Searching for Walkable Suburban Area Near Local Restaurants & Shops - No Cookie Cutter Crap! (Virginia Beach: transplants, real estate)

[KatieGard]

**Let's pretend I can edit the title to not sound so mean. I'm sorry - I'm going off of 4 hours of sleep because I was up all night perusing zillow, trulia, google maps, etc. Fun stuff.**

So here's the deal. My husband's military (nothing new to you guys there), and after years of wishing and hoping for a move overseas, we're getting stationed at Langley AFB, just 4 hours from where we currently live in Fayetteville, NC. And while I'm looking forward to at least being somewhere different with fun weekend trips nearby (DC, Virginia Beach, etc.), I'm running in circles narrowing down the areas we should look at for housing.

We're early 30's and married 7 years so we're not really craving *urban* (which I don't think really exists around there anyway), but it would be nice to have some fun things nearby (friendly bars, movie theater, etc.). We don't have kids, which makes us a bit of an unusual military couple, so schools aren't really much of an issue. Unless, of course, we buy a home, in which case it would help us re-sell it in the future.

I think I'm finally starting to mentally let go of the idea of finding the type of home we're looking for in kind of a walkable, suburban "village" type atmosphere that's realistic for our budget, so I need your help finding the next best thing. So far, the closest I've seemed to find online is something like Olde Town Portsmouth, but I think that commute to Langley would just be insane. I also found a really pretty neighborhood in Newport News called James Landing that I'm keeping an eye on... Anyone know anything about that? Here's some more info about what we're looking for... Really hoping someone can help me narrow this down!

Would Love to Have:

-Small-ish house in a great location.
-Small-ish house = Okay, I'll admit it. I'm in a bit of sticker shock over how much more expensive that area is than here, considering all of the negative things I hear about Hampton. And if I head away from Hampton towards Williamsburg, prices only get higher. Right now we're very happy in our 1,600 sq. ft. 3 bed/2 bath ranch. It's one of the cheapest homes in a NICE neighborhood, yet it's remodeled with a huge yard. We'd love something like this again, but it's looking to me like we'd be paying double out that way (and his housing allowance, unfortunately, is NOT double what we get now).
-Great location = Near water? Near grocery stores with great produce and organic options (think more Whole Foods or Trader Joe's rather than Food Lion), local restaurants (we love cooking AND going out to eat, but we prefer to support local and stay away from chain restaurants).
-Safe. (Like anyone says they want dangerous? Ha!) I love to be outside and walk the dogs, so a walking friendly community is key.

Would Like to Have:

-Older home - NOT cookie cutter in a new development.
-Single family detached home - NOT a townhouse. This is mainly for our neighbors, not for us, since our dogs might bark occasionally. (If we rent, we'd still consider a townhouse. If we buy, purchasing a townhouse is very unlikely.)
-Fenced yard for the mutts.
-Decent commute to Langley. My husband says he's willing to do a 45-minute commute in exchange for living in our ideal type of area, but obviously for his sanity and the sake of our vehicle, it'd be nice to find something closer than Williamsburg, Portsmouth, or Virginia Beach.

Renting vs/Buying:

-That partially depends on whether we sell our current home (I'm pretty positive we will).
-Would like to rent for simplicity purposes, especially since we'll only be there for three years, however --
-Holy crap have you seen rent prices in decent areas around there?? I think his housing allowance will be around $1,600 and we'd prefer not to go over that. This makes buying an actually more affordable option in today's market, at least short-term. If we DO buy, that would make it imperative that it's in a re-salable area.

Budget:

-Not really positive until we get qualified. We can maybe hover around $250,000 if we're buying, but honestly that's more than I'd like to spend. We don't mind doing a little cosmetic work, as long as it's not already one of the more expensive houses in the neighborhood. I don't know... maybe $1,600 max if we're renting, but I know that will be difficult since we have two dogs and would like a fenced yard.

Thoughts?? Am I being crazy unrealistic? (It's okay - you can give it to me straight.) I guess what I'm looking for is something NOT so military in an area surrounded by military. Totally realistic! I don't mind military families - but the transient lifestyle makes it difficult to find places with lots of local businesses and pride of ownership. And that's what we'd really like to see.

[Coconut1]

Your order is tough considering you're moving to the Cookie Cutter Crap Capital of the Country.

You will hear suggestions for Ghent which is the closest to what you would like; however, the commute will be a nightmare.

You might look at Hilton Village in Newport News. It's very quaint and charming but unfortunately is VERY small. There's a little theater and a few restaurants and shops, but other than that it is just a blip on the map. You might also try downtown Hampton but that can be hit or miss.

You're really best off looking towards Williamsburg. The Williamsburg area is one of the best in the area and depending where you are up there you can check many more of your boxes than you will be able to if you settle in Newport News, Hampton or anywhere on the Southside.

Avoid Portsmouth, lived there, done that and there's absolutely nothing of value in the town. Although Olde Town might look charming from pictures and could be quite nice, the bulk of it is filled with vacant storefronts and unsavory characters.

