Moving from Colorado to VA??? (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: apartment complex, to rent, home)

[cityboi757]

Let's be honest here.

THere are 1.69 million residents in Hampton Roads.

Theres about what 25 on city-data?

Thats like .000000000000000000000001% of the people that live here.

Wish we could poll the whole metro. I'm sure at least 80% like it here. It's a great place to live.

[pbehson]

Originally Posted by chesapeakesim

Believe me, if I could get out of HR I would leave immediately. My wife's family is here and she will probably never let us move . So not everyone can just pick up and leave. I really wish I did like it here, I really do. But when you realize what you will have to pay for a house, or how much it costs to raise a family, or how after 5 years of living somewhere you don't know any of your neighbors, or how bland this area really is, you start to hate it here.

I'm in exactly the same boat as you (wife was born here - dad was enlisted - no $ there).

I'm from NYC area. Think housing is expensive here? Come on. Think traffic is bad here? Crime? I know my neighbors. I am a teacher and have no problem raising my family. House worth $375k or so. Not rich, not poor. Doing fairly well.

One daughter is graduating from ODU with physical therapy degree (will be making in the $80s.) other with Nursing (college in one year). Wife has multiple sclerosis ($100,000 s of med bills). It's all attitude. I don't mean any disrespect to anyone, but some ppl spend too much time complaining and not enough time making their lives better.

Friends live around the country. Wilmington Del. Philly. NYC. NE Pennsy. South of Boston. Ct. They all think it is great here, most want to move here. Not perfect, but certainly not worth all of the *itching some put forth.

Be happy!

[cityboi757]

Originally Posted by pbehson

I'm in exactly the same boat as you (wife was born here - dad was enlisted - no $ there).

I'm from NYC area. Think housing is expensive here? Come on. Think traffic is bad here? Crime? I know my neighbors. I am a teacher and have no problem raising my family. House worth $375k or so. Not rich, not poor. Doing fairly well.

One daughter is graduating from ODU with physical therapy degree (will be making in the $80s.) other with Nursing (college in one year). Wife has multiple sclerosis ($100,000 s of med bills). It's all attitude. I don't mean any disrespect to anyone, but some ppl spend too much time complaining and not enough time making their lives better.

Friends live around the country. Wilmington Del. Philly. NYC. NE Pennsy. South of Boston. Ct. They all think it is great here, most want to move here. Not perfect, but certainly not worth all of the *itching some put forth.

Be happy!

I agree with this 100%. All my northeastern (philly, newark, de, etc.) all moved to Hampton Roads because they fell in love with it..

That's why I don't understand the majority of these peoples viewpoints, because when someone is visiting I always hear "Oh it's so nice,it'd be great to live heree." I never hear "It's bland, boring, expensive, congested, etc"

[chesapeakesim]

I have never had anyone visit here and say "Oh it's so nice,it'd be great to live here." And no I don't think it is cause I have given them a negative view of the area . It is mostly cause they have sat in hour long traffic, or seen that the price of houses are twice the amount of where they are from, or that people are just plain unfriendly. Coming from Newark, yeah I could see them falling in love with Hampton Roads, but c'mon they are from Newark.

pbehson - That's great that you love it so much here. You mentioned that you are a teacher and live in a $375K house. Not to dive into your personal life, but my guess is you did not pay $375K for your house or anything even close to that. Let's say that you were a 30 year old teacher making say $50K a year. Do you think you could afford your $375K house then? Do you think you could even afford a condo here without stretching your finances? 3X income rule would mean $150K of buying power and that would probably get you a condo in the ghetto. You would be dealing with higher levels of crime, a crappy school system if you had kids, and friendly neighbors would not be an issue as you would probably be too scared to get to know them. Would HR look so great then?

[cityboi757]

Originally Posted by chesapeakesim

I have never had anyone visit here and say "Oh it's so nice,it'd be great to live here." And no I don't think it is cause I have given them a negative view of the area . It is mostly cause they have sat in hour long traffic, or seen that the price of houses are twice the amount of where they are from, or that people are just plain unfriendly. Coming from Newark, yeah I could see them falling in love with Hampton Roads, but c'mon they are from Newark.

pbehson - That's great that you love it so much here. You mentioned that you are a teacher and live in a $375K house. Not to dive into your personal life, but my guess is you did not pay $375K for your house or anything even close to that. Let's say that you were a 30 year old teacher making say $50K a year. Do you think you could afford your $375K house then? Do you think you could even afford a condo here without stretching your finances? 3X income rule would mean $150K of buying power and that would probably get you a condo in the ghetto. You would be dealing with higher levels of crime, a crappy school system if you had kids, and friendly neighbors would not be an issue as you would probably be too scared to get to know them. Would HR look so great then?

I'm not talking about Newark, NJ. I'm talking about Newark, DE. Nothing wrong with it.

All my family vacations in virginia beach and loves it.

[pbehson]

Originally Posted by chesapeakesim

I have never had anyone visit here and say "Oh it's so nice,it'd be great to live here." And no I don't think it is cause I have given them a negative view of the area . It is mostly cause they have sat in hour long traffic, or seen that the price of houses are twice the amount of where they are from, or that people are just plain unfriendly. Coming from Newark, yeah I could see them falling in love with Hampton Roads, but c'mon they are from Newark.

pbehson - That's great that you love it so much here. You mentioned that you are a teacher and live in a $375K house. Not to dive into your personal life, but my guess is you did not pay $375K for your house or anything even close to that. Let's say that you were a 30 year old teacher making say $50K a year. Do you think you could afford your $375K house then? Do you think you could even afford a condo here without stretching your finances? 3X income rule would mean $150K of buying power and that would probably get you a condo in the ghetto. You would be dealing with higher levels of crime, a crappy school system if you had kids, and friendly neighbors would not be an issue as you would probably be too scared to get to know them. Would HR look so great then?

