Best places for land between Roanoke and Floyd? (Blacksburg, Christiansburg: appointed, real estate)

[LaughinWillow]

Hi all - looking for some input on a potential moving plan my husband and I are working on for next year. We were thinking of moving back to Virginia, and Floyd is just so incredibly beautiful. In reading some posts here and elsewhere, however, it sounds like it is really difficult to get a job in Floyd, and that living close to town there means driving 1 1/2 hours round trip to work - which we'd like to minimize. I thought perhaps living between Floyd and Roanoke would be a good option, and then working in Roanoke. My husband is an electrician, and I have a master's in counseling (though I'm currently a stay at home mom, so we do NOT have a lot of money) - anyone know about the job market in Roanoke (though I assume, with this economy none of us have any idea how things will be in a year)?

Anyway, my real question is, where are the best areas between Floyd and Roanoke to look for a house with a little (at least 2 acres, but hopefully more like 5-10) land - in terms of schools (we have 3 children), ease of reaching Roanoke or another place for work, cost of living, shopping, some kind of downtown perhaps (though this isn't as big a concern as the rest)? Anyone have suggestions? Thanks!

[kitkatjmu]

Willow! I just had to respond because my Fiance is an electrician and I have my master's in counseling. We recently bought a house in Hardy and will be looking for jobs in the fall.

I can't really help you with your question though, sorry!

Good luck to you!

[ladypaints2play]

Just wanted to let you know there is a bent mountain between roanoke and floyd and there is no way to get around that, at the bottom of the mountain is an area of roanoke county, that is not bad, and Franklin County is a lovely place to live, close to roanoke and not so crowded, and the people of Franklin County are very friendly and the views are lovely, Cahas mt, at the bottom is a great spot with acreage and same lovely country people! You can get enough land to have pets, and horses, cattle, or cats, whatever floats your boat, but unless you are wealthy enough not to have to work in the wintertime, you better check out somewhere besides floyd...although i love it there, i hear also that almost everyone has to go somewhere else to work..............

[ladypaints2play]

Get ahold of Sean, he can tell you about franklin co, and a place called bethany rd, he may even get you a map or pictures.......Sean! Where are u?

[j1n]

Originally Posted by LaughinWillow

Anyway, my real question is, where are the best areas between Floyd and Roanoke to look for a house with a little (at least 2 acres, but hopefully more like 5-10) land - in terms of schools (we have 3 children), ease of reaching Roanoke or another place for work, cost of living, shopping, some kind of downtown perhaps (though this isn't as big a concern as the rest)? Anyone have suggestions? Thanks!

I don't think there is much of any sort of "downtown" between Roanoke and Floyd. But if you were to drive the straight shot of 221/Bent Mountain Rd from R-noke to Floyd, you'd likely be able to gather a list of realtor numbers and pick up fliers for homes as well. Many of the homes along that stretch are probably going to have some land.
Is there a particular reason you want to locate yourself between the two towns? If you think you might want to end up spending a lot of time in Floyd, Floyd is very accessible from Roanoke. You could live in Roanoke County and be in Floyd in no time. And living in Roanoke County would give you convenient access to the more day-to-day amenities you might need.
Franklin County can be a little quirky. We spent a little over a year in Rocky Mount, and are very happy to be in Roanoke now. Cahas Mountain in Franklin County is a beauty. (I used to call it Storm King to myself because often you can see the weather settling over Cahas before you get hit with it.) But in Franklin County, you'd have to really pick and choose to get that view. Often in Franklin County, it's a scenario of "not being able to see the forest for the trees". Often you are right in the mountains and can't see them because of that. Whereas where we are now, we have almost 360 degree views of the mountains and are walking distance to downtown Roanoke. In Franklin County, Bethlehem Rd might be a good shot at getting some land, being at the base of Cahas, and not being too far out. Hope that helps a little.

[seanpecor]

Halfway between Floyd and Roanoke is the Bent Mountain area and housing prices are elevated in general, even with the downturn in the economy. I'm not saying you won't find a home in that area, it's just that your choices will be more limited. If you go to realtor.com and search for "bent mountain, va" you'll get 44 results and most are land listings and a smattering of $1MM+ homes. A few potentials though, but each appeal to a limited audience. Two examples:

http://www.graphicdimensionsinc.com/...=6640&RInfo=2&

Bent Mountain, VA, 24059 - MLS ID#736940 - Single Family Home Real Estate - REALTOR.com®

ladypaints2play has a good point; you have to contend with climbing Bent Mountain to go betwixt Floyd and Roanoke. It's mostly fine except for about 2 miles of crazy loopy curves where you'd be going 20mph and during bad weather it gets dodgy. Bent Mountain Elementary I understand is a good school, but according to a teacher friend of mine it is the absolute most expensive school to operate for all of Roanoke County (on a per student basis) and there are murmurs over the school's long term viability with a decreasing student population. Plus like j1n says, there is no "town". It's just farms and a growing number of upscale homes and subdivisions with the closest "town" being the Brambleton Road area of Roanoke County, or Floyd itself. Still, if you find a home you love that you can afford, it's a pretty area. Land there is expensive for a reason. Lots of people competing to live in that area.

ladypaints2play mentions Bethany Road in Franklin County which I'd recommend you consider in addition to SW Roanoke County. I've been through Floyd County often and Franklin County (it's neighbor to the east) is easily as beautiful as Floyd. A lady has a really nice photo collection on Flickr that has lots of Franklin County photos, most in the NW region of the county, where Bethany Rd is located:

The Beauty of S.Western Virginia - a set on Flickr

Plus there is a group with even more photos of Franklin County:

Flickr: Franklin County, VA

j1n is right, when you're in or alongside the mountains each house is not always guaranteed a beautiful mountain view. But that's part of the charm, no? You're living among the mountains and hills. Traveling among them. A daily experience like that speaks to you differently then living in the valley and seeing mountains from a distance. If you don't hear that voice calling you back when you're away down in the valley, then you're probably not a mountain person

5-10 acres in Roanoke County is going to be hard to come by and the land values will be even higher than Franklin and Floyd County, and on top of that, property tax rates in Roanoke County are double that of Franklin and (I think) Floyd. Not a deal breaker but it's something to factor in.

