Young couple considering moving to Hampton Roads area from NYC! (Virginia Beach: oceanfront, to rent)

[Mpya Nia]

Hi everyone!

My boyfriend (25) and I(24) are looking to leave NYC and never look back! ( Well maybe just visit a few times a year. but no desire to live here anymore) We both were born and raised here and I lived in DC for four years for my undergrad. We are just done with NYC. We both enjoy our time upstate NY with family that is in a very rural area. Not only is it ridiculously expensive to still live here, but we both have family dramas that we are trying to escape and moving a few hundred miles away just became clear to us to relieve that unnecessary stress.

We are going to explore the area next weekend for a few days to get more of a feel for it. I have read a lot of the threads on here and a lot of the negativity seems to stem from HR not being like a place such as NYC or another big city, which is why we are considering it! Just time for a change and different pace.

My concerns are the job market that is so spoken about or matter the lack of a decent job market unless you are military/medical/government. My boyfriend is a cable supervisor and up here they make about $48k. I understand that we get paid more up here in NY, but still we are hoping that he could make at least $35-40k down there. I work in financial services for an insurance company, which also has an office in VAB, but as a commissioned based job relying mostly on your network, building that business would take me some time until I am more established in the area as I know only two people that are currently there. In the meantime I am going to apply for local jobs, hopefully having a Bachelors will secure me a job making at least $25k-$30k until I build up a clientele in the insurance/financial planning business. May be a silly question- but can someone looking to move to the area still apply for city jobs if they are not residents as of yet?

By the way I love being by the beach. NY beaches aren't nice, but I am about 20min from the nicer beaches in Long Island and that is another main reason why I am considering HR. We are looking to move sooner rather than later, if one or both of us can secure a job fairly quick we would be ready to go then.

Any thoughts on securing a regular job down there while still being states away? Also on neighborhoods that we should look that are not near the hustle and bustle of the "city" down there? Just thoughts on moving down there from a big city ( and loving the fact that it is not a big city) would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance

[artistatheart]

In general, HR has a more suburban than urban feel, so you probably won't be too bothered by hustle and bustle. Norfolk is the most "city-ish" of all the areas. We live in Newport News, and, for the first few months we lived here, kept wondering where the "city" was.

Will you definitely be working in VAB? If so, you'll want to stay on the south side of the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel (HRBT) since commuting through the various tunnels in the area can be a hassle. Virginia Beach is (obviously) closest to the Atlantic Ocean beaches, but there are also Chesapeake Bay beaches and river beaches scattered throughout the area that can be nice. Virginia Beach, from what I've seen, has very few "bad" areas, so it's mostly a matter of coming and choosing where you like most. If you want a more rural feel, there's Chesapeake, and, as I said earlier, if you want something closer to what you're used to in the city, Norfolk has the most urban feel. From what I've heard, Ghent is a nice area of Norfolk, but, I'm sure that there are others on here who are more familiar with the area and can you give other suggestions.

Good luck! I'm an Albany native. My family has been here for four years now, and we love living in Hampton Roads.

[Octa]

You should consider Richmond over Hampton Roads. The negativity doesn't stem from it not being a big city, it stems this area having a lot of the negatives associated with a metro region without center. As someone already mentioned, Norfolk is the only city with a downtown area, but it doesn't have a lot going for it with the other municipalities are already competing with each other creating gridlock. The area is HEAVILY reliant on military/DoD spending which provides most of the jobs in the metro. Richmond on the other hand is a medium sized city and between Nova, Hampton Roads, and Richmond, it has the least amount of traffic and you can afford to rent/buy throughout the metro without breaking the bank including the downtown neighborhoods minus the most expensive houses on Monument Ave. Virginia Beach on the other hand is the most expensive municipality here and it's just a giant suburb.

[Mpya Nia]

Thank you both so much for your comments!

@artist- I do not have a definite steady job lined up, but I am looking at jobs all throughout the area. I don't mind not being right in va beach, just so long as I can have a twenty to thirty minute drive to the water and I am content :-). I am staying in Chesapeake when I visit next weekend so I will definitely explore it as I prefer the rural area with a big town- within a half hr to hr drive away. I guess it will be more narrowed down when I get a steady pay job! Hopefully sooner rather than later. I think it would be easier for my boyfriend to get work down there, but we would need both incomes to support us and we wouldn't move until jobs were secured. Would you move back to Albany ?