I'm married. Both teachers. Both teach in a difficult to fill area (science/math). Left engr job 8 years ago (wife didn't work). House cost $308k 5 yrs ago. > $7k take home monthly, $1650 mortgage. Not too difficult. If I had to live in a $150 k place I'd work two jobs, do WHATEVER to get out of that. Certainly this is close to poverty in HR. I admit that it is expensive here for those who don't plan well. There are lots of crappy places to live. But I gotta tell you, most of Northern NY and NYC is the same way, except much worse.

Guess your friends are different from mine. I have NEVER had one who dissed the area. Guess that is personal preference.

Not trying to convince you that the area is great. I'll probably never meet you. I just try to visit this board to get good general info and ppl like you continually bash the place. If I was smart, I'd just ignore. My fault (need more control). :-)

[Alanboy395]

Originally Posted by Ginger_beauty

Ha ha, I don't have to grow up here to realize how horrible this place is. Trust me, I honestly don't and I'm glad I didn't.

I grew up in Hampton Roads and by the time I was 16 I just got sick of it. After spending 5 years in Northern VA, I realize that HR wasn't that bad. Yes, it has problems but I would move back tomorrow as long as I could get as far away from Northern VA as possible. Nothing makes you appericate a place you lived like moving to a place that is worse (just hope Louisville doesn't do that to me.)

In all honesty, Hampton Roads is an acquired taste like Northern VA. Some like it, some hate it, some love it.

[chesapeakesim]

Originally Posted by pbehson

If I had to live in a $150 k place I'd work two jobs, do WHATEVER to get out of that. Certainly this is close to poverty in HR. I admit that it is expensive here for those who don't plan well.

That's my point. My cousin payed $125K for his house in another city and makes about the median income of this area ($60K or so). It was nothing spectacular, but it was a decent 3 bedroom house with a garage, good sized yard, in a nice, safe neighborhood. To get something similar here, it would have been about $300K-$325K and he would probably be making the same pay. His city is much smaller than HR, but really doesn't lack anything that we have here. Given that, why would he or anyone else choose HR? Is working 2 jobs and stuggling worth what HR has to offer? I could see doing it in a place like NYC cause of all it has to offer, but to me HR isn't worth that.

Also, you said it is expensive here for those that don't plan well. What kind of planning would you recommend?

[pbehson]

Originally Posted by chesapeakesim

That's my point. My cousin payed $125K for his house in another city and makes about the median income of this area ($60K or so). It was nothing spectacular, but it was a decent 3 bedroom house with a garage, good sized yard, in a nice, safe neighborhood. To get something similar here, it would have been about $300K-$325K and he would probably be making the same pay. His city is much smaller than HR, but really doesn't lack anything that we have here. Given that, why would he or anyone else choose HR? Is working 2 jobs and stuggling worth what HR has to offer? I could see doing it in a place like NYC cause of all it has to offer, but to me HR isn't worth that.

Also, you said it is expensive here for those that don't plan well. What kind of planning would you recommend?

If you have ever lived in the Northeast (anywhere btw Baltimore and Maine from Philly to NYC) or west coast you see that to own a home you need to build equity over time, possibly by inheriting a house from relatives. Very few ppl actually go out and buy a nice house first time out.

Cousin is largest residential contractor in Northern NJ and says he sees it all the time. Ppl buy a small house and add on while they make more $.

We bought our first house in Norfolk off Little Creek for $85k in 1994. Moved up to Kempsville with second house. Third and current is nicer. Kids stayed at home in Norfolk and started school at Providence Elem in Kempsville (great school). We built up equity and now have $200k even though wife (multiple sclerosis) has major bills and we haven't been given any $ from parents (they don't have it). I left engineering and got a job teaching when they paid signing bonuses ($5k) and negotiated my way up the salary scale. We now have a house on nice water.

Any place that is nice to live has stuff like this. Things cost a lot. Start small and work your way up. I don't know if u are young or not, but if you are don't worry. Wait out these crappy times and hold on to your $. Buy low and sell high.

I have never struggled. But then, I drove an Escort from 1991 - 2004. It didn't matter. We took vacations, have hiked the Grand Canyon, going to Bahamas next summer. Dunno what to say, if you are careful, it isn't that bad. Friend is a toxicologist (Masters degree) in Philly. He is further behind than us even though he makes more than me. He says it is quite reasonable here.

If you can do better somewhere else you owe it to yourself to look. But HR isn't that bad (top 1/3 I would say)

[christysullivan27]

I'm sad now. I got all excited about moving away from here and Norfolk seems to have a great location if you like to sight see. You've got DC down the road, Ocean City (Assateaugue Island), Virginia Beach, Chesapeake Bay, and they are all close or about 3-4 hours away right? I live in Ohio. A big boring corn field that sucks and all there is to do is eat. There are no fun things to do where I live, the shopping sucks, the people are boring and very unfashionable, uptight and judgemental. And on top of it, it is still dangerous. Go figure. Is anywhere safe anyways? I'm 27 F and a bunch of single guys sounds good to me.. Ha ha... I think there is a suplus of good looking bored women( and ugly ones too, can't get away from that unless your in LA) over here in Ohio amongst a sea of ugly men...if they arent ugly, guess what, you aren't what they want...lol Well at least where I live!! So whatever. All the water here is manmade and outside of your crappy apartment complex filled with pee so, whatever. The only "good" thing here is a college football team. Wooo... I have a solution for all of you Norfolkians, come to visit Mansfield, Cleveland, Akron, Youngstown,and Toledo and you will LOVE it there again!! Seriously. Where is a good place to move?