Hampton, VA- What do you think? (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: section 8, best neighborhoods, insurance)

[Glo]

Considering a possible move to Hampton, VA (Job at the VA hospital) from small-town Missouri
Trying to find out as much as I can online about this area. Soooo glad I found you all!! Could you please help with the following:
*Best neighborhoods to live in
*Best school system: Hampton, Bethel, Kecoughton or Pheobus?
*What is the weather like? Lots of hurricanes? Ice storms? Lots of cloudy days? Any tornados?(Moving from tornado alley!!)
*What is the traffic like?
*Crime rate?
Any and all input will be appreciated.
Thanks so much!

[VT Hokie 2007]

Hampton, VA is a rather diverse area--large black population. AMAZING high school football; if you follow football at all, you'll almost certainly see future NFL and NBA stars playing. Temperate weather (that is, 4 distinct seasons, including average snow fall).

[afvet]

Glo,

You're moving to a beautiful area! Since you'll be at the VA Hospital, you may want to live in Phoebus for the short commute. There are some great houses on the water with amazing views. You may experience traffic congestion no matter where you live since the hospital is right next to Ft. Monroe. I had a friend who lived in Phoebus and loved it. Whatever you do, don't live on the southside and try to commute to Hampton. The tunnel traffic is a nightmare.

Hampton is very hit and miss with residential areas. There are good neighborhoods next to bad. I'd be very cautious and get reports from the police department when chosing. But, I lived in an area with a bad reputation when I first moved to Hampton and had no problems. I then moved to Yorktown, a supposedly good area, and had my car stolen. From the news and stories from friends, I'd say Hampton is a medium crime city compared to the others in the Hampton Roads region.

I don't know anything about the schools personally, but heard good things about Bethel from friends with kids. I believe that area is in what could be considered northwest Hampton and there are some nice neighborhoods.

I never heard about tornados but hurricanes are always a concern. I was there for Ivan and there was A LOT of damage. A friend of mine lost her home and it took over a year to get her insurance payout. There were a few days of a couple feet of snow during my four winters in Hampton Roads. The ice that comes from large amounts of snow melting is a significant concern and has caused school, city and military base closures. Those occurrences are uncommon though, from what lifelong residents have told me, and usually if it snows, it's maybe and inch and doesn't stick.

The area is very humid and summers can be extremely uncomfortable. I live in Tucson now and prefer 110 here to 85 there. But I assume Missouri is very humid as well, so you may not notice.

The Hampton Roads area is very diverse and there is a lot to do. Yorktown has a lot of historical sites, VA Beach offers more of a city lifestyle, and Suffolk has some nice country areas.

When you get there, tell the hospital I'm still waiting on my medical records

[Glo]

Thanks so much for taking the time to answer ALL my questions.
Just a couple more if I may:
If we did decide to live in Northwest Hampton (for the Bethel school dist.), how long of a commute would that be to the VA hosp.?
Is that a good neighborhood? Very diverse?
Sorry about your car afvet
Not into sports too much I'm afraid except for swimming- so the great football and basketball would be kind of lost on us
Thanks again for all your input!!

[afvet]

The Bethel school district has a lot of military kids so the neighborhoods are pretty diverse. I'd say you'd have a 25-35 minute commute from that side during normal rush hours, maybe less. You can take the interstate or city streets so depending on where you live your commute may even be as short as 15 minutes. You'll be closer to Langley AFB and have to get used to jet noise on that side of town.


Feel free to ask anything else you can think of- it's often the little things that really matter.

[Glo]

Thanks for your reply again Afvet. Appreciate it very much.
I wanted to ask: What do you think about Poquoson? Is it a nice residential area? Seems like a smaller more laid back community- or am I mistaken about that? Would the commute be too much to the VA hospital? Any idea about the schools there?
Thanks for being such a great source of information!

[afvet]

Ahhhhh...Poquoson, an odd little town. My parents lived there for a couple years. It has a reputation of being safe and the schools are supposed to be good. I never heard of any crime there, but apparently some big time drug dealer was arrested at his home in the town. He never bothered anybody and apparently didn't do any dealings in the area.

The homes are very different from each other and you can have a very nice house next to a rather dumpy looking house, but the area is known as a wealthier area. You wouldn't think that to look at the majority of the residents though- I went to a Blockbuster and a couple people walked in with bare feet and nobody looked twice. They have some great seafood places but not much in the way of grocery stores or things of that nature.

Most of the homes are deep into the neighborhood; it would take about 15 minutes to get from my parents' house to the main road to get out of town. If you are not white or value diversity, I would avoid Poquoson like the plague. My parents' neighbors told them when they moved in that they had hung a confederate flag outside of their home to prevent any "n-word" from moving in and that attitude seemed to be common. There have been rumors of Klan meetings in the wooded areas of the town.

The area was hit very hard by Ivan in 2003 and many people hadn't begun to rebuild yet when I left last summer. On top of that, the commute to the VA hospital would be at least 45 minutes

Newport News would be a good place to check out also. Just stay away from the southside of the city. You can probably find something close to the interstate and have a similar if not shorter commute compared to NW Hampton.

If you are looking to buy a home and like the McMansions, there's an amazing housing development near Phoebus. I think it's called Fox Hill but I'm really not sure. There's a "Fox" in there somewhere. I had a friend who lived in the area and her kitchen was one of those restaurant quality ones. Her house was gorgeous!

[Glo]

Wow! This is the kind of insider information I was looking for! Thanks for clarifying things for me.
Newport News does sound interesting and their schools seem to have a good reputation. Maybe I should look into it some more. On the other hand your friend's kitchen sounds pretty tempting too! I'll try Googling the 'Fox' thing. Thanks so much for all your help afvet.
Blessings!

