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I'm gonna retire in 5 to 10 years and I need some info on the coast of Virginia. I would like to reside on or near the water and prefer the bay to the beach. I wanna find something away from the tourist spots in a safe community. I'm okay with a smaller home where the neighbors are not crowding me. I look forward to your valuable input and want to thank you ahead of time.
I'm gonna retire in 5 to 10 years and I need some info on the coast of Virginia. I would like to reside on or near the water and prefer the bay to the beach. I wanna find something away from the tourist spots in a safe community. I'm okay with a smaller home where the neighbors are not crowding me. I look forward to your valuable input and want to thank you ahead of time.
Be sure what you consider to be appropriate shopping is within driving time you consider to be reasonable
Be sure what you consider to be appropriate shopping is within driving time you consider to be reasonable
TuborgP makes a very valid point. The Virginia coast - I am including the land along the ocean on the Eastern Shore, the land along the Chesapeake and the places with river access to the Rappahanock and James Rivers are either city (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Newport News and Hampton) OR they are very rural.
I would VERY STRONGLY recommend that before buying a place in a rural area that you rent there for a while. Some of the smaller towns in rural coastal Virginia are EXTREMELY insular and you will be an outsider even if you have lived in the area 30+ years.
TuborgP makes a very valid point. The Virginia coast - I am including the land along the ocean on the Eastern Shore, the land along the Chesapeake and the places with river access to the Rappahanock and James Rivers are either city (Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Newport News and Hampton) OR they are very rural.
I would VERY STRONGLY recommend that before buying a place in a rural area that you rent there for a while. Some of the smaller towns in rural coastal Virginia are EXTREMELY insular and you will be an outsider even if you have lived in the area 30+ years.
Those cities (above) have some really dangerous areas. Virginia Beach is probably the exception but the beach isn't that accessible to locals. The city of Virginia Beach is very built up and the entire area is military oriented (Naval Base.) Lots of traffic in the area and it's hard to get anywhere. You might ask more about that on the Hampton Rds forum as there may be beach areas that are livable.
If you live in any of the towns on the Eastern Shore, you have to cross that bay bridge every time you need anything. Sometimes the bridge is closed if the winds are high and it's a long bridge, making it inconvenient to get off the eastern shore.
You might be better off looking on the coast of North Carolina.
Know folks who sorta retired there. She complained the nearest Walmart was 45 minutes away. Where we are now is really starting to take off again and the shopping which had been good is becoming sorta Mega and within 30 minutes is the world. Really does make a difference.
My sister has lived in Virginia Beach for years. She loves the eastern shore and I do too. Even in their nearly unbearable hot humid summers, the eastern shore is pretty nice.
I considered retiring to the eastern shore but it's the inconvenience factor that stopped me. That BRIDGE/TUNNEL thing! I had wanted to live near my sister but neither of us would have wanted to cross that awful thing very often. This is a major, huge, long, monstrosity that crosses the Chesapeake Bay and you stop and pay a toll.
When we were driving north on the eastern shore, it became Maryland. It was nice there too and I think there were condos. I think I saw signs that advertised how good it was--that it was only X miles to a hospital, only X miles to something else--it sounded good for retirees. But that was Maryland and too far from my sister.
Nice places near Virginia Beach are Williamsburg and Yorktown. They're not on the water though. There's a place called Gloucester--somewhere nearby and just to the east of W'bug and Yorktown. I think it's closer to water and I do remember someone on here doing a retirement investigation one time. They chose to not move there. Probably because there wasn't very much there!
If you didn't need water, I'd recommend Williamsburg or Yorktown. They're hot retirement places these days and are very nice. Better quality of life than you'd get in a place like Virginia Beach, Hampton, Norfolk. The extent of my knowledge of Virginia is now exhausted.
Nice places near Virginia Beach are Williamsburg and Yorktown. They're not on the water though...If you didn't need water, I'd recommend Williamsburg or Yorktown.
Your knowledge of Virginia geography is a bit challenged. Yorktown is right on the York River which feeds into the Chesapeake Bay. Williamsburg proper is not on the water but it sits in between the York and James Rivers. An thee are Williamsburg communities like Kingsmill that are on the water. there are also some nice Jamestown communities that are on or near the water. Gloucester is on the opposite side of the York River from Yorktown. By the way, Yorktown has a very nice protected public beach if you want to avoid the Virginia Beach Crowds.
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