Henrico County/Richmond (Hampton, Chester: section 8, townhomes, neighborhoods)

[htlong]

midlothian is a nice place with all of the big stores , streets are crowded due to the stores,lots of nice neighborhoods some have commitees you have to ask if you can paint your house or fly a flag,some dont.
If you are working in the west end of henrico you will have traffic everywhere.
i live in the eat end which is rual with many new allotments going up as the farmers die off.
if you dont like traffic i recommend the east end of henrico (or new kent county)with a 30 commute to the west end ,20 to 30 minute drive to the malls. but i feel it is worth the slow easy living.
i hate driving to the west end and i usually limit it to dr appointments, if i need a mall i hop on I-295 north to va center commons, or south to colonial heights where south park mall is .
it all depends on what you want fast pace or a slower pace ,i lived in cities all of my life ... i enjoy the country atmosphere out here

[tripletwenty]

Just a couple more questions.
Is the city of Richmond within Henrico County? I see homes with the address' city in Richmond but the county is Henrico. Is the city of Richmond its own county too?
I heard the east side of Henrico county has more crime than the west side of Henrico county. I got a Richmond newspaper. They have the city and surrounding counties broken up into square zones that are named "area 32", "area 50", etc. What areas are good?

[MaryBB]

yes, the city of Richmond is it's own, Henrico is a county within Richmond and often has Richmond in the address. Western Henrico is definitely considered more desir. than east- but I hear eastern henrico is improving too. I know the areas you are speaking of but I'd have to look at the paper to refresh my memory. It lists the boundaries and I can recall better that way. I will try and write back tomorrow if I get the chance.

[azcavalier]

Originally Posted by tripletwenty

Just a couple more questions.
Is the city of Richmond within Henrico County? I see homes with the address' city in Richmond but the county is Henrico. Is the city of Richmond its own county too?
I heard the east side of Henrico county has more crime than the west side of Henrico county. I got a Richmond newspaper. They have the city and surrounding counties broken up into square zones that are named "area 32", "area 50", etc. What areas are good?

Virginia is interesting in that it's one of the few places where incorporated cities are not considered part of the county. So Richmond isn't in Henrico country. It's actually almost surrounded by Henrico county, but is technically it's own entity. Now, I grew up around Midlothian, in Chesterfield county, but we always put Richmond as our mailing address. It worked.

[htlong]

Richmond is not part of any county, in VA the cities and counties are separate gov'ts. the near east side of henrico is pretty bad crime wise but when you get past I-295 it becomes heaven on earth, i live out here with cows,dear bald eagles all around me, i wake up and drive by fields of cotton waiting to be picked, the east side of Richmond /new Kent/ Charles city is just a rural landscape with many new homes being built, east henrico varina area is called Richmond's last frontier! if you want urban sprawl go west young man /or south, for peaceful rural living come east!

[tripletwenty]

I've been able to see parts of Richmond, Henrico and Chesterfield on past visits. I didn't get to see more places than I wanted to check out.
Just a couple questions, what is the neighborhood in eastern part of Henrico like, where one would go to Varina High School?

I see a lot more affordable single family homes in eastern Henrico. It's hard to tell what kind of neighborhood it is in with only a small picture of the house.

Anyway, it seemed that the closer you go to the city of Richmond city limits, the worse the neighborhoods appeared. I drove through some neighborhoods in Richmond where there was a home that was redone with new siding. porch, front door and windows and looked great but it was surrounded by homes whose exterior was somewhat dilapidated, or were boarded up and a street that didn't look safe for someone to walk at night.

[htlong]

eastern henrico is a rural area but is getting developed quickly. the further east you go the nicer the area, there are alot of new housing going up in the glendale area (darbytown and charles city rd,)
i chose the east end because of the tranquility of life compared to the traffic and urban sprawl of the west or south side of richmond.
but out here you have to plan what is needed so as not to be driving back and forth to stores for items you forgot.

[Shauninva]

I went to Varina High (9 years ago!) and the community that we lived in consisted of small ranch houses in a quiet safe neighborhood. I would agree with a couple of the others in this forum when saying the further east you go especially down Williamsburg toward New Kent there are a lot of nice developments going up and older houses with large wooded yards.

The east end would definitely be more affordable than the west end, and a lot more properties are going to be in that price range. Have you considered Hanover County? If you'll be working in the east end, some nice places with good schools (Atlee High, Hanover High) are 15-20 minutes from the eastern side of Henrico.

[moderator cut]

[bcodo]

Do not let anyone here mislead you. All of the areas surrounding Richmond including the "West End" have alot of crime. in fact the west end has as much crime if not more than the east end. The people that pay more for there houses just never want to admit it. The job market in the whole area is quite good so if you can deal with the traffic that has some areas locked up and all of the unacceptable behavior of the thuggs and rednecks then you can do well here.

[htlong]

i live in the far east end varina white oak area and ive never heard of any crime out here, the far east end of henrico or new kent is more affordable rural and new housing going up that is affordable