Thinking about VaBeach (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake: credit, tech jobs, neighborhood)

[blueonion]

I am 33, married to a wonderful wife and expecting a child in the coming months. I was a military brat andmoved from town to town - currently my wife and I find ourselves in Northwest New Jersey. I did spend 5 years living in Virginia Beach (some of the best years of my childhood) and moved away from the area when I was 11. So a lot of memories may be washed in nostalgia, but I loved the area quite a bit.

Now, at 33, my wife and I would like to relocate to a place where we can raise a family and we would really like to consider Virginia Beach; however I may need a reality check.

When I lived in Viriginia Beach, Kempsville Road was a poorly paved single lane road, Centerville Elementary was just built and there was no Tallwood HS or Salem HS. Lynnhaven PKWY was a year away from being connected to it's counterpart in Brigadoon (lolololol) and Mt. Trashmore (on Centerville) was just a lot of plans on paper.

Much of the above information is probably to specific to a small region, but that is what I remember of Viriginia Beach back in 1984. Regardless, after reviewing google maps (satellite image), I can see none of which I mentioned above is still true today.

But what can I expect to find in Virginia Beach these days? What is the property tax rate? Is there much for information technology work? How bad is the commute relative to Northern Virginia and New York \ New Jersey?

[Lethal_Poison]

Originally Posted by blueonion

I am 33, married to a wonderful wife and expecting a child in the coming months. I was a military brat andmoved from town to town - currently my wife and I find ourselves in Northwest New Jersey. I did spend 5 years living in Virginia Beach (some of the best years of my childhood) and moved away from the area when I was 11. So a lot of memories may be washed in nostalgia, but I loved the area quite a bit.

Now, at 33, my wife and I would like to relocate to a place where we can raise a family and we would really like to consider Virginia Beach; however I may need a reality check.

When I lived in Viriginia Beach, Kempsville Road was a poorly paved single lane road, Centerville Elementary was just built and there was no Tallwood HS or Salem HS. Lynnhaven PKWY was a year away from being connected to it's counterpart in Brigadoon (lolololol) and Mt. Trashmore (on Centerville) was just a lot of plans on paper.

Much of the above information is probably to specific to a small region, but that is what I remember of Viriginia Beach back in 1984. Regardless, after reviewing google maps (satellite image), I can see none of which I mentioned above is still true today.

But what can I expect to find in Virginia Beach these days? What is the property tax rate? Is there much for information technology work? How bad is the commute relative to Northern Virginia and New York \ New Jersey?

Some things that happened while you were gone.

The area went from heavily undervalued, to heavily overvalued. It is now one of the 100 most overpriced areas in the country, and THE most overpriced area outside of Florida/California/and New York-New England.

The local officials have been dumping money into wastes for years, one of their latest projects is trying to build a "down town" near Pembroke Mall.

Mount Trashmore was constructed, and they are building a second one as well. Mount Trashmore has been closed down for sections of time due to toxic chemicals leaking out of it and theyve found mutated animals in the surrounding water areas.


Traffic is insane. Most of Virginia Beach Blvd, and Lynnhaven Pkwy are gridlocked during rush hour. Large sections of Princess Anne Rd, Independence and other major roads are as well. The interstate, from what I hear, is really no better.

Work is pretty good for ex military people, since most of the decent paying jobs are in defense contracting. There is a serious disconnect for the rest of the populace though. Thats the biggest difference between Va Beach, and other overpriced areas, places like Boston and San Francisco are huge corporate centers that supply a large number of high paying jobs. There are no corporate centers or high paying jobs in Virginia Beach. Most people are employed in the low paying service sector, the military, or at one of the defense related entities, primarily the shipyards, and most professionals are paid far below their national average wage. Unfortunatley, the businesses around here never got the memo that "cheap cost of living" was no longer a selling point for the region.

There still isnt anything to do here except booze, play golf, and hang around the beach, when it isnt closed down due to pollution.

[matthew669]

I have lived in Virginia Beach for 21 years. I am a Ohio native, and will be going back to Ohio next year. The area has changed alot, and is now quite crowded. There is virtually no "green space" you have to go to a park or out on the beach to feel as though you have breathing room.
When I first arrived I was single and this town was fun!!! It met my needs.
Now I am married with two little kids and not only have my needs changed but so has the city.
The schools are not very good and that is one of the main reasons I am returning to Ohio. I am an educator myself and have researched the schools alot. The school system is huge which is part of the problem.
Virginia Beach is very much a city now, the pop is close to 1/2 a million.
If you want crowding, high housing costs, lots of traffic and no hometown feel this would be the place.
I know the weather in Ohio is much worse than here, but I am looking forward to the green space, hometown feel, low housing costs!!
Sorry the report couldn't be sunnier!!

