Roanoke Information

[YvetteJ]

Roanoke= Redneck BEWARE!!!!!

[nova]

Virginia snow and winter is much better then nw indiana winters. I'll take it any day. Just be careful out there in the snow the insurance companies will like you much more.

[GradVT06]

All I can add is to stay away from Roanoke as much as you can. I currently live here and have lived here for 3 years after college at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, about 45 minutes south. My wife and I cannot wait until next year when we are moving to Richmond. We're both originally from Williamsburg. There's a reason why Roanoke's housing market is incredibly cheap- it's just not that great a place to live. The traffic is pretty bad in a lot of places for the size of the city. The traffic on Interstate 81 is pretty bad most of the time, and making it worse is all the up/down hills and the millions of trucks that make it worse. Shopping and restaurants are ok and no complaints there. Personally, I really don't like the high population of illegal immigrants- tons and tons of illegals that can't/won't speak English. Because housing is so cheap, a lot of people retire here- thus a lot of old people and old, slow, and bad drivers. Winters here are worse than the eastern half of the state. One thing that drives me nuts about Blacksburg and Roanoke- the wind! It gets extremely windy and very frigid in the winter. It's very windy almost all the time during the winter, and this is a strong, constant, clothes-piercing wind. It will blow items out of your hands, hats off your head, your jacket off it's not buttoned, etc. Just something to be aware of. And like someone else said- redneck heaven. Be prepared a lot of big trucks, raised with huge tires, confederate flags everywhere, a lot of people who don't care about their appearance- dirtt/stained clothes that are ripped/don't fit, poor- the image you get when you think of the word 'redneck'. Just to let you know what the population is like.

There are a lot of options for outdoors- smith mountain lake, mountains, etc. However, where we are moving to, Richmond, is a bigger city and has access to mountains, the beach, and DC all within 2 hours. The job market is ok for most anything, but lots of warehouse/labor jobs. Gas prices are cheaper than the Richmond area.

Basically, when I think of Richmond, I think of a lot of hills, traffic, cold wind, rednecks, and a lot illegal immigrants that can't speak English. Just my $.02 for what it's worth!

[nova]

The reason for the big trucks is because of a truck offroad park near you, a big one at that. I own a huge truck myself,to much to list but it has 42 inch tall tires. I love to hunt with my dogs, and I love to take the bass boat out for fishing. I like country,Bluegrass,southern rock, and hard rock. I care about the way I look, but it may not be the way you look. Redneck heaven hmmmm!

I could deal with out the illegal immigrants and the wind. I live in arizona right now so you can see what i have for illegal's. When I lived in chicago and nw indiana we had a real wind much stronger then what is there with a colder winter (windy city). So as for roanoke I think it is a good compromise. Less illegal's, less wind, with warmer winters, and cheaper living. Redneck heaven !