of 15,000 to a city with over 400,000 residents!