If you'll be working in Roanoke and making daily commutes then I'd urge you to consider living inside Roanoke's metro area. It's better for the environment, don'tcha know. But if you really want to live in the county, then don't rule out Franklin County. You can find a happy medium that puts you about 30 minutes from Roanoke and about 30-35 minutes from Floyd. And from NW Franklin County, you don't actually have to cross a mountain to get to Floyd. It's basically a valley road - Route 602 - to Route 221. A little curvy but not up and down a mountain. There *IS* a road like that and it shrinks the +/- 32 mile route to +/- 25 miles but you won't get there much quicker, and you'll be sicker Once from my house (Steeplechase Lane in Boones Mill Franklin County) I drove that mountain route and I got from my garage to Cafe Del Sol in 38 minutes. I was almost too car sick to enjoy lunch when I got there to meet some friends, though

Personally I'd go a little closer to Roanoke and be a little further from Floyd. Even if you head to Floyd once a week, you and/or yours will be commuting to/from Roanoke 5x weekly. Something to keep in mind.

Sean

[LaughinWillow]

Thank you for all the advice! I had checked out realtor.com, and it looked like there were a decent number of places with 5 acres or so within a half hour drive of Roanoke. Our thing is basically, we are pretty liberal people - we used to live in an intentional farming community in VA and are interested in being near Floyd because of the arts and back to the land folks there. There are also a few intentional communities, and we figure we'd meet like-minded friends there. And we really love the "one stoplight in the county" vibe. Thought we'd found the perfect place for us to be, so I was disappointed to hear that it's so hard to find work in the vicinity.

A few other questions:
I've read differing things on Roanoke - is it progressive/liberal? We're very loosely "hippies," though I say that hesitantly - we're more like "crunchy" back the land sort of folks, into campfires, playing music outside with other people, the organics movement, being off the grid, etc. We're living in central PA right now, and absolutely hating it. It's so conservative here, and there are absolutely no like-minded folks, and land costs are insane. We know we don't want to move somewhere else similar, and would ideally like to fit well into a place, which leaves out some other rural areas of VA that I know are really conservative. I haven't been to Roanoke though - what's it like?

Also, is Blacksburg any easier to get to from Floyd, and are there jobs there? I thought perhaps the college might be a good place to work.

[j1n]

Roanoke itself is pretty cool. I really like the combination of a small city with "city-ish" stuff and the vibe of earthiness and the arts stuff going on. There's a natural food co-op and the downtown market (which draws artisans and farmers from outlying areas, including Floyd). There's also Seeds of Light downtown...a hippy-ish store that sells clothes, bags, crystals, rainsticks, windchimes, Native flutes, incense, etc. VA itself is, I think, pretty conservative, but Roanoke has quite a bit of diversity. There's lots of live music all over this area...lots of "pickin parties" as you go out into areas like Franklin County. But a lot of those folks I'd classify as being pretty conservative. Not that that's bad or anything. There's a Roanoke drum circle that you can google. Last summer, I stopped and checked out a guy who was playing his djembe downtown on the sidewalk...just slamming...sounded like 10 drummers from a block or so away. From what you are describing, I'd think that being closer in to Roanoke would be a good fit. And you'd still be close enough to things like Floydfest, farmers markets all over, etc, etc. Blacksburg to Floyd is approx 30 miles and 45 minutes.

[seanpecor]

J1n is really on the money. Roanoke City has some really hip neighborhoods. It voted 62% for Obama, if that helps. By contrast, Roanoke _County_ swung 62% McCain.

Keep in mind that Floyd is a real bastion of conservatism once you step outside of the postage stamp sized town of several hundred people. Up until last year one of the only barbers in Floyd was infamous for spouting racist epithets at the drop of a hat. A friend of mind who is a well known photographer in Floyd had notes with extremely racist insults taped to his store entrance one morning during the height of the election season. And while there are lots of cool people in Floyd, and even a few intentional liberal communities, there are easily as many conservative religious fruitcake communities in the sticks of Floyd County Ohmygosh, the trouble a local Floyd micro brewer just recently had with a bunch of fire and brimstone pentecostal type locals who were on a campaign to prevent him from selling his bottled micro brew from his location. You probably have not read much about all this drama in the Floyd County marketing materials For Floyd going's on, one of the best blogs to read is:

Blue Ridge Muse | News, views and musings from the mountains of Southwestern Virginia

I wouldn't rule out Floyd, but gosh, if you want to minimize your impact on the environment, why not consider living in a hip village within a hip little city, instead of having possibly two cars each commuting 50 miles round trip daily? It's a tough decision. OTOH, Floyd isn't that far from Christiansburg. You could investigate a northern Floyd home (do a search for Check, VA), which would put you 20 minutes or so into Christiansburg with Blacksburg just beyond?

Sean

[LaughinWillow]

You guys are being so helpful! sean, We really would love to live really close to work - but my husband is looking for at least a couple acres - he hopes eventually to start a small heirloom garlic and onion seed business, of all things. I know there's no way we can afford any acreage close to Roanoke. The pics of Franklin County you posted certainly are appealing - especially with the weather here - I am DYING for spring at this point! It sounds like Christiansburg might be a good option, and maybe a little less driving than we'd be looking at with Roanoke.

Thank you again for taking time to help us out!