Best Area in Richmond (Mechanicsville, Fredericksburg: transplants, apartments, for rent)

[pastrymom]

Which area is the best place for a family to live in Richmond? We are moving from Southern California and we have two girls, 5 & 8. My husband will be working in Fredericksburg and he wants to live in Richmond. We will be renting at first and I don't want to feel like I am living on top of my neighbor. Are there better areas to get away from crime and are there better areas for schools?

[novanwbie]

Hi! Richmond is a great area for families. If your husband is going to be working in Fredericksburg, he'll be commuting up I-95, so I would look at something convenient to 295, which is a beltway around the top half of Richmond. My personal favorite is Chesterfield County, but in your case I'd recommend looking at the Atlee area of Hanover County, and the western Henrico County area.

Western Henrico is one of the nicest parts of the Richmond MSA, so it's the most expensive, but if you're coming from southern CA, it's probably still going to be a great deal for you. Go to realtor.com and look at listings in the 23060 and 23233 areas for sample pricing. These are also areas where there are a lot of newer developments, and a lot of recent transplants (like yourselves), due to the rapid growth of Richmond's financial services companies out in that area.

I would caution you, be sure to avoid eastern Henrico and the more rural parts of Hanover, the schools in these areas are not good. Western Henrico has some of the best schools in the state. You might look at renting a place in Wellesley, Twin Hickory or Wyndham. Because these are newer, the yards might be smaller than you seem to be looking for, though. Older neighborhoods will have more space.

Unfortunately, if you've looked at statistics on crime, you may have seen some misleading numbers, Yes, Richmond has a high crime rate. But that's just like any other large metro area, and the crime tends to be highly localized. I would not recommend living in most areas within the Richmond city limits, for example, with small children. The exception to that would be the near west end, but only for elementary school. I would also avoid eastern Henrico for the same reason. Until you know the area, it would be too easy to end up in the wrong section of town.

If you have more specific questions just let me know.

[richmondpics]

The West End (western Henrico County) would probably be your best bet, considering your husband will be commuting to Fredericksburg. I-295 to I-95 north makes his commute around 35-40 minutes. Great schools and a high concentration of stores and amenities, but the negative trade-off is more congestion. Still, congestion is Richmond is nothing compared to many areas. Average commute is like 22 minutes, (unless your commuting to Fredericksburg of course ).

Also, I basically agree with the crime issue. Richmond is perceived as an unsafe area, but it simply isn't the case. The crime occurs in highly concentrated areas, primarily very close to where the existing housing projects are. Western Henrico (Short Pump/Glen Allen area) is far away from anything like that and very safe. While the city may not be the best place for schools, don't be deterred from checking it out once you are here. There's a lot of really cool areas worth checking out including Carytown (over 100 shops, boutiques, restaurants etc), the Riverfront/Canal Walk, Shockoe Slip, etc. Lots of really neat restaurants throughout.

Good luck with your search!

[richmondpics]

Also, judging from your post about the Fredericksburg area, you seem interested in quality travel/club soccer programs. The three best in Richmond (and some of the best in the state) are Richmond Strikers (West End), Richmond Kickers (various areas), and F.C. Richmond (Midlothian area).

some links in case you're interested:
http://www.strikersonline.com/default-strikers.aspx (broken link)
http://www.fcrichmond.com/
http://www.richmondkickers.com/

[pastrymom]

Thanks for such great advice. The school systems of course will be the deciding factor here. We are also going to rent first. Are there many locations for rent? We would prefer to rent a home rather than an apartment. I've been looking into Hanover County also and they seem to have very good schools also. Mechanicsville came up with come great schools. How's that area? Thanks for all the help

[novanwbie]

Hanover has some good schools, and some that really are not good. You have to be more careful. It's also a more rural population. As someone noted on another posting, mechanicsville isn't even a town, it's just sprawl. If you want developments, look at Hanover. If you want neighborhoods, look at Henrico or Chesterfield. I honestly believe you'll have more opportunities for your children in Henrico or Chesterfield. And western Henrico would certainly be convenient for your husband. And only about 10 minutes further than the good schools in Hanover (Atlee area).

[htlong]

if your commuting to fredricksburg try Ashland VA. if not mechanicsville is really nice the west end of henrico is a "trendy" area alot of congestion account of every store in the world is there.

[shbhatia]

A lot of development is going around Virginia Center Commons area. Its the area on the Hanover/Henrico border. You have acess to I95, 295 and 64 in seconds. Fredricksburg is 25 minutes commute from that point. There are lots of options to rent out apartments/condos. Look closely in north end of Glen Allen, Herico, it sounds like the kind of place you are looking for.

[moedog]

A word to the wise---saying the commute from Richmond to Fredricksburg is 25 minutes is crazy. It's 55 miles, for God's sake! On good days it will take an hour or so, but traffic will often back up, maybe making the time much longer. I-95 is a VERY heavily traveled highway and very unpredictable. Is there some reason you would not want to live in the Fredricksburg area? True, housing is more expensive there, but you'll quickly burn that up in gas and vehicle costs.

[shbhatia]

Assuming starting point is VCC exit 90 to exit 130 Fredricksburg @ 80 miles/hr it is 30 minutes journey tops during non rush hours.