Best Suburbs of Richmond (Fredericksburg, Chester: house, buy, to live)

[DC Oldtimer]

We're recently retired and are looking to relocate from NOVA to the greater Richmond area. But we've only been to the city, where we dont want to live.

My question is simple: if you could live in any suburb of Richmond, which one would you choose?

All opinions greatly appreciated.

[parkrva]

I would assume budget would be a factor in this decision, as with all communities there are very nice suburbs, good suburbs, and OK suburbs but your budget really defines where you are going to look... and how to find the best suburb available to your budget.

[DC Oldtimer]

Originally Posted by parkrva

I would assume budget would be a factor in this decision, as with all communities there are very nice suburbs, good suburbs, and OK suburbs but your budget really defines where you are going to look... and how to find the best suburb available to your budget.

Good point. Sorry I forgot to include that.

Figure that we can spend up to 600K or so.

[shellytc]

Ok, you are retiring, what do you like to do? do you golf? museums? shopping? all this can affect where you choose to live.

shelly

[onevthoki]

I would also say one of the biggest questions in the Richmond area is what side of the river do you want to live???

In all seriousness, I second what Shelly said. We left the NoVA area about 2 years ago because we were tired of the traffic - after four years the commute from Fredericksburg to the Pentagon just go to be a bit much for my husband! So to keep his commute easy, we headed to eastern Chesterfield for the proximity it offers to Fort Lee. Give us a better idea of what is important for you and the forum may be able to chime in with some ideas.

[parkrva]

Originally Posted by shellytc

Ok, you are retiring, what do you like to do? do you golf? museums? shopping? all this can affect where you choose to live.

shelly

Good point, if you golf there is a bunch of suburbs which would be a very appealing for that reason alone such as Stonehenge, or Salisbury...

[DC Oldtimer]

Originally Posted by shellytc

Ok, you are retiring, what do you like to do? do you golf? museums? shopping? all this can affect where you choose to live.

shelly

Thanks for the response. Golf and museums have no importance. Shopping ... well I like to be near a nice food store or two, since I like to cook. Other than that, I'm not a mall person or shopper of any significance. I buy most stuff online.

My chief hobby is reading, so anywhere nice can work. But we do love to go out on the water, and so a lake community of some kind would be fabulous. I have located a few, but have no way of knowing the inside story.

I appreciate everyone's input.

[EricD]

Woodlake might be a good fit for you. I saw a water-front 4 bedroom house for $575k. Most other homes in the area are upper 200k's - 300k's though, but that's the normal price for a decent community in Richmond. (Might seem low when coming from NoVa)

[parkrva]

You might like River Road as well, close to the James River. A lot of the communities between The Hugenot and Route 6 / Patterson Ave are very nice but vary tremendously in price from affordable to very expensive

[jhrichmond]

Originally Posted by parkrva

You might like River Road as well, close to the James River. A lot of the communities between The Hugenot and Route 6 / Patterson Ave are very nice but vary tremendously in price from affordable to very expensive

I think this is my favorite area in that price range.