Boston to VA Beach Area - What Are Pros/Cons? (Virginia Beach: sales, real estate)

[scarlett68]

Can anyone from the Boston area who has relocated to the Virginia Beach area (and/or surrounding coastal locations) tell me what your thoughts are on the area? What are the plusses and minuses of the area? Are you glad you moved or do you like the Boston area better?

I really liked VA Beach on the two occasions I visited and I am looking to get away from the cold winters, but I wonder whether I would regret my decision if I picked up and moved.

Thanks for the help.

[Erma]

My L-S will tell you that the cold winters are NOT missed. The cost of living is a bit cheaper and no deposits on cans/bottles. We recycle those (or most of us do). Takes a little while to know your way around, but you won't miss the roadways up there, once you are used to straight shots and exits. You will miss going to New Hampshire where there isn't any state sales tax, but you can always do all that when you visit your old neighborhood!

[Hokie]

You have wonderful towns outside of it that have town squares and are very Norman Rockwell like. There is a very highly educated population overall. Unlike Va. Beach, which has many bad and good areas, some of which you can't tell just by looking at, in the Boston area if you pick a nice town, you don't have to worry about bad areas. They don't generally have any in nice towns.

You can live in a quiet town, but hop the commuter rail into the city for restaurants, work, college, theater, and shopping. People still get very visibly upset over crime unlike here. In fact a few years back many lined up at the courthouse in one time yelling at a doctor who killed his wife. Crime is practically non existant in the towns. Now if you get in the Boston inner city neighborhood, there is crime.

The downside, high real estate taxes. But no tax on clothing unless it is a luxury item. No food tax last when I lived there. Meal tax, yes. Cold long winter. Wonderful food!!!!!!!! Great bakeries and fresh bread (not day old or more like here at the supermarkets). Great subs and seafood. Wonderful clothes for professionals. Nearby NH is great for summer vacations. Cape has many nice parts some which are not too crowded (have to know where to go). Salaries much higher. High expectations from the students in the public schools in the nice towns compared to the schools here (and I should know -- I teach). There is a difference.

Where in particular are you looking? In Boston or in towns around it?

[Hokie]

You want to move here! I regret it tremendously, but our jobs are here now.

This is not like New England at all. Sprawing subdivisions that do not connect to any center, lousy supermarkets, huge schools with lower expectations, more crime than N.E. towns, lower pay by a looooooong shot, and very transient (due in part to Navy).

It's not all bad, but I miss the Boston area. Where are you in Boston?

If you do come here, there are a couple of neighborhood with trees and big yards and no homeowners' association, and I live in one of them. It makes it more bearable. When my family visits from Boston area, they swear this place has NOTHING in common with Massachusetts. They can't stand it here. So be careful. Visit again, and by all means, drive all around this city, ALL AROUND.

[blueva]

I think you would enjoy VA BEACH! Va Beach is free from extreme heat or cold (well at least to Virginians anyway- it might be a tad more hot for New Englanders, lol). But winter time is very mild with temps usually in the upper 40s and 50s. Sometimes it can cold (snow is RARE in Va Beach- except maybe a dusting here or there). Since its near the ocean. Also you are not too far from Washington DC and then closer to the Deeper South if you want to do day trips you are basically a day's drive from anywhere along the East Coast

I agree with the poster that said VA Beach is tranisent Its much like NOVA (Northern Virginia)- most people are military there and not really from Virginia. Its not "Old South" like Richmond or Williamsburg.

[citydweller]

Real estate is definitely cheaper here. I haven't lived in Boston but have friends that have friends there. And real estate taxes are less too I believe. As Hokie said there are older communities here with no hoa and I too live in one. It is suburban to me but to the locals not so much. Kings Forest/Kings Grant is a nice area I could recommend. Now is a great time to buy a home as there are lots on the market. As it has been said it is a highly transient area. Makes meeting people a bit harder imo but lately I have met some very nice people, most actually natives - gasp, when you meet a native! .

[Erma]

Originally Posted by Hokie

You want to move here! I regret it tremendously, but our jobs are here now.

This is not like New England at all. Sprawing subdivisions that do not connect to any center, lousy supermarkets, huge schools with lower expectations, more crime than N.E. towns, lower pay by a looooooong shot, and very transient (due in part to Navy).

It's not all bad, but I miss the Boston area. Where are you in Boston?

If you do come here, there are a couple of neighborhood with trees and big yards and no homeowners' association, and I live in one of them. It makes it more bearable. When my family visits from Boston area, they swear this place has NOTHING in common with Massachusetts. They can't stand it here. So be careful. Visit again, and by all means, drive all around this city, ALL AROUND.

UMMMM..YOU'RE in Virginia, not Massachusetts..it's supposed to be that way!

[darzz1]

Originally Posted by Erma

UMMMM..YOU'RE in Virginia, not Massachusetts..it's supposed to be that way!

Wow.. that was a bit harsh. I would think poster would know what state there in.

I have to agree though w/the other poster. I have lived in Va. Bch for about
15 yrs and originally from Ma. (Natick). I have to say that both have there pro's and cons.

Va. Bch is very much filled w/cookie cutter neighborhoods that look very much the same.
Same stripe malls on every corner and 711's on every and
all corners. There is not much land here as they feel the need to feel it
with generic homes or stores.
Also,, traffic is really bad but streets are marked pretty well.
We also have much milder winters and home prices are much more
reasonable than Ma.

I very miss the small little quaint towns in Ma and the food, especially the sea food.
There is much more sense of community in the new england towns then here.

All in all both places have positivies and negatives.

Good luck on your decision and make sure you investigate the area in which
you'll live.

[Erma]

[quote=darzz1;5387654]Wow.. that was a bit harsh. I would think poster would know what state there in.

It wasn't! You can't compare one environment to the other, especially 650 miles apart. If where you love to be can't offer you or keep giving you what you need, then you move and make the best of it. Like one other person said, they don't like it here, but their jobs are here.

[darzz1]

[quote=Erma;5388684]

Originally Posted by darzz1

Wow.. that was a bit harsh. I would think poster would know what state there in.

It wasn't! You can't compare one environment to the other, especially 650 miles apart. If where you love to be can't offer you or keep giving you what you need, then you move and make the best of it. Like one other person said, they don't like it here, but their jobs are here.

Geez.... ofcourse you can compare different areas 650 miles apart.. why not? I think when making a lfe changing decision such as moving you certainly would compare pros and cons of each place.

I thought that's what this forum was about.. giving your true opinion on
questions asked and the area. I just don't think people should be slammed
for expressing there views... you may not like other people's opinions but
that's all they are is simply there opinion.