How about Norfolk? (Hampton, Fairlawn: apartments, rentals, condos)

[The Dissenter]

I want info about Norfolk. Where are the bad and good areas? I'm from Hampton so i'm not phased with moderate crime levels. How cheap are the good areas? No chat about VA Beach, other HR cities. Just keep it Norfolk.

[summers19]

Hi,
the good areas in Norfolk that I know about are...
Larchmont, Ghent, and Freemason downtown. I am sure there are more but these are the neighborhoods I am more familiar with.
Larchmont and Freemason are not cheap. Larchmont has many single family homes, is beautiful with mature trees and landscaping, and many of the houses are on the river. The houses are not cookie cutter...they are all unique, some huge, some cape cod, some bungalow. It's a beautiful neighborhood.

Freemason is gorgeous as well and is a very walkable community. It's located right downtown on the Elizabeth River. It has apartments, condos, rowhouses, and single family mansions. The area is historic and they often have ghost tours during the Halloween season. The YMCA is within walking distance, as are countless of local independent restaurants, shops, MacArthur mall, and churches. There are new condos being constructed everywhere downtown. There are boat slips galore.

Ghent is another walkable community with shops, coffee houses, pubs, churches, and many restaurants. It's a little more afforable than the other two neighborhoods. It has mansions, student apartments, condos, and single family homes. Housing in Ghent is very eclectic. West Ghent is mostly single family housing. As you get closer to the downtown of Ghent, you find more student housing, condos, apartments, and mansions.

[Lethal_Poison]

There is one neighborhood that is affordable in Norfolk and also decent, and that is Hollywood/Fairlawn.

Every other decent section of Norfolk such as Larchmount and Ghent is prohibitively expensive.

[VirginiaGirl]

Unless you have room-mates to help with cost, housing in Norfolk tends to be pretty pricey. Otherwise, you could be living in some dodgy neighborhoods. Sad to say that there's not a lot of nice places in Norfolk. I have a friend who lives in an apartment in Ghent and his share of the rent is $750 per month (for two people). Don't know if that's with utilities or not.

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by Lethal_Poison

There is one neighborhood that is affordable in Norfolk and also decent, and that is Hollywood/Fairlawn.

Every other decent section of Norfolk such as Larchmount and Ghent is prohibitively expensive.

anyone else has info on this neighborhood? (hollywood/fairlawn)

[GOODTOGO]

I have not heard of that neighborhood, however we use to reside in Norfolk back in the late 80's and returned to So.Fla. in 1998. We resided in Ghent Square, lovely upscale neighborhood and eventually built a home in Lafayette Shores. It has been many moon's since we left there and understand the market has gone through the roof. I miss having the seasons and winter wasn't too bad except for some nor'eastern's, but Norfolk is a great town. Our son resides there and we will be visiting them this summer and look forward to seeing our old stomping grounds...

[GOODTOGO]

BTW, Southern Living Magazine just did a piece on Norfolk in this month's issue...check it out on the news stands....

[emeraldgirl]

I would consider the Ghent area of Norfolk. I have lived there for the past 7 years and love the area although I agree with some of the others that is can be pricey around the Ghent area. I lucked out and found a decent duplex in a really nice neighborhood for only $695.00 a month. For the area that is almost unheard of though. You just have to look around a see what is out there. Good luck!

[shellytc]

I would also look into the baymeadows area. Closer to the beach. You can check out Winona section of Norfolk. Neat up and coming area. Lafayette is also a neighborhood you can try. There is a section of Larchmont that is closer to ODU and may have some rentals as it is around the college and rentals are there.

Good luck, shelly

[IdaClaire]

I grew up in Norfolk- first in Riverfront, a more modest post-WW2 neighborhood between more upscale Meadowbrook and Algonquin Park, and later we moved to Edgewater, which is part of Larchmont on the ODU side of Hampton Boulevard. The neighborhood was always nice, but home prices have absolutely gone through the roof the last few years. My mother sold our Edgewater home near Bolling Avenue recently at about 4 times what we paid for it in the early 1980's. When I was a kid, that part of Larchmont was still somewhat attainable for average joes like us.

There are a couple of nice older neighborhoods I remember that might be more affordable, but since I haven't lived there in a good few years, I may be off. Colonial Place used to have a similar vibe as Ghent- progressive, diverse, a lot of ODU folk lived there, but was less expensive than Larchmont and Ghent at the time. There was also Riverview and Winona, which were off Granby St. Oops, I see that someone mentioned Winona. I seem to recall hearing about a neighborhood called Fairmont Park, but can't remember now what I heard. It may be an affordable but safe neighborhood, but someone can correct me if I'm incorrect.

Ghent, of course, is fabulous, as is Freemason. One of my favorite parts of Norfolk is the part of Ghent near the Chrysler Museum along the Hague.

I have also heard that parts of Ocean View have improved vastly, though I haven't checked that out. There were some lovely older homes over there, but the neighborhoods over there were rough when I was growing up.

Lochhaven, Meadowbrook and Algonquin Park are on the Naval Base side of the Hampton Boulevard Bridge and have some of the most expensive homes in Norfolk. All three neighborhoods have fabulous older architecture from earlier periods of the twentieth century and are all outrageously expensive. Lakewood is another chi chi neighborhood near Tidewater Drive. It's a bit newer than Larchmont, Meadowbrook, Lochhaven and Algonquin Park. I would say that the most affluent neighborhoods are Ghent, Lakewood, Larchmont, Meadowbrook, Lochhaven and Algonquin Park.