Relocating to newportnews? (Newport News, Hampton, Williamsburg: low crime, house, transfer to)

[kahlessw]

Hi,

I work for a company in New Jersey and was just offered a Transfer to Newportnews working for the same company. The dilemma I'm facing is I was looking at the crime data for Newportnews and it is a little unnerving. The town I live in now has had 0 murders in over 20 years. Newport news has had 150 in 8 years! The crime index is 57 in my town an over 400 in newport news. Is it really that bad down there???

I want this promotion but not if it means putting my family at risk. Can anyone that lives down there give me a better picture of what it is like down there and let me know what towns are safe I'm willing to commute.

Eric

[damian]

The crime varies greatly depending on what part of newport news you are in. The East End is where the majority of the crime occurs as well as the homicides, and parts of Denbigh can be rough, however for the most part stay away from the East End. Neighborhoods which are very nice in NN include Hilton, Riverside, Hidenwood, Menchville, Port Warwick and Kiln Creek to name a few. These neighborhoods are very nice, family orientated and safe. If you want to commute, York county and James City County are a short distance away.

Where is your job located in NN? Are schools a concern. for the most part NN is not as bad as people make it out to be, you have to know which areas to avoid.

[kahlessw]

I work for Canon and it is in NN not sure of exact location. Yes schools are a big concern my children are between 5-15. Thank you for the information I realize you cannot go by statistics alone.

[Alanboy395]

Originally Posted by kahlessw

Hi,

I work for a company in New Jersey and was just offered a Transfer to Newportnews working for the same company. The dilemma I'm facing is I was looking at the crime data for Newportnews and it is a little unnerving. The town I live in now has had 0 murders in over 20 years. Newport news has had 150 in 8 years! The crime index is 57 in my town an over 400 in newport news. Is it really that bad down there???

I want this promotion but not if it means putting my family at risk. Can anyone that lives down there give me a better picture of what it is like down there and let me know what towns are safe I'm willing to commute.

Eric

i used to stay in hampton/NN for 12 years and have an uncle who lives in NN. the crime was a problem but it didn't affect me or my uncle much b/c we made sure the parts of town we lived were safe. i lived close to York Co. and Langley and my uncle lives in a sfh in denbigh. we never had any major crime issues. granted Hampton and NN have rough areas but it ain't all bad. If you are concerned about schools you should try to make York Co. your destination. Hampton/NN have some ok schools but YC schools are head and shoulders better. York Co. has low prop. taxes but the house values are a lot higher than hampton/NN. So you should look @ York Co for the best in that area.

[damian]

Canon is in the oyster point section of the city, which has become NN's central business district. It is also a stones throw from York county, which has some of the best schools in the state. York county has some expensive housing which may be a problem. Kiln Creek, which is a great neighborhood is in both Newport news and York County, is literally across the street from canon.

[irisheyes13]

Newport News does have some areas you will want to stay away from and you will have no reason to be there. Cannon is very close to the Yorktown border with Newport News and as others have mentioned, York County and closley located Poquoson have excellent schools and communities. Both the Tabb and Grafton schools in York county are great and you can check them out on line. This is a great area.

[Stonecoldharbours]

York county, Williamsburg, Toano and New Kent County, if you can't afford those, then check out Glouestor or Smithfield, and be sure to visit Hampton Roads first, trust me on this.

[tiffani]

We just moved from the Denbigh area of Newport News down to Georgia, just 2 weeks ago. The main reason for our relocation was because of the Newport News school system. My daughter is due to start kindergarden in the Fall and I didn't dare put her in the school we were zoned for.

If we had $400,000 to spend on a home, it would have been a no brainer to move to York County and raise the kids there, but quite frankly, that was just out of our price range, as I'm a stay at home Mom expecting our 4th child.

Hampton Roads is a great place to live. I spent the last 16 years there and like I said, if we could have afforded to stay, we would have. You have beaches, mountains, parks, shopping and restaurants galore! People are friendly and the area is really growing.

There are bad parts of Newport News where I would never even consider driving through in broad daylight. That would pretty much include all of downtown Newport News. Good thing about that is, it's easily avoided!

In a nut shell, I'd seriously consider the move if I were you, I just wouldn't live in Newport News if you can afford to live in York County, Poquoson, Williamsburg or James City County. All have excellent schools, low crime, and are short commutes (under 30 minutes) to Canon.

Virginia really is a beautiful place to live!

Good luck, and if you have any other questions, feel free to send me a PM. Like I said, I'm very familiar with the area.