Young Family looking to move from TN to VA (Charlottesville: foreclosures, low crime)

[arlo615]

Background: Family of 4, oldest child starting kindergarten, youngest is 1 year old. We are planning to move to VA (somewhere near Waynesboro) from Nashville, TN. This will be our first move as a family and the first time any of us have lived outside of TN. We are hoping to find out what are good areas for families (low crime, good schools?) and if there are any area hospitals (I'm a nurse).

I've been looking for houses in Waynesboro, all that I have seen don't have much land... is that common? We live on 10 acres here, we really love the room, but I understand we may have to give that up for the move.

Thanks for any help! I'm completely clueless...

[ersatz]

Dear arlo615

First off, start your research here at City-Data http://www.city-data.com/city/Waynesboro-Virginia.html You will see that Waynesboro has

AUGUSTA HEALTH (Acute Care Hospitals, Voluntary non-profit - Other, provides emergency services, about 5 miles away; FISHERSVILLE, VA)
WESTERN STATE HOSPITAL (Acute Care Hospitals, Government - State, provides emergency services, about 12 miles away; STAUNTON, VA)
UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA MEDICAL CENTER (Acute Care Hospitals, Government - State, provides emergency services, about 23 miles away; CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA)

Read more: http://www.city-data.com/city/Waynes...#ixzz1yHx6mY00

Use a screening tool like Trulia or Zillow to search homes in the Waynesboro area with the acreage you want. I used 270,000 as a sq lot footage filter (use the more filters function) which is about 5 acres to come up with multiple hits such as 136 Colonial Heights Ln, Waynesboro, VA 22980 MLS# 61496 - Zillow.

As to neighborhoods and schools, you can use the City-Data info to read about a particular area, or ask in the forums. GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community can give you more info about schools though take the results with a grain of salt ...

[voliza]

Hey, I'd recommend checking out the Orange, VA area. It's relatively inexpensive, although land is still a bit expensive. There are some good foreclosures with a few acres though. We just bought a house in Orange and I'm pleased with it. I've heard the schools are decent, but it's all in what you put into it. You can't expect the school to raise your children for you.. which seems to be common nowadays. Orange is approximately 30-45 minutes to Charlottesville and 20 minutes to Culpeper. For work, you'd be best off checking out University of Virginia in Charlottesville. Anything north of Charlottesville is nice. I wouldn't dare live south of it. Check out these towns.. Ivy, Crozet and Gordonsville. I highly recommend staying in Albermarle County (the county Charlottesville is in) or checking out Orange County.