Glen Allen/Short Pump Real Estate/Crime? (Alexandria, Burke: 2015, houses)

[sunday355]

Hi.

We are considering a move from Connecticut to Virginia in the next 2 years. Doing research on several forums (including this one), we thought the Glen Allen/Short Pump Area may be a good fit. We will have 2 kids in the school system (currently 7,9) and want a nice house in the burbs - away from the city with convenient shopping etc. The biggest advantage we have is we dont have to commute to work so distance to a major city is not an issue.


Our budget is between $700k-$900k and would like a neighborhood of kids.
We have 3 questions:

1. How was the construction quality of houses in this price range in the area? Were they built by a high quality local builder?

2. Noticed there was a long list of crime reports in the area from Trulia, mostly theft, vandalism, "suspicious activity" and some burglaries. Has this been a trend in Short Pump?

3. Also looking at other parts of VA that may fit our criteria of a robust suburb. Was looking at NoVA but the housing is too expensive and/or is right in the flight path of Dulles airport. Any other suggestions? Williamsburg?


Thanks in advance for your help!

12/10/2015
Vandalism
Vandalism. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
12/10/2015
Theft
Larceny. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
12/02/2015
Other
Suspicious Situation. Unable To Locate. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
11/29/2015
Burglary
Burglary-Residential. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
11/26/2015
Other
Disorderly And/Or Inebriated. No Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
11/25/2015
Theft
Larceny. No Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
11/18/2015
Assault
Assault. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
11/18/2015
Theft
Larceny. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
11/17/2015
Theft
Larceny. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
11/14/2015
Other
Disorderly And/Or Inebriated. Advice Given. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
11/11/2015
Theft
Larceny. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
11/08/2015
Vandalism
Vandalism. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.\
11/01/2015
Arrest
Firearm Violation. Unable To Locate. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
10/31/2015
Other
10/20/2015
Other
Solicitation In Roadway. Unable To Locate.
10/12/2015
Other
Disorderly And/Or Inebriated. Unable To Locate. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
10/12/2015
Theft
Larceny. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
Theft
Larceny. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
10/02/2015
Theft
Larceny. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
10/01/2015
Theft
Larceny. Incident Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
10/01/2015
Other
Suspicious Situation. Unable To Locate. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
09/25/2015
Arrest
Firearm Violation. No Report. Magisterial District: Three-Chopt.
09/25/2015
Other
09/03/2015
Vandalism

[Deluusions]

Northern Virginia is not too expensive for you especially for your budget. You can find a single family home that's even 500k not in the Dulles airport flight path. I would look into areas Burke, West Springfield, Alexandria, Lorton, etc. I would make a thread in the NoVa forum if I were you to get more info. I think you would really enjoy the area

[sls76]

I grew up in CT. Short Pump is great for families and in your price range you should get something very nice. Schools are among the best in the state. The area is extremely safe. NoVa is a different world with a lot more traffic and much less affordable. QoL is much higher here IMO.

[snatale1]

Originally Posted by sunday355

Hi.

We are considering a move from Connecticut to Virginia in the next 2 years. Doing research on several forums (including this one), we thought the Glen Allen/Short Pump Area may be a good fit. We will have 2 kids in the school system (currently 7,9) and want a nice house in the burbs - away from the city with convenient shopping etc. The biggest advantage we have is we dont have to commute to work so distance to a major city is not an issue.


Our budget is between $700k-$900k and would like a neighborhood of kids.
We have 3 questions:

1. How was the construction quality of houses in this price range in the area? Were they built by a high quality local builder?

2. Noticed there was a long list of crime reports in the area from Trulia, mostly theft, vandalism, "suspicious activity" and some burglaries. Has this been a trend in Short Pump?

3. Also looking at other parts of VA that may fit our criteria of a robust suburb. Was looking at NoVA but the housing is too expensive and/or is right in the flight path of Dulles airport. Any other suggestions? Williamsburg?


Thanks in advance for your help!

No need to spend that much money first of all, this isn't CT. You can buy a VERY VERY nice house in the 300-400k range here. When I first moved here from MA we lived in Short Pump, and now we own in Glen Allen, it's a great area and you'll be very happy here Henrico has a great school system. Police are constantly responding to nonsense even in the best areas, don't make yourself paranoid, it's a great, safe area. Houses are not built as good here as they are in NE, but they don't need to be. Winter here is a joke so their insulated like crap but that's just how their built. NoVA is just throwing money away assuming your moving to have better weather and save money. Not a lot going in in Williamsburg, nice place but pretty removed.

[sunday355]

Thanks for the responses. The Glen Allen schools had really great ratings - I was just alarmed by the police reports. We're definitely interested in this area because you get more house for your money than in NoVA.

We'll probably make a visit later this year to do an initial look.

[sls76]

Originally Posted by sunday355

Thanks for the responses. The Glen Allen schools had really great ratings - I was just alarmed by the police reports. We're definitely interested in this area because you get more house for your money than in NoVA.

We'll probably make a visit later this year to do an initial look.

Look at houses zoned for Deep Run High or Godwin. Great school assignments, very safe, convenient to shopping. And there are lots of homes in your price range. If you want good quality you're probably looking at around $150-$200/ sq. foot ($150 is probably a nice tract home vs. $200 for something custom) so that's a nice sized house.

Eta: you may know this, but the schools here are very different from CT and there are no Glen Allen schools. Glen Allen spans at least two counties (Hanover and Henrico). The Western Henrico schools are uniformly excellent IMO. It's very different from what I was used to in southwestern CT. The high schools here are big and there are options for middle and high school (IB middle school and specialty centers in the high schools--both application based).

[Charlesaf3]

Does crime exist in that area? Yes. It's everywhere. Would I give it a second thought? No. Absurd idea, really. It's safer than living near Stamford. Which is also totally fine.

7-900 will buy you pretty much any house available. You can actually look on the river road corridor in that budget.

[sls76]

Originally Posted by Charlesaf3

Does crime exist in that area? Yes. It's everywhere. Would I give it a second thought? No. Absurd idea, really. It's safer than living near Stamford. Which is also totally fine.

7-900 will buy you pretty much any house available. You can actually look on the river road corridor in that budget.

River Road is lovely, but then private school tuition (> $20 k / child) probably becomes a factor. Some of the school assignments are not so great.

[Charlesaf3]

Never looked at school assignments, isn't it Freeman and the Short pump school?

[Charlesaf3]

so looked, it's either Maybeury, Tuckahoe, Freeman, or Tuckahoe, Tuckahoe Freeman. Excellent schools in either case to my mind, unsurprisingly - the catchment area ranges from middle class to upper class.