[KatieGard]

Ha! In a country full of speedy suburban developments, it figures I'd get sent to the capital. Anyway, it's so perfect that the description below your screen name is "Voice of Reason." I needed that right now.

THANK YOU for the heads up on Portsmouth - Olde Town looks so cute in the pictures and there's a gorgeous row home available in our price range, and I was just about ready to sacrifice my husband to the nightmare commute Gods, but it's just not practical -- especially if the area is actually borderline defunct.

It's such a shame, really. I see so much potential everywhere in that area with all of the waterfront land - I'm so sad and surprised there's not more in the way of semi-urban "chic" places to live! I guess the military can be wonderful for an economy, but it can also wreak havoc on housing situations and city growth.

I will definitely check out Hilton Village (I think that may be close-ish to the James Landing I mentioned?). Any specific areas I should concentrate on in Williamsburg? It mostly looks like town homes when I search. We're willing to rent a town home, but most of the nicer looking ones are steeply priced. The nice thing about W-burg is we'd be closer to Richmond, DC, etc.

Know anything about Yorktown? Is there actually a town in Yorktown?

Thanks for being my voice of reason.

[Coconut1]

Olde Town could really be great but the city is in such disarray and has such poor leadership I highly doubt it will achieve anything of value in the next two or three decades.

JL isn't far but it isn't walkable to HV. Here is HV:
https://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&g...&ved=0CIwBELYD

Note that it is important to stay west of the railroad tracks and really north of Mercury Blvd. There are some nice pockets south of Mercury and west of the tracks but it does significantly degrade since Downtown Newport News is an extreme ghetto.

In the Williamsburg area you might check out New Town. Although it has some chains it's a very nice new community and does have a Trader Joes you could walk to. I'm not sure of pricing there or whether there would be home rentals since it is mostly new construction. They do have apartments but I again don't know pricing or pet policy:
Residential Living in New Town Williamsburg, Virginia

The living options are on your left on that site.

Colonial Williamsburg would definitely be something you would like but it will be quite pricy since it is a very desirable location. How pricey I don't know.

Hope all goes well for you

[KatieGard]

Oh trust me - I already looked at Colonial Williamsburg and it's well outside our budget. Thanks so much for all of the great information!

[artistatheart]

Another recommendation for Hilton Village--you might not like the surrounding area, though.

Other places you might also want to look into:

Port Warwick (Newport News)

Old Wythe (Hampton)

Fort Monroe (Hampton)

Historic Yorktown (York County)

None of these are going to be exactly what you're looking for, but they tend to be a little quainter than a lot of what you see around here, and you might like them.

Williamsburg is really nice, but you should decide how much time you're willing to commit to your daily commute before settling on it. The drive from the walkable part of W'burg to Langley is going to take you at least 30-40 minutes and that's without the frequent back-ups on 64. There are, apparently, alternate routes you can take, but I really can't see any of them taking you less than 40 minutes. Just a heads-up.

[TN Lily]

The most often given advice here is to live on the same side of the water that you work on. Going through a tunnel or over a bridge is a sure recipe for long commutes.

I would recommend that you at least look at Hilton Village. This area has an interesting history.

Hilton Village - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Good luck!

[TN Lily]

Another website:


Greater Hilton Neighborhoods

[KatieGard]

Thanks for all of the great info, everyone! I will be sure to check out those other neighborhoods as well. I was originally looking at Olde Wythe because they have some gorgeous older homes not far from the water, but everyone I've talked to has told me I should stay away from Hampton all-together. It scares me off from buying there because even though *we* might like it just fine, the odds of being able to sell it in a few years are much lower because of the bad reputation. It's sad!

I'll likely heed the advice about staying on the work-side of the water. It doesn't really sound like anywhere across Hampton Roads is worth the commute, except for maybe Virginia Beach and that's just too far. Based on feedback from here, I'll probably concentrate the search on the Hilton Village area and up Northwest along the coast from there (I've heard I probably don't want to head further southeast than that). I'll check out some pockets of Williamsburg and York county as well, but I'm not sure, based on what I've seen near the water in Newport News, that those other locations will be worth the higher prices and longer commute. Maybe I'm crazy for preferring an older home in NN over the cookie cutter stuff we can afford in Williamsburg, but I don't know... that's just the way I'm leaning.

Thanks again for all of the great links and advice!

[artistatheart]

Don't get me wrong--we're transplants and we really like living in Hampton Roads (we're near CNU in NN). There's a lot to do here, we love the weather, and we've become pretty damned spoiled by all the area beaches. But walkable...not so much. Definitely something they should work to improve upon.

If you'd like a real estate agent referral, let me know. Ours works out of Hampton with her husband and was invaluable to us when we first moved here and had no idea where we wanted to live. She will definitely tell it to you straight about places where (and where not) to buy. Message me if you want her contact info.

Best of luck!