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The call center were I currently work is closing as of June 2014. Employees are being encouraged to transfer to 7 of the remaining centers, one being in Chesapeake. I currently live in Florida in a extremely well kept, quiet, lake community, with very little crime. The school system where we live is the top rated school system in our county. The beach is appoximately a 50 minute drive... While doing research on Chesapeake, I seem to be reading a lot of "STAY AWAY FROM CHESAPEAKE" comments. Is Chesapeake that bad or just certain parts of Chesapeake less desirable? Is it possible to work in Chesapeake and commute to another area that is similar to where we live now? Best school system, nicer homes, etc??? What are the nicer areas in the neighborhood? Is Virginia Beach a nicer area and how would that commute be daily driving to Chesapeake for work? Thanks again for any feedback.
The call center were I currently work is closing as of June 2014. Employees are being encouraged to transfer to 7 of the remaining centers, one being in Chesapeake. I currently live in Florida in a extremely well kept, quiet, lake community, with very little crime. The school system where we live is the top rated school system in our county. The beach is appoximately a 50 minute drive... While doing research on Chesapeake, I seem to be reading a lot of "STAY AWAY FROM CHESAPEAKE" comments. Is Chesapeake that bad or just certain parts of Chesapeake less desirable? Is it possible to work in Chesapeake and commute to another area that is similar to where we live now? Best school system, nicer homes, etc??? What are the nicer areas in the neighborhood? Is Virginia Beach a nicer area and how would that commute be daily driving to Chesapeake for work? Thanks again for any feedback.
I'm not sure what things are like where you are coming from but Chesapeake is certainly one of the more wealthy areas in Hampton Roads. It is by no means an urban cultural center, but if you are looking for quiet suburbs with good schools then Chesapeake has plenty of that. Hickory, Grassfield, and Great Bridge are probably the top rated... neighborhoods will depend entirely on budget on desired commute but you can find most anything from townhouses to 3500sq ft on 3 acres if that is what you want.
I would say there is less to do in Chesapeake than VB but I wouldn't call it less desirable or a place that one must avoid by any stretch. It is just a matter of personal taste. It is a bedroom community with a few sketchy parts but it is by and large a safe suburban city. The real question is whether your job will support living in those nicer communities... so I'd recommend looking on zillow or something then thinking about what you are comfortable spending.
Each city in Hampton Roads has its good parts of town and its bad parts of town, Virginia Beach included. In Chesapeake, I'd avoid South Norfolk/Portlock (which is still part of south norfolk but for whatever reason thinks naming it something else will confuse folks)/the parts of Chesapeake bordering Portsmouth.
The one thing that I cannot stress enough, though, is that in this area call center wages are usually not enough to support yourself and live in a good part of town. I am saying this based upon the average call center wages in the area being $12-$14 an hour. With those wages, it is hard to support yourself/family in this area (heck, I'd say yourself with an average 1 br costing $750).... rents are a lot higher here than FL due to the large amount of servicemembers who receive housing allotments (that's my guess - because wages here don't typically reflect the cost of living).
My advice: Ask your employer what the rate of pay will be at each of the other centers and go wherever your money will stretch the farthest.
randomlikemike - Thanks! That's some sound advice. I should have the salary and commission structure for Chesapeake on Monday as well as the other cities we are being encouraged to relocate to (RI, CT, OH, VA, LA, OK, NE, CA, GA, KS). I was born and raised in San Diego, CA so I know all about HIGH cost of living. I'm assuming Virginia is more expensive to live in than Florida, but not quite as expensive as San Diego. Heck, a 1 bedroom apartment in San Diego in a decent area will cost you $1,500.00+ a month. Can't beat the perfect weather year round in San Diego, but the cost of living is ridiculous!
UHgrad - Thanks so much for all of your detailed information and suggestions. It's very helpful to get feedback from locals. Still trying to figure out where we want to live and what we can actually afford, as well as what the commute will be like in the area. Assuming we lived and worked in Chesapeake would the commute be fairly straight forward with not much congestion? Would driving to Chesapeake from Virginia Beach add that much more time to our travel? Thanks again!
