Life in Virginia Beach/Norfolk - What's it like? (Chesapeake: condos, new home)

[chesapeakesim]

Originally Posted by rtandc

I agree with your post and its the younger families that are living in these upper class neighborhoods also.... so its not old money as someone here on this board likes to use as an excuse.....
I am 50 my wife is 48, we live in a upper class neighborhood here at the beach. We are the oldest couple on our block. Most everyone else is in their mid 30's with young kids. These families consist of a mixture of both single and double incomes. I think you will find the same age group in many of the upper class neighborhoods you listed. I dont have any stats, charts or graphs to make my point but I believe the young professionals (mid 30's and below) far out number the older professionals in Virginia Beach.

Just curious what you consider an upper class neighborhood. Are you talking like $400K-$600K or higher. I know in Chesapeake I see a good deal of 30 somethings in these types of neighborhoods and I always wonder is it cause they make good money or is it cause they either bought in that neighborhood before the housing boom (or had bought in another neighborhood and were sitting on a large amount of equity after the boom).

I personally think it is the latter of those two. At least in my area, the median income is like $80K a year and the median house price is about $380K. That just doesn't add up unless there is something else going on (such as the artificial wealth created by the housing run up).

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by chesapeakesim

Just curious what you consider an upper class neighborhood. Are you talking like $400K-$600K or higher. I know in Chesapeake I see a good deal of 30 somethings in these types of neighborhoods and I always wonder is it cause they make good money or is it cause they either bought in that neighborhood before the housing boom (or had bought in another neighborhood and were sitting on a large amount of equity after the boom).

I personally think it is the latter of those two. At least in my area, the median income is like $80K a year and the median house price is about $380K. That just doesn't add up unless there is something else going on (such as the artificial wealth created by the housing run up).

I know a house close to me was a foreclosure and eventually sold for $475K. I was looking up some tax information a few weeks ago and decided just to see what they were paying to see if it was comparable. Well, under the transactions was the original sale for $475, then another sale for $0 about 3 months later. The same people still live there.

It's no doubt the parents that are funding them and most likely many others out there.

[D train outta nowhere]

LOL. A friend sent me this craigslist post today:

Honking your horn - w4m - 25 (Marina Shores)

Date: 2010-08-06, 1:35AM EDT


To the guy honking his horn waiting for his prostitute to come outside:

we don't live in Norfolk. I pay $1200/month to live here and would appreciate you taking you ghetto ass back to the hood instead of honking for you nasty hoe to come outside. Next time, walk up to the door. I know they make you work out in the Navy, so you should be able to walk up a couple flights of stairs.

[tbrandy78]

We moved to the Virginia Beach area back in April due to a military move. Both my husband and I are originally from the Chicago area. He lived in the Ghent area of Norfolk about 8 years ago and loved that area. From what I hear it's still a great area if you need to live in the Hamptons Road area of Virginia. Although Downtown Norfolk and Ghent is really nice, it's just a small city compared to Chicago or NYC. There aren't as many nice places to see or restaurants to eat in. There's not much of a club scene either. If you'd like to live in a real city I would say try another part of the country. I wouldn't voluntarily choose to live in this area of Virginia as a single professional or a married couple no kids like ourselves. But if you had a choice between Virginia Beach or Ghent/Downtown Norfolk, I would choose Norfolk - stick to the area closer to downtown, there are lots of bad areas in the rest of Norfolk. The only thing Virginia Beach has to offer is the beach - that's it.

[mom in GA]

what is east beach norfolk REALLY like? We may be moving to the area from Atlanta. The coastal living/planned community/new construction appeals to me very much, but knowing it was an area that was saved from BLIGHT, what is the status now? Clean? Scary? Dangerous? Lots of Kids? Reality check, please!

[Coconut1]

East Beach is currently an enclave all to itself.

The surrounding area is not fabulous, but it wouldn't stop me from living there. It's a very pretty community which isn't normal for the HR area. In that I mean it really blends to the area, it's not simply vinyl boxes on a clear cut piece of property.

Your best bet is to visit and see for yourself. If you have kids I would go private schools.

[emeraldgirl]

Originally Posted by mom in GA

what is east beach norfolk REALLY like? We may be moving to the area from Atlanta. The coastal living/planned community/new construction appeals to me very much, but knowing it was an area that was saved from BLIGHT, what is the status now? Clean? Scary? Dangerous? Lots of Kids? Reality check, please!

East Beach was featured at Home-a-Rama this past October. It's a quaint beach community that has a charming appeal to it. The surrounding areas though, not so much.

Homearama Fall 2010 | East Beach - Norfolk , Va.

[TKramar]

Been a long time. Still have the ferry from downtown Norfolk to Portsmouth? When I was there, there was a place called Sovran Bank. I think they were bought out by NationsBank, who themselves were bought out by...??

I remember going to Q Masters (near a Bi-Lo), Flipper McCoys, Campaign Headquarters, when I was there. I can remember thinking that the neighborhood of Ghent was fairly nice.

[emeraldgirl]

Originally Posted by TKramar

Been a long time. Still have the ferry from downtown Norfolk to Portsmouth?.

Yes. Don't know about the bank though.

[citydweller]

Wow, that was a looong time ago! I used to work for a division of Sovran who then changed their name to C&S/Sovran then to Nationsbank and finally today to Bank of America. Oh, the good ole days.