@Octa- In terms of Norfolk not really having a lot going for it, what would make it better? I think we are ready to do away with big city things. We are considering maybe a suburb of Richmond, but would prefer to be closer to the water. I like the location of Virginia, where I can drive back to NY to visit and down south to visit and it not be too tiresome on me. Richmond is not completely out of the picture though if I can get a better paying job there, but not looking to move to another city. Just a big town or suburb

[TN Lily]

I agree with Octa. My husband's job brought us to Newport News. We both wish he had been sent to Richmond. The weather here is awful. The traffic is awful. The cost of living is high. I realize I am on the Peninsula and you are looking at Virginia Beach. And yes, there are good things here that I enjoy. But when we can move, we're out of this place.

With all due respect to the military presence here, if we go to a beach, we head to the outer banks of NC. Listening to screeching military jets is not the background noise I want at the beach. I do not love jet noise. I hear it everyday here in Newport News.

My advice is to NOT move to the Hampton Roads area of Virginia unless one of you has a job paying enough to support the two of you. The job market here is tight. Earlier this year, my husband's employer hired a secretary. The job offered good pay (i.e., a living wage), health insurance & a retirement plan. There were roughly 200 applications, many with MBAs. And the employer is a small non-profit, it's not a big well-known corporate entity. I was shocked at how many over-qualified people applied for this job.

I have relatives who live in the Richmond area --- Glen Allen & Midlothian -- and love it.

[thesolution]

Have you considered Raleigh, NC? That would be my first choice if I wanted to move to this region.

[artistatheart]

Originally Posted by GetmeoutofNYC

Would you move back to Albany ?

Whether we would move back to Albany is a tricky question. The short answer is no, because my husband doesn't really like it there (he refers to as "the coldest place on earth"). But, having been away for more than seven years, I'm beginning to feel the pull of family and friends (all my best friends--still--are northerners) and it's beginning to become more probable that we'll move north again someday. Really, though, if I could move everybody down here, that would be my more preferred option. I really love the weather here (much earlier and less muddy springs, long summers and beautiful autumns followed by short, mild--but still too cold by my standards--winters). And I really love being close to a warm weather ocean beach (if you get a chance while you're here, check out Sandbridge Beach in addition to the oceanfront--it's less crowded and a lot less commercial). I find the drive to Albany grueling (but I'm doing it--often solo--with four kids under ten, so that obviously factors in), and, sometimes, I think I would move back just to avoid having to make the trek twice a year.

So, to answer your question (sort of) we will probably move back up north again someday, but probably not to Albany--and, really, mostly because I miss my Mommy.

[Octa]

Originally Posted by GetmeoutofNYC

@Octa- In terms of Norfolk not really having a lot going for it, what would make it better? I think we are ready to do away with big city things. We are considering maybe a suburb of Richmond, but would prefer to be closer to the water. I like the location of Virginia, where I can drive back to NY to visit and down south to visit and it not be too tiresome on me. Richmond is not completely out of the picture though if I can get a better paying job there, but not looking to move to another city. Just a big town or suburb

Outside of DC up north, there aren't any big cities in Virginia so there's nothing really to worry about in that department. As for what would make Norfolk better, I think better cooperation by the different municipalities and less reliance on the military would be a start. There's a lot of poverty in Norfolk and not a lot of decent paying jobs to go around and as a result there are no neighborhoods in transition.

Richmond is only an hour away from Hampton Roads and locals in Richmond hang out at the River at different locations when they want to get in the water. I prefer that much better to being close to the beach since I don't have to worry about damages from hurricanes and flooding. I wouldn't rule out Richmond without first checking it out. Henrico is rated on of the best school districts in the state, the traffic is nowhere near as bad as Hampton Roads, and it's a lot easier to travel in and out of the city if you ever want to go there for something. Richmond is much more similar to the cities in upstate New York than a big city such as NYC.

[Geork]

Just to chime in as well, I have to agree that the negativity doesn't come from it "not being a city" in fact HR has all the downside of a city. My complaints, and I feel the complaints of many others, is that the incredibly suburban nature of this region makes it paradoxically incredibly city-like in its down sides. Most people who live here are making a cost/benefit decision that usually has lots of financial benefits. Like Oklahoma, N/S Dakota, etc. the unemployment rate here is really low, b/c if people aren't PAID to be here, they leave. Don't underestimate the impact this has on the lifestyle you're going to have here. Personally, my family is taking a 30-40% pay cut to be able to move out.

Good luck!

[Octa]

I also forgot to add that Richmond has a lot of fortune 500 companies that you could find work with.