Best place to live in Richmond? (Roanoke, Williamsburg: appointed, apartment, rental)

[GradVT06]

I got a new job in Richmond, starting in a few weeks, and my wife has to stay here in Roanoke until next June because she has a contract with the school system for another year. I'll be living with family members in Williamsburg, but considering an apartment.

So I was wondering, what is the best place to live, either in apartment or buying a house, for a commute to 100 block of North 3rd Street? I'm not familiar with Richmond and don't know where the best place to live/commute from is.

[htlong]

well it depends on what your looking for, price,saftey,urban sprawl,country ,small town, etc., richmond has all of them

[GradVT06]

I understand that each area, like soutside, west end, etc has a variety of places. I'm looking to find the best 'region' or area of richmond would be the easiest to commute to n. 3rd street. Thanks.

[htlong]

hi grad,
what type of area are you looking for heck you could move into jackson ward on n2nd street and have no commute, but its not the greatest neighborhood after dark.
so if you want a suburbia with every store ever thought of go to the westend or southside but the commute may be tuffer than say mechanicsville on the east side of town which is an easy commute account of the n.3rd st.has easy access to i-64 on the northeast side of town but the sprawl is slowly comming to mechanicsville too, if you want rural go to elko or quinton .

[GradVT06]

Thanks htlong. It sounds like there's a bunch of different options. I'll be living with either my mother or grandparents until I get used to the area a little more since I don't really know anything about Richmond. I'd rather have an easier commute, but if I feel better about living in west end or southside, I might be happier.

[VALady]

I tend to recommend the West End over the Southside simply because you don't have to worry about trying to get across the James River (which usually involves a toll).

[PlantAKiss]

I recommend living in Northside. I live in Ginter Park and I am only minutes from Downtown, I-64, I-95, Powhite Parkway, West End, etc. I can get wherever I want to be in 5-15 minutes generally speaking. Ginter Park is a lovely neighborhood (Richmond's first suburb) of old homes and beautiful mature trees. Its close to the baseball Diamond, museums, Broad Street with lots of restaurants, the historic Fan district with good restaurants. Its a quiet neighborhood.

I love where I live.

[16817Sun]

PlantAKiss - I am interested in more information on Ginter Park.
What are the price ranges of the homes? What elementary school is in your neighborhood? Is it a good place to raise children? Are outsiders welcome? How are the taxes? Are there any rental properties? There is a good chance my family will rent in the school district we decide we want before purchasing a home, just to make sure we find the right house.

thank you!

[richmondpics]

Unfortunately, many people with children are disappointed with the performance of City schools middle school and higher. Ginter Park is a really neat neighborhood though.

[16817Sun]

are there still a lot of families in Ginter Park? What is the average cost of a home there?