Hampton Roads vs. NOVA vs. Richmond (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: high crime, mortgage, homes)

[7citiesVA]

These 3 are the largest metros/regions of Virginia.

I personally prefer the Hampton Roads/Tidewater/7cities area.
I may be a little biased being that I have lived my whole life in Norfolk/Va Beach.

But I have visited the Richmond and Northern Virginia areas several times. I really like Richmond. It has that true heart and soul of Virginia vibe. My only dislike was that it seemed a little slower than the tidewater area as far as everyday life and events go (concerts, etc.). My perception could be wrong though.

I really do not like Northern Virginia at all. (Sorry NOVA folks) But the whole area seems really bland to me with no soul at all. Yea DC is right across the water, but without DC what do you have? Yea there are a lot of good paying jobs there and some beautiful homes, but I don’t think someone could pay me enough to live in NOVA. I would choose the Maryland side of DC over NOVA.

And that brings me to Hampton Roads (Tidewater, 7cities). There are more than just 7 cities that make up Hampton Roads, but the 7 are the core ones. Anyway, I really love it here. Our make up in Hampton Roads is sort of like NYC, where instead of 5 boroughs, you have 7 cities, each with its own unique history and culture. Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton/Newport News are more of the urban type. Va Beach, Chesapeake, and Suffolk are more of the suburban type. There is always something to do throughout each city whether it be the beaches, clubs, museums, etc. The vibe here is really a Southern mixed with an east coast. We seem to be in our own little world down here in South Eastern Virginia.

I could go on for days about Hampton Roads, but I know there is someone who would disagree. So what are your thoughts? Which one do you prefer/like/dislike/etc. and why?

[tenken627]

Originally Posted by 7citiesVA

Yea DC is right across the water, but without DC what do you have?

I don't understand this question. Without DC there would be no NoVA. NoVA is a DC suburb. It's a part of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.

That's like saying without Hampton Roads, what would the Hampton Roads' suburbs have?

Instead of having the 7 cities of Hampton Roads area, you have NoVA and its cities, Central MD and its cities, and D.C. itself. You can hop on a subway and go there easily. Same idea as the 7 cities, just in 3 different entities of VA, MD and DC.

[7citiesVA]

Hey Tenken627

(That's like saying without Hampton Roads, what would the Hampton Roads' suburbs have?)
I dont really understand what your saying either

But i was trying to keep your thoughts on just Virginia. I understand NOVA is apart of the DC metro. What i stated was just my opinion of the NOVA area alone and not the DC metro as a whole. To me NOVA is a pretty dull suburb without DC. (just my opinion)

But what are your thoughts? Im guessing your a NOVA/DC man. How do you feel about Richmond and Hampton Roads?

[tenken627]

Originally Posted by 7citiesVA

Hey Tenken627

(That's like saying without Hampton Roads, what would the Hampton Roads' suburbs have?)
I dont really understand what your saying either

But i was trying to keep your thoughts on just Virginia. I understand NOVA is apart of the DC metro. What i stated was just my opinion of the NOVA area alone and not the DC metro as a whole. To me NOVA is a pretty dull suburb without DC. (just my opinion)

But what are your thoughts? Im guessing your a NOVA/DC man. How do you feel about Richmond and Hampton Roads?

Ah, I just didn't understand how you can seperate NoVA from DC. It's so integrated with DC in economic, social, and cultural aspects. I constantly have to move back and forth from NoVA to DC to MD because of family, work, or social needs.

I like Richmond. I went to school there, and often go back down to visit friends. It's a nice city. Same goes with Hampton Roads (Newport News), which I used to often visit. I wouldn't mind raising a family in either of those places.

But, while I am still relatively young, I like the nightlife of NoVA better, especially since I am in DC all the time. And the job opportunities in my field.

[tvpirate05]

I've lived in Hampton Roads just about all my life, and lived in Norfolk (1 year), Virginia Beach (3 years), Chesapeake (16 years), and Hampton (5 years). It's a nice area, and very accessible, but the biggest problem I have is that they don't know what they want.

Do we want to be one large city, or several independent cities? With everything we have planned for the area, it seems like we want to be the large city, but don't wanna take the steps to do so. Therefore, every city is divided, and no one wants to agree on anything. It's just frustrating watching it all go down...that, and I think we're about 40 years behind the times with our city planning.

And thanks to our being so far behind, we have an area that can't afford the increasing number of people who move here, mainly b/c of military. The roads become more and more congested, and we're taking too long to put a long-term goal into place. We really need another Interstate system, but no one wants to pay the tax increase to put this in effect. Meanwhile, we continue to complain about the traffic! I don't mind paying a tax for something worthwhile, like more roads. If it makes a simple 30-minute drive from Norfolk to Hampton easier, I'm all for it.

Don't get me wrong, it's a very nice area, but the indecisiveness is really frustrating me.

[shellytc]

Well, I grew up in Virginia Beach, Moved to Richmond as a young adult and lived in Richmond for 20 years, married my husband who grew up in Arlington (NOVA) and we just moved back to Virginia Beach... So I guess I can talk about all 3, LOL

I love Richmond. I love the location. I love the pace of the city. I think the offerings, culturally are outstanding. You can easily raise your children in family friendly areas, and go to the city for culture and great food, take advantage of the nightlife, and more!! If you are single, living in the fan and church hill areas is fantastic. You are close to the mountains, beaches, rivers, and DC. What more could you want?

