Richmond…Here we come!!! (Forest, Chamberlayne: apartment complex, for rent, crime)

[dizliz0925]

Well, the interview went great, and I was offered/accepted the job.
I start just around Labor Day, and get this….they are paying to move us up there!

We absolutely fell in love with the city. There are so many questions/thoughts to post I don’t know where to begin, so forgive me if I ramble….

Apartments:
First, we will be flying up in early August to find an apartment to rent. We want to do this short term, while we look for where we want to buy a house.
Can someone recommend a good apartment complex for a 2bd/1ba apartment, maybe a townhouse. We want something that is geared toward families in a safe area. We thought something in the Stony Point Park or Short Pump area might be good for this. I will be working downtown, but distance doesn’t matter too much as far as safety and ‘live-ability’ of an apartment. Price is close to $800 as possible, but willing to go higher for the right place.

Neighborhoods:
Someone posted a while ago about 3 ‘Southern’ cities: Savannah, Charleston, and Richmond, and boy were they right. We have been to Savannah many times, and Charleston a few times, and Richmond seems to fit the mold, although on a somewhat bigger scale.

We really loved 3 areas: Westhampton/Libbie & Grove, Westover Hills/Forest Hill Park, and Bellevue. We are big into the historic areas, so this is right up our alley. I know that Richmond City Schools are not that great, so we may be doing the private school thing…The Fan was neat, but looks like that’s more geared towards singles/couples without kids.

We also realized that where ever we are, we most likely want to be WEST of US 301/US 1. (Jeff Davis in the South, Chamberlayne Ave in the north). It might be a little shady on the other side of the road.

Anything I should be leery about with the 3 neighborhoods I mentioned above? I saw the crime stats this week for all of Richmond, and it got me nervous, but stats can be skewed, just like the murder rates here in Jacksonville.

Parks:
What a great park system. We can’t wait to take advantage of James River Park. Although I felt like a dork when there were no horses at the Pony Pasture Rapids (D’oh!) If we weren’t sold on Richmond, what sealed the deal what Maymont Park and the Children’s farm. What a great place.

That’s it for now….although I will have some more posts later for thinigs in general to living in VA (personal property tax?).

Thanks everyone for their help up to this point (especially vasinger and richmondpics).


Thanks,
Dean

[ClarkStreetKid]

Congratulations and welcome to Richmond. I haven't rented in a while but there are nice apartments on Nuckols Rd by the Food Lion, several apartments on Three Chopt and Church close to the mall. Some have even have garages that you can rent.

[marylicious]

I live in Richmond now.. I have lived here my whole life (4 now) I am from the short pump area but have been renting in the fan for a little over a year. Short pump has plenty of new and older apts. to rent but you will not have that "charleston/savannah" feel as you would downtown. There are many houses for rent in the Libbie/Grove area and it is much more family oriented than the fan, plus the schools are not too bad in that area. Short pump is also very congested and more and more stores are being built there, so traffic will only get worse. If chosing to live near Libbie/Grove you will be walking distance from many restaurants and shops.

And actually.. I am planning on moving to Charleston in 6 months.... should you have any good info on where a single mid 20's girl can live, please let me know!

Thanks

[Jmier7]

I'm also new to Richmond. If you're even thinking of private school, look at the area 'west of the boulevard'. There are a few schools there and the area is culturally rich. Yes there are a lot of single or professional couples without children, however familes are there. JoBob sez 'check it out'.