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Sorry about yet another Roanoke thread. For anyone following the saga, it looks very likely that I will be moving my family that way for a job.
I was in Roanoke recently and loved it. I have a serious question though--are there any small towns within commuting distance of downtown Roanoke that you good folks here might recommend?
I sure won't be a wealthy person but I should be making a decent living and if we like living in the area as much as I expect we will, we will be thinking seriously about buying a home.
However, Roanoke itself might be a little large for us. I like to have quick access to a city the size of Roanoke, but would prefer a smaller town to actually live in. Maybe 30,000 or fewer people.
(I realize a lot of people wouldn't consider Roanoke a big city, but I've lived in St. Paul, Chicago, New Orleans, etc. and the older I get the more I grow fond of the idea of living in a smaller, slightly more rural community.)
So, the question I have is: what are some good, smaller towns within 30 miles or so of downtown Roanoke? We love the outdoors, the hills, lakes, trails, camping, hiking and I have two young children, so schools and crime are a big issue.
I'm not too concerned about which direction out of Roanoke the right town might be, though I guess commuter traffic could be an issue.
Also, we are fairly liberal, progressive types. We aren't churchgoers. I mean, we respect peoples' faiths but we have little interest in getting involved in an organized church. Perhaps there is a smaller town near Roanoke that has a small college or university? Sometimes that is indicative of a little more culture. (Wow. I really sound like a pompous jerk with that last paragraph...it isn't intentional, I assure.)
I'm sorry to ramble. We are good, friendly people who like to be active with friends and in the community. I really want to find a good place for my family. I'd also like to point out that taxes/cost-of-living/ housing costs are an important concern as well.
Check out Rocky Mount, possibly Boones Mill, ....Hollins College is nearby off interstate 81, just not sure what town it's in.....pretty area though.....I grew up an hour from Roanoke and it's been a long time since I've lived there, but this is just my 2 cents from what I can recall.....
I'd recommend Franklin County, VA. You're just south of Roanoke. Rocky Mount is closer than 30 miles to Roanoke and if you bought or built a wee north of Rocky Mount (Callaway or Boones Mill area) you'd get that perfect mix of rural living but still enjoy a great small town with a population of +/- 5,000. You'd have great well funded schools, low crime and a low cost of living. Property tax rates are 0.53/$100 in Franklin County - much lower than in Roanoke City and Roanoke County.
Franklin County is a conservative county overall but each year it moves slightly more toward the middle as people relocate here for work, retirement or a change in lifestyle. I'm a fiscal conservative social progressive athiest and I fit in just fine here. Some of my best friends are devout Christians but suffer eachother gladly You can't walk far around here without tripping into great volunteer opportunities. Here in Franklin County you have Habitat for Humanity, the Virginia Master Gardener program, the Virginia Master Naturalist program (of which I'm a member) and a slew of other groups to help you contribute to the community and build friendships.
You may have read me gush about Franklin County in other threads here, so you may not be learning anything new about my neighborhood with what I'll say now but here it goes. Franklin County has Ferrum College, three lakes, one state park, one national park and thousands upon thousands of acres of privately conserved land. The Rocky Mount YMCA is a great resource for kids and parents, with two state of the art buildings, one of which is dedicated to kids 12 and under with specialized basketball courts with more pliable footing to reduce risk of bone injuries. Also at the YMCA are two dance studios with floating hardwood floors, an activity room with a massive jungle gym and climbing walls, an art studio, a massive daycare and pre-school, a state of the art performing arts theatre, a large basketball gymnasium for kids over 12 and adults, an indoor heated Olympic pool, a fully equipped workout gym, and a 40 acre nature preserve with trails that reach to the top of Grassy Hill. Other parks include Fairystone Lake state park which sports a sweet beach with a special section for young kids full of floating park "animals" and a floating platform for older kids and adults with a large slide and diving board. I mean by sweet, check this out:
The town of Rocky Mount itself is home to the region's only Virginia Main Streets national historic districts. Mixed in with historic buildings housing a variety of shops is a newly renovated public library that's really quite beautiful and it's so nice to have it right on Main Street next to all the small town hustle and bustle.
You'd think I be describing Cary, North Carolina except it's actually in the Roanoke metro area. And unlike Cary, you won't pay $250,000 for a townhouse or be creeped out by how manicured and unnaturally perfect everything looks, or be wondering how you walked onto the set of the Stepford Wives I say that with all due respect to the Stepfords of course, who like that sort of thing
In Northeast Roanoke, we have Hollins University (a liberal arts college for women) While it's technically Roanoke, it's not downtown and does not have a big city feel to it. It's about a 15 minute drive from the downtown area. There are some nice subdivisions in the area surrounding Hollins with some newer homes. Most of them are larger homes that are in the $300K plus range. If that's not really what you're after, there are also some nice neighborhoods nearby where there are a lot of homes were built in the 50's -60's, brick ranch style homes, cape cods, etc. I call these "homes with character." Many of the older homes in this area have been well maintained through the years. They typically have hardwood floors, brick fire places, things like that. I think you could find a home in one of these neighborhoods that would range anywhere from $170K to $200K range. I used to live in this area, and I liked it very much. Now, to be honest with you, the school system in this area is not known to be the best. That's just my opinion though. I say that b/c I've heard news reports of some schools in this area that have not "made the grade," so to speak in terms of test scores. Again, I'm no expert on the schools.
