Possible move from NH to VA (Chesapeake, Richmond: fit in, high crime, homes)

[Declan's Dad]

My wife and I are considering moving to Virginia. We currently live in NH. NH is a great place to live between May and October but the rest of the year it's a frozen hell. I'm not kidding. If you don't enjoy skiiig, snowmobiling or something like that you might as well lay down and hiberanate until May the day after Halloween up here. We're tired of the snow, cold and huge heating bills. We have two children under the age of two. We are conservative (the libertarian/fiscal kind more so than the religious kind), much more so than the average New Englander. My wife is a nurse and I am in IT.

We went to VA a few years back and parts of it seems nice. We stayed outside Lexington and visited some towns near there. I specifically remember going to a little town called Buena Vista. It was a little town in the mountains about 5 blocks wide, kinda odd. We didn't really care so much for that area of VA but then we went to Monticello and the area around there and Charlottsville seemed to be nice. We like areas that our suburban to rural yet within commuting distance (45 minutes) to cities or areas with job opportunities that are good for raising families (safe, decent schools etc)


SO basically I have all the typical relocation questions for you guys.

What's the IT/nurse job market like?

What's the culture like compared to New England.

What's the weather like? I take it your winters are much milder than ours. How are the summers?

What are some nice towns to live in?

What does a nice 3 bedroom home go for? Property taxes?

Anything else about VA I need to know?

Is there a lot of crime?


Any advice you may have to offer will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[wnewberry22]

Originally Posted by Declan's Dad

My wife and I are considering moving to Virginia. We currently live in NH. NH is a great place to live between May and October but the rest of the year it's a frozen hell. I'm not kidding. If you don't enjoy skiiig, snowmobiling or something like that you might as well lay down and hiberanate until May the day after Halloween up here. We're tired of the snow, cold and huge heating bills. We have two children under the age of two. We are conservative (the libertarian/fiscal kind more so than the religious kind), much more so than the average New Englander. My wife is a nurse and I am in IT.

We went to VA a few years back and parts of it seems nice. We stayed outside Lexington and visited some towns near there. I specifically remember going to a little town called Buena Vista. It was a little town in the mountains about 5 blocks wide, kinda odd. We didn't really care so much for that area of VA but then we went to Monticello and the area around there and Charlottsville seemed to be nice. We like areas that our suburban to rural yet within commuting distance (45 minutes) to cities or areas with job opportunities that are good for raising families (safe, decent schools etc)


SO basically I have all the typical relocation questions for you guys.

What's the IT/nurse job market like?

What's the culture like compared to New England.

What's the weather like? I take it your winters are much milder than ours. How are the summers?

What are some nice towns to live in?

What does a nice 3 bedroom home go for? Property taxes?

Anything else about VA I need to know?

Is there a lot of crime?


Any advice you may have to offer will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance

Well...If you're conservative you'll fit in basically everywhere except the artsy-fartsy parts of Richmond and NOVA...I think you'll be very happy in VA...I'll address the questions you asked below:

-IT/Nurse market jobs are probably average for the rest of the country. I'd imagine a nurse could find work anywhere and IT positions aren't that hard to come by either. It really depends on which part of VA you're looking at though. You'll find the most job opportunity in NOVA but it's also the most expensive and the most liberal. Most Virginians know that NOVA departed from the state culturally long ago...IMO it's basically like NJ suburb these days. Eastern VA and Central VA (where you were before) will probably have a good market for the positions you listed. SW Virginia (where I grew up) won't be great for the IT market I wouldn't think with exception to Roanoke or the Tri-Cities area of TN/VA but your wife will have no trouble finding work.

-Culture: Again, it depends on where you go. NOVA culture is essentially northeastern IMO. Once you get out of the NOVA suburbs you will encounter a culture much more southern in nature. You'll definitely detect accents and the food is southern as well. IMO people are very nice and very welcoming. We're typically very proud of VA's history (and we should be!). We've got tons of battlefields, great historical architecture, amazing plantations, and tons of museums/galleries....so again...the biggest thing is where you want to live...I'd be happy to be more specific if you tell me where you are looking at buying.

-Weather: Yep...winters are a hell of a lot more mild regardless of which section of the state you're in. SW Virginia can get a lot of snow because the elevation but it still won't hold a light to what you're probably used to. The summers can get pretty rough in Southside, Eastern, and Central VA in particular. It's can be very very humid.

-Towns to live in: I personally am quite fond of Southwestern area in VA so I'll give some suggestions there first. Look at Abingdon, VA, Roanoke, VA, or Blacksburg, VA. All the areas are very nice with tons of activities and cultural musings to engage in. The mountains of Central Appalachia are really amazing to check out in the fall as well. If you want to stay in central VA look at Charlottesville, Staunton, Harrisonburg, or Crozet. Eastern VA I would check out Chesapeake, Williamsburg, Yorktown, or Gloucester. If you are leaning at NOVA...I personally would only go for Winchester because it's the most affordable and the least congested (although Winchester, while being the most geographically northern VA town isn't technically considered apart of the cultural No. Virgina area....weird, right?)

-3 bedroom homes can vary TONS in price from NOVA to SWVA. A 3BR/3BTH home in NOVA in a nice town can be 500k (likely more). In SWVA or Central VA you'd be looking in the 225k ballpark. I don't recall the exact tax percentages but it's not too bad...especially compared to New England.

-Anything else to know: Yeah...the cops on the interstate are hella bad...watch out on I-81!

-Crime: Again, depends on the area. Richmond and Eastern VA are probably the most high crime areas. Nova, Swva, and Central VA aren't too bad. I think Southside may be a little rough in some parts too (like around Danville or South Boston.)