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Relocating from Central Virginia for simpler life in West Virginia, job transfer, Verizon Telephone Company, good neighborhoods, low crime rate, weather, area shopping
Hello, my wife and I are looking into relocating to west Virginia to live a simpler life and raise our 3yr. old son the way he deserves to be raised. I currently work for the Verizon Telephone Company in Richmond and have recently put in a transfer request for the Charleston area. We have done a little research and looked at homes in Cross Lanes, Beckley, Milton, Charleston and now Hurricane. Richmond is not exactly a big city by any means, but does offer alot of amenities. So far, Hurricane seems more like the place where we have told each other we would like to end up. As stated, we are looking for a simple lifestyle where we can afford to do the things we love and to provide for our son properly as Richmond is a bit pricy. If anyone has any information regarding neighborhood's (we are currently looking for new const.), school's, crime, weather etc. It will be greatly appreciated as we have never made a move like this and it is a little intimidating and we prefer to make the right move first. Thank you all for any replies in advance.
Last edited by leaving VA.?; 01-15-2009 at 01:32 PM..
When people talk about Teays Valley they generally include Hurricane. Don't forget to also look at the town of Winfield. Roughly twentyfive years ago Teays Valley/Putnam County was farmland "out in the sticks". Then about 20 years ago it started becoming a bedroom community for Chas.
Have you visited the area or just looked online? If you have been there, you can see there has been an ENORMOUS amount of development in the last 20 years. There are a lot of nice neighborhoods. I have not heard of any to stay away from. There is also a lot of brand new construction. Basically, you just need to drive around going to open houses or go with a real estate agent. One of the nicer new developments in the area is called Cobblestone. For new construction, my guess is you are looking at between $350 - $650 for a house.
If you have not visited the area, you need to do so and don't be surprised if you have to go down a windy country road to get to a new development.
The area is very safe. You will never find a crime-free area on the planet but I have never heard of a stay-away-from area in Teays Valley.
Schools have a rep for being excellent. They were overcrowded and had to put up temp buildings but that may have already been addressed.
Area has shopping, restaurants, etc. Plus, you are roughly half way between Charleston and the Barboursville Mall, etc. in Huntington.
Lots of young couples with kids in Teays.
Weather - there can be pretty good humidity in the summer, there can be a good bit of snow in the winter. It just varies from year to year. The are does not get the snows like in the mountains of WV.
Also see posts about Charleston, I think we talked about the weather, etc. on those posts.
Things to watch for in buying a house:
Be wary of a house in a narrow area between two hills/mountains especially if a creek is running close behind your house - if it rains hard, you may get flooding.
Also, investigate the road to your house and see if it is prone to flooding
Before buying a house, I would check with the Planning Commission to get info on whether it floods in your neighborhood.
Putnam County has a history of flooding in certain area (not all). The County has regs is place to help control it, but there are parts of the county where it is just the nature of the beast and all the construction has not helped it any.
Rush hour traffic is probably nothing to you, but just know that traffic can certainly line up on I-64 during rush hour near the bridge near Dunbar. They are upgrading the bridge which will help a lot -- not sure when it will be done. It seems like 80% of the people who live in Teays work in Chas - but it is probably not really that high.
When people talk about Teays Valley they generally include Hurricane. Don't forget to also look at the town of Winfield. Roughly twenty five years ago Teays Valley/Putnam County was farmland "out in the sticks". Then about 20 years ago it started becoming a bedroom community for Chas.
Have you visited the area or just looked online? One of the nicer new developments in the area is called Cobblestone. For new construction, my guess is you are looking at between $350 - $650 for a house.
If you have not visited the area, you need to do so and don't be surprised if you have to go down a windy country road to get to a new development.
Things to watch for in buying a house:
Be wary of a house in a narrow area between two hills/mountains especially if a creek is running close behind your house - if it rains hard, you may get flooding.
Also, investigate the road to your house and see if it is prone to flooding
Before buying a house, I would check with the Planning Commission to get info on whether it floods in your neighborhood.
thank you for all the information. as far as the new construction, do you mean $350k-$650k purchase price? if so, we are looking for more of the $100k-$170k range. We have mainly looked online and found a couple of homes on Emerald Drive somewhere in Hurricane that is new consrtuction. anybody have any ideas of the area that may be in? my wife and I have discussed a trip to check out a few different areas, but not sure when that will take place.
When homes in Putnam County started booming, everybody and his brother got in the building/development industry there and built pretty fancy houses - yea, in the range of $350-$650 purchase price. While the market is still strong in the area, that price-range boom has slowed down.
I have heard of a couple developers who were building more affordable priced homes.
Looked online at the houses on Emerald listed at the Old Colony website. Wow, I am shocked - I did not know you could buy a new construction home for the low - mid $100's in the greater Kanawha area. They are selling for less than $100 per square foot. My bet is they get snatched up pretty quick. They are in a development called McClure Estates.
Just looked at them on the Family First site. OK I think this is making more sense.....
I know a lot of builders leave the inside undone so the buyer can pick out carpet, etc. However, the finishing inside is included in the price of the house and the builder completes the house.