I would recommend you research the City of Salem and the Town of Vinton. These are both smaller cities that border Roanoke. Both of these are known for having good schools. Salem in particular, is a desirable location. For that reason, housing in Salem will be much more expensive than Vinton. Salem has kind of an "artsy" feel to me. It has a quaint little downtown area with neat little art galleries, antique stores, restaurants, etc. They have a farmers market that is quite popular. Roanoke College is actually in Salem. That's a private 4 year university. I'm not certain on the population of Salem, but I'd guess it's near 25,000 to 30,000 people. I'd estimate that you could find a nice, 3 bedroom home in Salem that would probably run in the mid $200K range.
I've listed a few websites below that may help you research the areas I've mentioned. Feel free to PM me if you have additional questions. Good luck in your search!
About Vinton:
http://www.town.vinton.va.us/ (broken link) (you can see crime statistics on this site.)
http://www.town.vinton.va.us/services_pages/schools.htm (broken link)
Thanks for all the info, everyone. Please keep it coming if anyone has some more.
I did a little research last night and it looks as if most of the smaller towns within 20 miles or so of Roanoke City are actually MORE expensive than Roanoke itself, but as Sean mentioned, if we end up buying, prop. taxes would be lower in Franklin Co.
What will likely happen is (assuming I land this job) we will get to Roanoke and rent a house in the city, then as we have a chance on days off from work, weekends, etc., we'll explore and get to know the surrounding areas, get some mewspapers, look into realtors, etc.
My wife and I will definately be taking trips down to the Roanoke area as it seems to have most of the features we desire, especially affordability. Here is a question for Sean because he can definately relate to my situation in VT. How is education funded in your region? Vt is out of control and there is virtually no hope of relief here. I am not by any means against supporting decent education (have a BA myself and one son with a BA and the other one a sophomore at U-Mass), but am concerned that there will be a major influx into the area over the years. Judging by the readings of so many posts I see that education and teachers comes up very often, so knowing what you do of the area do you ever see education taxes approaching anything in magnatude like we have in here in VT.
About 50% of education in a locality is funded by the state of Virginia, on average. The state provides the rest. Therefore, it is sort of a middle ground between 100% locality burden and the more socialist flavor of Vermont's structure.
The education related tax burden in Virginia will never reach anywhere near the level or nature of Vermont's burden. Vermont is a very small state and lacks the economy of scale that Virginia has. Making matters worse, due to it's limited population density and climate, the cost of living is 20% higher in Vermont than it is in the Roanoke area. Those are key contributing factors that make the tax burden relative to education (and everything else) in Vermont so high. Growth doesn't make education more expensive per capita, it makes it less expensive. Vermont also has a more socialist oriented nature to it's philosophy; therefore, if you own property, the tax burden is designed to severely limit your return on investment and prevent the growth of "estates". So if you choose to own a $1M house in Middlebury, VT, for example, well then, prepare to spend $30,000 a year in property taxes, which is, incidentally, around 3% of the net value of the home and about half of your properties' appreciation during that same year. And of course it doesn't stop there, if you sell that house, then you'll be paying Vermont a king size capital gains tax. This is the sort of model that makes Bernie Sanders salivate. It also happens to be the same sort of model that makes entrpreneurs like me skip town and head South to a location that offers a more sensible balance.
Compounding the problem for Vermont is that most counties including and south of Chittenden County aren't growing much more than 1% every 5 years. The fastest growing counties are all the northern and most rural counties. So you can't leverage the urban centers at all, you're just creating more schools out in the middle of nowhere.
I went a little ranty, but hopefull this is somewhat informative
Sean, very good information which makes sense. Following the weekly escapades of the asylum in Montpelier leaves us shaking our heads. With town meeting day approaching the school districts are almost all asking for sizeable budget increases even though student enrollments are dropping and are expected to continue to drop for the ten years. Recently published were the past ten year ratios of teachers/staff vs students and it's obscene how many of our districts are top heavy in the former. The demographic trend forecast does not bode well as the most rapidly growing segment is that of age 50 and above, a segment that is already being financially stressed. I am looking forward to an early retirement to pursue other goals and I just can't envision on being able to do that up here. In six years I'll have a pension kick in from another job out of state with an added medical trust benefit of 550.00 p/mo (current rate) to buy insurance. I checked and compared individual medical coverage and the Roanoke area quote through BC/BS was half of what it would cost in VT, and the coverage options in VA were better. Anyway, it's a no brainer. Looking forward to checking out VA and following the information you post.
You're not kidding on health insurance. My family of four's health insurance premium was $1,100/month in Vermont when we left in the Spring of 2002. I'm sure it would be closer to $1,300 now. Here I'm paying Anthem BCBS about $600/mo for a family of four (including added riders).
Also check out Botetourt County. I live in Botetourt, close to Hollins U. and the airport so I can take advantage of the lower taxes but still be close -in to downtown where I work. It is a quiet, more rural area but still with a Roanoke address.
If the commute isn't too far, check out Fincastle - it's a cute little town up 220.
You will enjoy it here!
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You can't walk far around here without tripping into great volunteer opportunities. Here in Franklin County you have Habitat for Humanity, the Virginia Master Gardener program, the Virginia Master Naturalist program (of which I'm a member) and a slew of other groups to help you contribute to the community and build friendships. 
I say that with all due respect to the Stepfords of course, who like that sort of thing 