[VALady]

Both my husband and I were born and raised in Hampton. We haven't lived there for a long time but we both have family there and visit at least every month.

I have never been there but I have only heard good things about the VA hospital in Hampton. It's supposed to be one of the best. My father, who is a DAV goes there sometimes and has plenty of great things to say about all the staff. It's in a strange spot in Hampton - back behind Phoebus on the water. So I don't think there is anywhere too close to it that I'd recommend to live.

Other nice things about Hampton: there is lots of water! If you enjoy boating or fishing then there is an abundance. There are several beaches (including a nice state park beach you have to hike out to) but Hampton is on the bay not the ocean so it's mostly just locals there. Tourists tend to stay on the interstate and head to Virginia Beach (which you'd think was close but isn't really - I'd say it's a good 45 minute drive if the traffic is good which it almost never is) or they go down to Nags Head, NC. There is a nice area downtown with the Air & Space Museum (also has IMAX) and nearby there are some shops and places to eat.

So there are some nice things to do in Hampton and some nice areas and it would be a great place if not for the people there. I know mine and my husband's family talk constantly moving - they'd like to get out of Hampton as soon as they can. My husand and I figured that out early on and moved when we could. There may be a few nice areas to live but they will cost you - you'll be paying top dollar for a nice neighborhood and you'll probably still be only a few blocks from a more "sketchy" one. To be blunt, there are many trashy people in Hampton - and that's across racial lines. You see it in the homes, the yards, the neighborhoods, the cars, the streets, the stores, etc., etc. I get depressed everytime I visit. Not to mention that I think there is some weird compulsion to chop down every tree in the city. Good luck finding a nice park. Not coincidentally there's lots of drinking, lots of drugs - all the kids running around acting tough. Boom cars, trashy bars, kids walking down the street with their pitbulls looking for a fight. The local government is useless. Any place you want to go it'll be crowded - restaurants (95% are just chains), the mall, the movies. I think Hampton is one of those places that how much you like it is directly proportionate to how much money you have to isolate yourself. As far as culture goes you'll need to do some serious looking to find it. Also, it's the south so there's an abundance of churches and the typical mindset is conservative.

As for schools, they were pretty tough back when I was there. I know Phoebus and Kecoughtan and I definitely think I'd shoot for Kecoughtan or check into a private school. Bethel and Hampton High neighborhoods aren't exactly close to the VA but more toward Newport News (which ranks lower in my opinion than Hampton).

Traffic is a nightmare. The city grew from one housing development popping up next to another so direct roads are few to be found and the couple main streets are always busy. It takes forever to get anywhere and the interstate (64 runs through the middle of the city) gets very congested with traffic heading to Norfolk/Virginia Beach or back toward Newport News.

Hurricanes are a serious concern. The last one that came through a couple years ago left a huge mess. Lost water & power, for a couple weeks in many areas. LOTS of homes flooded. They predict that the area is over-due for a bad one and say every year the chances are that there will be a direct hit of a good sized hurricane. Flood insurance costs a fortune but if what they predict happens many, many houses will be flooded/destroyed. As for tornados, there were often warnings but I never remember one actually striking. Few ice or snow storms but they do sometimes happen and the city isn't really prepared for that. Very hot and humid in the summer.

Now, with all that said let me add this. If you pay at least $250k (probably more) for a house (and make sure you actually tour the areas closely and that you're happy with the neighborhood), if you stick to your little oasis and you are very careful when and where you go around Hampton and if the things that the city has to offer appeal to you - then you can be happy.

I know this is overall pretty negative but I think it's best to know the downside ahead of time. I grew up there and don't mind telling people that's where I'm from but there is no way I'd ever move back.

[legssolovley]

i thought the pennisula was a cool place to live when i first moved here, i guess it depends on the enviorment you are looking for...the night life out here sucks if you are looking for a "diverse " group of people...it seems to me comming from cali where it truly is diverse...people segregate themselves here...if you are in to clubbing expect to see all white or all black...its crazy racsim here..it like under the table racisism......its not spoken....but definatly felt...the beaches are not worth going to they are dirty and the water is brown not a wave in sight unless of course there is a major hurricane a brewin...i saw a tampon float by in the water one day and that was it for me....just disgusting...the traffic here is horrific and im not sure where people learned to drive out here...but it seems to me like most people race to see who can go the slowest....youll have people in the fast lane doing 50 then refuse to yeild to faster traffic.. the shopping is terrible...no fashion.....every mall has the exact same stuff...not much variety...now im sure some will not agree...but then again anyone who is family bound a tourist or a local would love it here...but if your young..single..love REAL night life and date outside your race, and/or have experinced life outside of VA....forget it...i finished school, and cannot wait to get the heck away from this boring to dang conseritive state...just say no to commonwealth.....ps where did they come up with "virginia is for lovers? that is so cheesy it makes me embaressed to live here....for lovers?...virginia is for the elderly the overly christain bible beaters and tourist...i feel sorry for ya...but then again it might be right up your alley ...i guess you could say id give VA a thumbs down...as for the "beautifull historical"sites in va...after sitting in traffic all day... who really cares...its usually better to just stay home...also what they dont tell you about newport news and hampton is a few years agao the local governments realized they had put the ghetto right on water front property in hampton...now they want to get the section 8 and welfare homes outta there and build condo and bussiness that will earn hampton a pretty penny....so where do you ask are they moving these people? yes sir ...right into the heart of denbieh newport news...this area is fast declining and will soon be called the "hood" i do not recomend buying in Newport News