Considering a job in Winchester VA (Shenandoah, Washington: home, movies, where to live)

[miaheat9051]

My husband and I are considering a job offering in Winchester VA. We are young proffessionals with no children and would like to move, however we dont know where to start. Currently, we live in Downtown miami and is looking for a similar lifestyle ( walking distance to shops, resturant movies, parks) at a decent price ( i would give a price however i dont know what the range is). Basically we are clueless and is just looking for some guidance where to live. Should we live in Winchester, or DC or Maryland (i dont even know how far these are away from each other).

Any and all help will be greatly appreciated.

[LynchburgLover]

Have you visited Winchester yet?

I can tell you there will be major culture shock. Miami is a very large, diverse, dynamic city.

Winchester is small-town America, complete with a festival devoted to apples -- the crop that once was the main economy of the town. The "downtown" is about three blocks long surrounded by a several block historic district. It's a very old town . . . George Washington had an office there . . . that hasn't changed a whole lot since that time. lol. I mean that in a nice way; they take their historic preservation very seriously and it is a quaint, but very small, city. It's in the northern Shenandoah Valley surrounded mostly by apple orchard, horse farms, some vineyards and small towns.

The downtown has a nice variety of restaurants: Italian, Thai, British Pub, Brew Pub, American, etc, and small independent shops and art galleries but has struggled with the recessioin. There are a number of empty stores.

It'll take at least an hour to get into DC -- longer than that in rush hour or (God forbid) major snow/ice.

The communities in Maryland that would be commutable (Hagerstown, Frederick) would not offer any more "urban" amenities.

I don't know much about housing prices in Miami but anywhere from $500k and up buys you nice, older home in the historic district, walkable to the downtown. Outside of town there are newer "tract" developments from $250K and up, depending on how far from town.

If you use the "search" mode in the Northern Virginia forum, there is are a couple threads including a picture thread about Winchester.

Good luck.