what price is considered "affordable" rent in Virginia Beach? (Hampton: for sale, real estate market)

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by lovesMountains

That is really disturbing to hear - in Charlotte you can get some very nice 2 and 3 bedroom apts for $850! Dang, those rents are more than my mortgage payment

Welcome to Hampton Roads. Housing is completely outrageous and showing no signs of becoming even remotely aligned with prevailing wages.

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by chesapeakesim

Damn, you are leaving Charlotte for Hampton Roads??? Just curious why you would want to move. Charlotte is a far better city and much cheaper as you can see. Unless you absolutely have to move I would stay in Charlotte.

I DON'T want to move!!! Charlotte is a great city and in a perfect world I'd live up in the mountains within 2 hours of Charlotte.

Unfortunately, my husband has been out of work a year now and we are having no luck getting any job offers here. We finially decided to expand our search a bit and something has come up in Virginia Beach.

I am seriously dismayed at what you can buy in VB in our price range

[lovesMountains]

Originally Posted by telemonster

The good news is housing prices will continue to fall. The banks are sitting on LOTS of foreclosures that they haven't put on the market. When they do, it will flood the market with more inventory. As I understand it, many of the mortgage companies may start to go forward soon with all the people that aren't paying their mortgages. Lots of people are living free, because the mortgage companies can't keep up with all the people behind, or don't wish to show the losses, or are hoping that Obama somehow gives their deadbeat customers help.

In terms of rent, look around. I'm seeing places offering 1 month free specials and what not. You never used to see that. On the commercial side, I just negotiated a place down from $1600/month to $1000/month.

In all honestly, Hampton Roads isn't a great place. There is interference with the housing market from military with housing allowances, and the fact that so many of the residents probably aren't very intelligent and were willing to get funky loans to overpay.

Well, that at least explains how people can afford such outrageous rents and prices on homes

We have decided we just CANNOT do the apartment thing. I am sick at my stomach thinking what this move is going to cost me.

[Tidewater Entrepreneur]

I have to disagree with Hampton Roads being a bad place to live. It depends on what you like. I have lived all over the east coast, and the Midwest. I prefer Hampton Roads. Beaches are close, good school system, (depending on where you live) climate is mild, great for raising a family, friendly people and so much more.
If you don't like this area then you should consider moving else where. Lots of people moving to Texas because they haven't felt the down turn. While I lived in Florida, I saw a lot of people move back up North after they realized that it wasn't what they imagined from a week's worth of Disney World. Moving is expensive and emotionally draining. Unless you already have a good paying job lined up, I don't see why would you want to move.

[Randomdude]

Originally Posted by Tidewater Entrepreneur

I have to disagree with Hampton Roads being a bad place to live. It depends on what you like. I have lived all over the east coast, and the Midwest. I prefer Hampton Roads. Beaches are close, good school system, (depending on where you live) climate is mild, great for raising a family, friendly people and so much more.
If you don't like this area then you should consider moving else where. Lots of people moving to Texas because they haven't felt the down turn. While I lived in Florida, I saw a lot of people move back up North after they realized that it wasn't what they imagined from a week's worth of Disney World. Moving is expensive and emotionally draining. Unless you already have a good paying job lined up, I don't see why would you want to move.

I dont think Hampton Roads is a terrible area, if you subtract out the lack of good jobs, inept leadership, and high cost of living.

It does have decent schools, on a whole, and the crime is very low for a metro area its size. The weather is good, there is nearby history, a number of amusement parks, lots of outdoor type things to do.

[telemonster]

The CEO of a company I used to work for was down here visiting and he said to my boss (overheard), "HAH this is HAMPTON ROADS. What does this joker think, we pay REAL wages down here?" This was at a time they were hiring new employees.

[wheelsup]

I paid around $1150/month for a 2 bed/1 bath at a place called Latitudes in Virgina Beach. It was a very safe place to live, very convenient to shopping, however it was noisy.

We moved to Raleigh and bought a house for not much more than that, excluding all the deductions. We went from an 836 sq ft apartment to 2000 sq ft w/ 2 car garage, 3 year old house. Virginia Beach/Hampton Roads is so overpriced it's not even funny. Homes like ours were literally double what they are here. And the pay is crap, there is an over abundance of military spouses that have nothing to do that inflate the labor pool.

Had home prices been similar to Raleighs we would probably have bought there and stayed. One thing I noticed was the homes experienced a rapid runup in price from 2000-2008. Raleighs' homes were selling for about what Virginia Beachs' homes were selling for of similar build and quality in 2000, however Raleigh didn't increase nearly as much, it generally stayed fairly even with inflation.

[telemonster]

How do you like Raleigh? I have a few friends down there, and have started to hang out down there a little. I need to check out the jobs a bit more though. I'm hoping it wouldn't be too difficult be too hard to move to similar jobs that have better potential for IPO or profit sharing, and pay ~$90K+ down there.

The housing is more reasonable, definitely. We all know Hampton Roads prices are overheated and will sink. But even after they do, who really wants to live here? People who don't have real job goals I guess.

[wheelsup]

Raleigh is OK. I prefer to be closer to water but there is a lake here. Not sure what the entry level price point is to get on it though. At $90k/yr, depending on what you want, you can get a 3000 sq ft. newer home. Or you can buy cheaper and get a decent house in a decent neighborhood for sub $200k.

To put it in perspective this home in Virginia Beach:
2700 Einstein Drive, Virginia Beach, VA, 23456 - MLS ID#0848268 - Single Family Home real estate - REALTOR.com® (http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2700-Einstein-Drive_Virginia-Beach_VA_23456_1104479967 - broken link)

Would be around $150k-$180k depending on location...

[oduhoo]

Very few are forced to pay rents or mortgages here. If they are high it is for a reason: namely people want to be here. Those who constantly complain do so b/c they haven't found a way to survive and like to complain.

I have lived in Raleigh. Charlotte. Asheville. I'm back here for a reason. Adapt and you can do well here.