I could be totally wrong, but I think the houses on Emerald Drive are not finished, the builder is selling it "as is", and it will cost additional money to finish the house.
Quote:
HURRICANE- BUILDERS SPECIAL- The hard part has been done, finish the interior to suit your family and make this your custom, dream home. Jetted tub installed in Master bath, exterior 90% complete. So much potential for so little money. 24ft front porch. $136,000 ML121911-K Family First Realty
Here's my guess and I could be TOTALLY wrong - perhaps something has happened and the developer/builder has to sell quickly and before finishing. I'd call the realtor and ask them.
I just know those prices are EXCEPTIONALLY low for a new construction house of that size in the great Kanawha Valley and especially for that area of Putnam County.
Still may be a great deal if it doesn't cost you much to finish it IF indeed you have to pay extra to finish it.
The Elementary School is: Conner Street Elementary
Anyone know anything about that school or area?
Click on Open Houses and you can view the entire guide. Then click on the individual page to get it enlarged.
Mixed in with the Open Houses you can usually also find some developments with new construction. You may have to get the address then hop over to the Old Colony site to check on the price of the home - they don't always list it in the paper.
Hello, my wife and I are looking into relocating to west Virginia to live a simpler life and raise our 3yr. old son the way he deserves to be raised. I currently work for the Verizon Telephone Company in Richmond and have recently put in a transfer request for the Charleston area. We have done a little research and looked at homes in Cross Lanes, Beckley, Milton, Charleston and now Hurricane. Richmond is not exactly a big city by any means, but does offer alot of amenities. So far, Hurricane seems more like the place where we have told each other we would like to end up. As stated, we are looking for a simple lifestyle where we can afford to do the things we love and to provide for our son properly as Richmond is a bit pricy. If anyone has any information regarding neighborhood's (we are currently looking for new const.), school's, crime, weather etc. It will be greatly appreciated as we have never made a move like this and it is a little intimidating and we prefer to make the right move first. Thank you all for any replies in advance.
Well, I know of some lay offs from Verizon two years ago and people were off for a while. They had worked there for years. I don't know if or when they were called back to work. Did you get the xfer? Maybe there was some type of change?
Last edited by Country4life; 01-15-2009 at 09:28 PM..
WOW! okay, we checked out the realtor link and it was a big help. thank you for the information. I also got word earlier this afternoon that my relocation has gone through and it looks like I will be working out of the Poca area starting the 26th. It happened a little faster than I anticipated, but at least I will get a chance to check out the different areas while I'm working and after work thanks to my GPS I'm bringing.
Working in Poca gives you a wide selection of places to live - Poca is easy to get to from I-64.
If you decide you want to live in Poca:
Poca is a very very small town but easy to get to Chas, etc. and very easy to get to the shopping, etc. in CrossLanes
The schools are good, not the rep of Teays Valley schools, but good nontheless.
There is a mix of country and "cityfied" people in Poca.
I'd suggest you take a drive down this area and look at houses to see if anything interests you. There are also some housing developments along this stretch - I'm suggesting them cuz guessing houses would be close to or under $200K and it's a nice area.:
On Rt. 62, there is a stoplight at Poca High School and a gas station across the road. If coming from I-64, turn Right at that light onto Dairy Road. You will pass Scarlet Oaks Golf Course.
Forest Park subdivison is right past that - may or may not be of interest to you. Older homes.
Going further down Dairy Road the roads becomes Poca River Road.
There are a couple subdivisions on the right (forget the names of them). Lot of older homes, some new construction.
Continue down Poca River Road (will hit a bad patch of the road) to the stop sign at the intersection of Doc Bailey Road and Poca River Road. If you take a right, it is 1 mile to CrossLanes. However, before you do that....
Turn left at the intersection crossing over the bridge, the very split second you cross the bridge, turn left into Poplar Point Estates. Poplar Pt is a very small subdivison with a mix of older homes and a sprinkling of newer ones, residents are a mix of older and young. It is a great little neighborhood to raise a family, safe, very friendly neighbors, etc. Houses don't come up for sale very often but they sell quickly when they do. However, 2 houses in the last 2 years came up for sale and they have sold quickly - 1 actually was sold before it went on the market (2 real estate agents live on the street and 1 had a client wanting in the neighborhood). The other house sold within a couple weeks. There are not currently any houses for sale but do know of one which will be for sale in a few months. Heard it will be listed somewhere between $150 - $200. Poplar Point Estates is in Putnam County but some kids in Poplar Pt. do/did go to school in Kanawha County (Cross Lanes).
When you exit Poplar Point, go across the bridge then straight at the stop sign onto Doc Bailey Road. Follow that 1 mile to Rt. 622 (the road through Cross Lanes) then turn Right onto Rt. 622 heading back toward I-64 (at the intersection is a Post Office, Dollar Store, and gas station).
There are several subdivisions in Cross Lanes.
The traffic in CrossLanes can be maddening at rush hour, but the area is actually very convenient.
Heading back to I-64 you will pass Krogers grocery, fast food restaurants, drug stores, etc. then if you go over the interstate bridge instead of getting onto I-64 you come to Wal-Mart, Lowe's, etc.
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