What am I missing? Looking to relocate to VB or chesapeake... (Virginia Beach: oceanfront, houses)

[aewenger]

We are hear on a house hunting trip. We are trying to find a place to live and I am not loving anything? The neighborhoods are strange. Some houses are kept nice next to ones that seem run down. If I pay for a $300,000 for a house I'd like to live in a neighborhood where people have pride in their homes. And the schools...the rating are so different from one street to the next. Where exactly is a nice place to live? The traffic here is insane so we would want an area that has everything we need without having to get on a highway. My husband thinks Suffolk is the answer but I have only heard bad things about that area.

[TheJagMan]

Where will the both of you be working? If you think the traffic is bad you should avoid going through any tunnels on your commute.

[CrazyTed]

Would help if we knew where you were working to suggest where to live. As for nicer neighborhoods, I live in Courthouse Estates off North Landing Road in Virginia Beach. Plenty of what you need around here. Even a WalMart within 10 minutes.

[Daisy50]

Hickory and Great Bridge are considered to be the best school districts in Chesapeake. If you live in either of those places and work in VB, Portsmouth or downtown the commute might be a hassle. But there is a fairly wide variety of price points in those areas as well. Because of the school districts the houses tend to hold their value and attract families with young children. I've commuted from the Hickory area for the last 9 years-we are only a few miles from NC border. Traffic can be heavy and slow moving but I've seen worse. If you go to the Chesapeake public school website there is a district map that will show you what neighborhoods feed into Hickory and Great Bridge schools.

It depends what you want to be close to-it can be an oddly long drive to get to the beach, and a 15 minute drive to get to McArthur center mall if you time it right. But we have the basics out here-Target, Walmart, a couple of decent supermarkets, some non-chain restaurants...for everything else we go to Norfolk or VB. And you eventually learn the back roads!

You're about two weeks too late-I could have sold you my house-we're moving to Florida.

[kakers]

There are some quite nice areas of Suffolk, and the prices of homes tend to be a little less. I don't have the names of specific neighborhoods for you, though. There are also some really nice neighborhoods in the Western Branch section of Chesapeake. It all depends on what you want out of the area, if you don't mind being farther away from things like the oceanfront and ghent, then suffolk or western branch are your best bets IMO. I'm in love with some of the neighborhoods there, nice houses with big yards! But I need to be close to the oceanfront so I wouldn't be happy living there. It's a trade off. The other areas that have been mentioned are also nice, as well, I think the areas in western branch and suffolk though tend to cost a bit less for the equivalent, at least as compared to courthouse estates. Keep looking!

~Katy

[marnay]

Grassfield HS district in Chesapeake has the highest rating at this time. Hickory and Great Bridge are also very highly rated. Depending on where you work Chesapeake can be very centrally located.

I lived in Suffolk for 10 years and while I enjoyed the area in terms of being a bit out in the country, the schools left a lot to be desired. We moved to Chesapeake 4 years ago and have been very happy here.

[Spazkat9696]

You seem to be moving to a lot of different places looking at your past posts.

[Suffolk2010]

Originally Posted by aewenger

We are hear on a house hunting trip. We are trying to find a place to live and I am not loving anything? The neighborhoods are strange. Some houses are kept nice next to ones that seem run down. If I pay for a $300,000 for a house I'd like to live in a neighborhood where people have pride in their homes. And the schools...the rating are so different from one street to the next. Where exactly is a nice place to live? The traffic here is insane so we would want an area that has everything we need without having to get on a highway. My husband thinks Suffolk is the answer but I have only heard bad things about that area.

North Suffolk is excellent. Plenty of middle class to upper middle class/wealthy neighborhoods. And from the area, you're basically 30 mins out from NN, Hampton, Chesapeake, Norfolk, and right next to the Churchland area of Portsmouth. The schools are average, however there is a good private school here.

For good areas to look at, if your family is still searching;

-Anything along Rt 17/Bridge Rd in the Northern Corridor of Suffolk.
-Anything along Bennetts Pasture Rd.
-The neighborhoods along Sleepy Hole Rd, before Kings Hwy are solid. The ones right next to the Sleepy Hole Park are really nice.
-Basically, anything in the Bennetts Creek area.
-The Riverfront along Harbour View. As a matter of fact, anything along Harbour View.

[aewenger]

Originally Posted by Spazkat9696

You seem to be moving to a lot of different places looking at your past posts.

My husband has been laid off for several months. He had a job in the Philly area and it didn't work out long term.

We are willing to relocate and I research the heck out of a place before going so I know what I am looking at when I get there.

It has been a frustrating process and wish he could locate a job close to home but that has not been the case.

I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to help me/educate me on different areas.

Unfortunately he wasn't offered the job in VB. So off to research some more. Praying this scary time of uncertainty ends soon.

[TheJagMan]

Originally Posted by aewenger

I appreciate everyone who has taken the time to help me/educate me on different areas.

You're welcome.

Originally Posted by aewenger

Praying this scary time of uncertainty ends soon.

Quit praying and make something happen