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Why not look at Summersville? It has a lake, so you would have the water activities like on the Eastern Shore, and perhaps your hubby can get a job there with the Army Corp or Engineers. They run the lake and take care of the flood control. Gov job! Summersville has just about everything you need, not all the things you want, but you can go to Becley, Mtown or Charleston for that stuff. Housing is affordable, and it is a NICE area.
I am not trying to be rude but I would stay away from Wheeling. My husband grew up there. Only from living there do you know the "truth" about it. We have friends there and there are some nice areas but make sure you don't take a wrong turn. I know you will have that in most towns but I would refrain from Wheeling.
Morgantown is nice. I lived there for years. Only move there if you don't mind living in a college town. Stores are always packed and there is usually a lot of traffic. Also, property there is pretty expensive but was appreciating 15% per year when I lived there in 2005. The economy has not really hurt Morgantown. My old boss just sold his $140k home purchased 8 years prior for $280 k with only basic upkeep. Good areas are Suncrest and Cheat Lake.
I live in Parkersburg. There are a lot of "plants" around here. We have two hospitals and are an hour from Charleston which has a bigger airport. (You can fly out of here if you don't mind small planes) We are minutes from Marietta, OH which is a nice area as well. Most desirable areas are Vienna and Williamstown. Real estate has stayed stable here. Property values constant just more homes on the market and a little more market time. Not much. There are several things to do with good schools all around. Low crime.
I am from a small town in Ohio and feel very comfortable here.
Since most state jobs are probably in state captials, that may put you in the Charleston area. As someone who just passes through that area, the city itself looked impressive to have only 50,000 residents. The area between Huntington and Charleston looked like a nice mix of rural and suburban. Just from dealing with workers in restaurants and gas stations off the interstate, the people in that region seemed very nice.
I know more about the north-central part of the state. My oldest daughter is attending WVU in Morgantown and she loves the college as well as the city. I like that region as well. It spans from Clarksburg north to Morgantown. She planned to move to Pittsburgh after she was finished with WVU, but she wants to stay in the Morgantown area. There are plenty of rural areas just outside of Morgantown also. The other cities in the area, Fairmont and Clarksburg, seemed a little more blue-collar, but still friendly and down home.
I am not trying to be rude but I would stay away from Wheeling. My husband grew up there. Only from living there do you know the "truth" about it. We have friends there and there are some nice areas but make sure you don't take a wrong turn. I know you will have that in most towns but I would refrain from Wheeling.
Morgantown is nice. I lived there for years. Only move there if you don't mind living in a college town. Stores are always packed and there is usually a lot of traffic. Also, property there is pretty expensive but was appreciating 15% per year when I lived there in 2005. The economy has not really hurt Morgantown. My old boss just sold his $140k home purchased 8 years prior for $280 k with only basic upkeep. Good areas are Suncrest and Cheat Lake.
I live in Parkersburg. There are a lot of "plants" around here. We have two hospitals and are an hour from Charleston which has a bigger airport. (You can fly out of here if you don't mind small planes) We are minutes from Marietta, OH which is a nice area as well. Most desirable areas are Vienna and Williamstown. Real estate has stayed stable here. Property values constant just more homes on the market and a little more market time. Not much. There are several things to do with good schools all around. Low crime.
I am from a small town in Ohio and feel very comfortable here.
I keep seeing posts all over this forum that make Wheeling out to be a crime-infested dump. I was born and raised there and can tell you it's not listed as one of the top 20 safest areas in America for no reason. Unless you plan on driving around aimlessly in East Wheeling or walking around the tracks on Wheeling Island at 1 am on a Saturday you're fine. In other words, unless you're looking for trouble in Wheeling you're not going to find it. I would highly recommend for the original poster to go check out the city for yourself. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.
I was mainly talking about how Wheeling is rather economically depressed (as are a lot of areas in the state), I know there are people who say otherwise but you cannot convince it isn't when you look at population stats and see the Wheeling area has gone from 186,000 people in 1976 to 147,000 in 2006. Wheeling, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area (CBSA) Population and Components of Change As for the crime, there are VERY few areas in WV that have serious crime problems to worry about, I grew up in Charleston and people act like there is nothing short of gang warfare going on there, its ridiculous i have NEVER felt unsafe in Charleston. I'm sure you feel exactly the same way about Wheeling with regard to the alleged crime.
Last edited by NOVAmtneer82; 01-16-2008 at 10:42 PM..
yeah I was going to say the same thing......wheeling from all I have read has low crime. I found it online under the top small cities with low crime and relatively low cost of living.
I was mainly talking about how Wheeling is rather economically depressed (as are a lot of areas in the state), I know there are people who say otherwise but you cannot convince it isn't when you look at population stats and see the Wheeling area has gone from 186,000 people in 1976 to 147,000 in 2006. Wheeling, WV-OH Metropolitan Statistical Area (CBSA) Population and Components of Change As for the crime, there are VERY few areas in WV that have serious crime problems to worry about, I grew up in Charleston and people act like there is nothing short of gang warfare going on there, its ridiculous i have NEVER felt unsafe in Charleston. I'm sure you feel exactly the same way about Wheeling with regard to the alleged crime.
Yeah definitely. You're right on the money with your post too. A lot of people base their opinions on a few things they hear on the six o'clock news once a month or have superficial, non-substantiated, opinions of many places here. As you said, very very few places in WV have a crime issue, ESPECIALLY when compared to other states and cities.
Last edited by SteelersFan09; 01-17-2008 at 11:24 AM..
Reason: clarity
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WV Towns