[blueonion]

Although the replies are not what I was hoping to read, I appreciate the time put in to write the replies.

My wife and I would be moving from New Jersey so I expect us to find less crowding, considerably lower housing cost, less traffic and more of a hometown feel.

I am saddened to hear the schools are not well thought of. I did not expect the Virginia Beach schools to measure up to the Northern Virginia schools, but I thought they would stand up to the rest of the country.

I suspect Virginia Beach is more over-crowded than I am giving it credit for. We may have to look into Chesapeake or another region of the country.

[54321]

This is a good site that I have seen recommended by another member on the VA site. www.schoolmatters.com

If you've been gone for twenty years, a lot has changed, as almost everywhere. Chesapeake is a good area to raise a family, though housing costs have also escalted recently. Great Bridge, Hickory have excellent schools and are good places to raise families, it is easier to get to the Outer Banks of NC than Va Beach, in season only an addl 15 minute ride with much nicer beaches.

If you are open to other areas, I would look at the Va forum (Va Beach is a sub-forum) on this site. Seems the Roanoke area is still affordable and a desirable place to raise a family.

Many high tech jobs in the VB area are taken by retired military people who can work for a lower wage, they need to supplement their military pensions. This lowers the wages for the entire area.

Good luck to you and your family

[blueonion]

Originally Posted by 54321

This is a good site that I have seen recommended by another member on the VA site. www.schoolmatters.com

Many high tech jobs in the VB area are taken by retired military people who can work for a lower wage, they need to supplement their military pensions. This lowers the wages for the entire area.

Good luck to you and your family

Thanks for the information. I may have to look into the Great Bridge\Hickory\Grassfields area. I was hoping to live closer to the beach, but that feeling is rooted in nostalgia.

I really question the whole 'high tech jobs in the VB area are taken by retired military people'. Can you expand on what you mean by 'high tech jobs'? Are you referring to software development?

[54321]

No, I am not referring to software jobs, they are around, though on average at a lower pay scale than a city of comparable size. I am referring more to electrical enginnering jobs in the research and/or development. There are few companies here that develop ideas, many military contracts are usually filled with retired military personnel. A majority of the jobs offered are service type jobs which pay a lower salary. Dollar Treee, headquartered in Chesapeake announced they are expanding, creating 100 new jobs. A neighbor is a software enginner for Dollar tree, he makes 60K, 15 yrs experience. To find the high tech jobs, creating/designing/implementing new ideas seeem to be in the larger cities. Biloxi, Mississippi and Huntsville ,AL are two other places for the tech jobs, I assume becuase the state has tax advantages for businesses

[blueonion]

Originally Posted by 54321

No, I am not referring to software jobs, they are around, though on average at a lower pay scale than a city of comparable size. I am referring more to electrical enginnering jobs in the research and/or development. There are few companies here that develop ideas, many military contracts are usually filled with retired military personnel. A majority of the jobs offered are service type jobs which pay a lower salary. Dollar Treee, headquartered in Chesapeake announced they are expanding, creating 100 new jobs. A neighbor is a software enginner for Dollar tree, he makes 60K, 15 yrs experience. To find the high tech jobs, creating/designing/implementing new ideas seeem to be in the larger cities. Biloxi, Mississippi and Huntsville ,AL are two other places for the tech jobs, I assume becuase the state has tax advantages for businesses

There must be some truth to what you speak. I found it hard to believe that retired military personnel had that big of impact on the economy.

Thank you for your reply.

[Lethal_Poison]

Originally Posted by blueonion

There must be some truth to what you speak. I found it hard to believe that retired military personnel had that big of impact on the economy.

Thank you for your reply.

Not only do retired military personel have a huge impact, recently discharged military people often slide right into the government contract type jobs and law enforcement, and the spouses of military personel are notorious for accepting paltry wages.

With so many bases around, a great deal of vets, be they retired, or just discharged, end up stuck in this dump, because after their housing allowance stops picking up the tab for the overpriced housing, they end up having just as hard of time getting by as the rest of the civilian populace.

[RetiredNavy]

I live in Chesapeake (Hickory schools) in a neighborhood filled with all kinds of people in "high end" jobs. There are plenty of good job in this area depending on your skills. Yes many revolve around militray industrybut there are also several other things like med school, colleges, a banking center, Norfolk southeren ect. The thing about militry is that the retirees can aford to take a lower paying job because of thier retirement pay, but for skilled tech type they expect pay on same scale as else where becasue we can move and get payed better (which is my case, I am moving for job with Duke energy becasue the Nuke plant in Surry is to far to comute to from area and my wife does not want to live in Smithfeild). If you wantr send me an email an I can send you a link to my listing and answer your question as best as I can.
Rob