where to live in VA ? (Hampton, Roanoke: for sale, real estate, to rent)

[smillisa]

My husband and I have both lived in Va out entire lives. He from the Harrisonburg area and myself from Smithfield, VA. We have lived in NOVA and are currently living in Harrisonburg, VA. We are in search for the perfect place to live that meets all of our "wish list" criteria and we cannot figure out where that is so if anyone has advice for us PLEASE help.
My husband is a remote employ for a company in NOVA so we can live anywhere but he must be able to go into the office every now and then. I am a stay at home mom with two toddlers. We found NOVA too fast-paced and traffic a MAJOR headache. Harrisonburg is the complete opposite, very slow with not much to do.
In two words we are looking for a NOVA "light". We are looking for a place driving distance to the beach or decent body of water. A place where the main street is quaint but not too "small town". We want the friendly attitude of southern areas but DO NOT want to move to the Hampton Roads area. We would like to stay in VA because both of our families are in this state and we want our children to know their grandparents. We are open to MD or NC but we don't know anything about the states.
We have put our home up for sale and have intentions of moving to the Chesterfield, VA area but are not completely sold.
This perfect place may not exist but if anyone has lived in such a place as we are looking for or has advice as to where to even look that would be of great help.
Thanks!

[GolfLover2]

smillisa:
Have you considered the Lexington, VA area? It's home to two universities (Washington-Lee and Virginia Military Institute) and is an absolutely beautiful town. The whole area is just filled to overflowing with history. The downtown is quaint and historical, but offers a good mix of businesses, as does the outer perimeter of the town. The mountains provide scenery and athletic options. With major highways available, proximity to all the state (as well as West Virginia and North Carolina) is handy.
Our son attended VMI and we loved our many visits there while he was in attendance. I cannot say enough about the wonderful education and experiences he earned and enjoyed while in Lexington. The people were always unbelievably friendly and gracious. Please visit and consider the area for your upcoming home. Best of luck to you and your family ...

[smillisa]

Thank you for the suggestion! I've never been to Lexington but haven't really looked in that area because we were looking for a place that wasn't in the mountainous regions. We love the charm of New England towns but are not fans of the New England winters.

[540_804]

Have you thought about Roanoke, VA?
I would say its a nice intermediate between NOVA and Harrisonburg (I was just in Harrisonburg today incidentally).

It has all of the amenities of a bigger city but less traffic. It's downtown area is 'quaint' but, still, has everything you would expect in a bigger place (nice coffee shops, theaters, museums, farmers' market, etc).

It surrounded by the Blue Ridge Mountains but you're not actually in the mountains.

Its also about 20mins to 1hr (depending on which way you go) to Smith Mountain Lake which is the 2nd largest body of water in VA

The only downside is that its quite far from NOVA (depending on your definition of far; considering you say you are open to NC it may not be that far). I guess that would depend on how often you had to commute to NOVA and exactly where in NOVA the company was located. Roanoke to DC is about 4 hours so you can use that as a guide.


Also, you may want to check out Charlottesville VA.

[smillisa]

Thanks for the suggestions. We had considered Charlottesville but haven't been able to find a house in our price range that we fell in love with. For now we are going to rent in Harrisonburg and continue looking. We think Harrisonburg is a great place to raise our kids but just still lacking the easy access to things to do that we see in large cities. (ie NOVA) We are curious about Boston because we hear so many great things about it but are scared of the winters. We have never been so that is on the list of places to visit. Thanks again!

[clintsullivan]

Check out the Northern Shenenadoah Valley if it's not too far from your relatives.
Here in Jefferson County WV we have all of what you're looking for. Easy commut to NoVa, especially easy if you can set the schedule. Small towns like Shepherdstown, Harpers Ferry, & Charles Town, yet still only about 35 minutes to larger cities like Frederick MD, Leesburg VA & Winchester VA. It takes about 1 1/4 hour to get downtown DC for museums & shows etc. And, we have lower taxes and are still rural.
If you prefer to stay in VA Winchester or Berryville are good although taxes & real estate prices are a little higher than here in WV.