I love the beach, so living at virginia beach is a no brainer for us!! I can get to Norfolk and take advantage of the revitalization that is going on down there. Enjoy MacArthur Center and the city is coming up. We have the amphitheatre for some great concerts in the summertime. Tons of festivals. And the beach!!

I like to visit NOVA, but not live there... I love taking advantage of the Smithsonian Museums, the Mall in DC, etc. I'm not so in love the suburbs... they feel disconnected somehow. Not that you can't get in and out (you can with the Metro), but just dis-connected. And I am not in love with the traffic.

Shelly

[vasinger]

I think Richmond is best. If you live in Richmond you're within 2 hours of NOVA or Va Beach. Richmond offers a lot of things that you can't get in Hampton Roads or NOVA. And actually the music scene is pretty good in Richmond.

[Alanboy395]

I've lived in VA since i was 2. That is 17 years in VA. I'm on my 3rd year in NoVA (alexandria). The other 14 were in Hampton Roads (Hampton mainly with a little time in Norfolk and York County.) I give you the reasons why i absolutely hate NoVA and love Hampton Roads.

7citiesVA don't feel sorry, i hate NoVA too and a lot of other people do. NoVA just does not have a sense of community. I haven't run into one NoVA NATIVE while i've been here. The traffic and drivers are a nightmare. A lot of rude and stuck-up people are here. One thing i dont see much are affulent AA's who actually live in NoVA after they get off work. Nearly all of them live in MD or DC. This area is pretty much a look out for no.1 area. The 2 good things about this areas are schools and jobs. I even went to the worst school system in NoVA (alexandria city) for HS and got a really good education.

Now Hampton Roads. It really has a laid back southern fell to it (the peninsula moreso than the southside). As a christian it feels good to live in an area like HR where the large share of the people embrace you b/c of your christian values. I've had nothing but nice things to say about the military folks i lived around (not just b/c i'm an air force brat). HR has a budding hip-hop scene as in DC area it's all about go-go. HR also has a lot of affulent and military AA's. Happily there are beaches in Hampton or VA Beach you can hit up whenever you want. And even with the traisent military this area has a community feel to it. A lot of people like to bash this area for having a high crime rate. News flash!!!!!!!!!!!! VA Beach is one of the safest large cities in the country, Hampton, NN, Portsmouth, and Norfolk are not on the most dangerous cities list.

So basically i proud to say i'm from HR and hate saying i live in NoVA

[Waterboy526]

NoVA might feel disconnected because it's a SUBURB! HR is not a suburb, it's a big city almost in itself. NoVA only exists today because DC became what it did. You can't compare the 2 areas IMO. I grew up in NoVA (Fairfax City) and thought I had a great childhood and grew up in a very nice community. I was in scouts, played sports, etc and always thought I lived in a great town. Some of the disconnect might be from newer subdivisions, but hell Raleigh, NC is full of them and a lot of people here are from Boston, NYC, Cali, etc.

Plain and simple NoVA has great schools and quality of life is excellent, minus the traffic, but HR is not too far behind in that area. Why does everyone always have to pick on NoVA? My wifes parents are from Southern VA and they always talked trash about NoVA, but when 80% of their school system (3 schools...1 ES, 1 MC, 1 HS) is funded by the state, where do you think a good chunk of that money comes from? Fairfax and Loudoun county only get 20% of their school funding from the state, where as most of the tax money that comes from Fairfax goes to support the rest of the state. That's a fact people, so before you start bashing NoVA, maybe you need to realize that Virginia would not be what it is today without NoVA. Not to mention all the rich history NoVA has to offer.

[stacylee926]

Let's see... I was born and raised in Arlington/Fairfax and lived there for 41 years. 4 years ago I moved to HR, but I had been visiting Sandbridge for 10 years and then the inlaws in Portsmouth for 11 years so I already had a general idea about the area. ( I REALLY wanted to move to Arizona, but the kids didn't want to move that far).

I was fine in NOVA for most of my life. About 7 years ago I became very irritated with the traffic, congestion and the increase in my mortgage due to tax increases. However, I was kind of stuck because my mother had been rather ill and lived with us. When she passed away in 4/03 I knew this was my chance to make a life change.

HR is a very nice area to live - not too big, not too small, plenty of cultural and outdoor activities. Slower pace of life, but still plenty of shopping and services available. The not so good thing about HR is that you can literally go block to block and change from good to bad areas in a heartbeat. You just have to learn where it is safe and not so safe and use common sense. This is very different from NOVA.

I never really liked Richmond. Can't say why - but it never felt warm and friendly to me..... It was just a place to drive through to get from NOVA to HR.

As far as DC goes - I never really went there often! As a 20 something, we did go to Georgetown weekly, but as I grew older and moved further in the suburbs, it was someplace to go once a year for something different. I saw all the museums growing up and that was fine. Now it is just someplace in the news.

Out of the 3, I definitely like HR the best - but each area has something that appeals to different types of people. I would NEVER move back to NOVA though - no way, no how.