NOVAEER - Thanks, I will stay clear of South Norfolk. Good information to know. :-)
Chesapeake is the only city on the Southside that touches all other Southside cities so Va. Beach is its neighbor to the east and its eastern properties may be kinda expensive. If you have to work in Chesapeake there are parts of Suffolk, Chespeake, Portsmouth and Va Beach you could live in an still get to work fairly easy. If you are worried about your proximity to a beach there is really nothing to worry about as most Southside cities are not farther than 20 mins from various types of beaches. It really depends on where youll be working and what youll be making.
Each city in Hampton Roads has its good parts of town and its bad parts of town, Virginia Beach included. In Chesapeake, I'd avoid South Norfolk/Portlock (which is still part of south norfolk but for whatever reason thinks naming it something else will confuse folks)/the parts of Chesapeake bordering Portsmouth.
The one thing that I cannot stress enough, though, is that in this area call center wages are usually not enough to support yourself and live in a good part of town. I am saying this based upon the average call center wages in the area being $12-$14 an hour. With those wages, it is hard to support yourself/family in this area (heck, I'd say yourself with an average 1 br costing $750).... rents are a lot higher here than FL due to the large amount of servicemembers who receive housing allotments (that's my guess - because wages here don't typically reflect the cost of living).
My advice: Ask your employer what the rate of pay will be at each of the other centers and go wherever your money will stretch the farthest.
The building we work at is called the "call center" although we're not actually call center reps. The "call center" has several different departments in it (Accounting, Human Resources, Sales, Retention, etc.). My annual salary in Florida is $80k, but I have no idea what the pay structure will be in Virginia - still waiting on that. The only debt I have is a car payment so thinking the nicer areas in Chesapeake or Virginia Beach hopefully wouldn't be a problem, but if wages don't typically reflect the cost of living - that's good information to know. Thanks so much for all your help.
UHgrad - Thanks so much for all of your detailed information and suggestions. It's very helpful to get feedback from locals. Still trying to figure out where we want to live and what we can actually afford, as well as what the commute will be like in the area. Assuming we lived and worked in Chesapeake would the commute be fairly straight forward with not much congestion? Would driving to Chesapeake from Virginia Beach add that much more time to our travel? Thanks again!
I hate to get too personal on the web since anonimity is one of the great things about these forums, but it really does depend on where you will be working in Chesapeake.
I guess my basic answer would be that Chesapeake and Virginia Beach are both very large geographically so it depends.
I'm gonna assume this job is in the Greenbrier area, in which case you could live someplace like Kempsville in Virginia Beach and have a 10minute commute but if you lived at the VB oceanfront it would take you 30-40min with no traffic and who knows how long at peak rush. If you are in fact at Greenbrier, there are also nice neighborhoods off of Greenbrier Parkway and Kempsville rd or in Great Bridge off of the bypass that would be easily accessible.
Also, assuming you are working in Greenbrier, I would shy away from Grassfield or Western Branch/Deep Creek just because the commute would be undesirable due to the construction of a large toll bridge currently on Dominion BLVD or having to cross the high rise bridge on 64 every day. Not to mention that those areas are also further from the beach.
If this job is not in Greenbrier then disregard what I said.
One other thing I will add, having grown up in Chesapeake but currently living in VB, is that VB has a much better system of public recreation centers that are very reasonably priced and a lot more public parks. Also, if you have 'gifted' kids, VB has the old donation center and kemps landing magnet school. Not sure how much those things matter to you but it is a consideration. Overall though, schools are about the same, lots of 7's or 8's on Great Schools (for what it is worth) and plenty of opportunities to learn.
I'm not a local, but I moved here from a small beach town in CT and my husband is from Florida, from an area similar to what you described, I think Chesapeake could be a good fit. Personally, we don't like it here and cannot wait to move somewhere a little less...busy. If that makes sense. We're both used to quiet little towns and Hampton Roads can be pretty intense. That being said, there are areas of both Chesapeake and VA Beach that we adore, we just can't afford to live in any of them. But if you can afford it, the Hickory area of Chesapeake is gorgeous, and we really like the area of VB around Nimmo Parkway, there's a lot more trees, wooded areas and space between houses.. something I really miss from back home that I don't see too often here, it seems everyone is on top of each other in this area. There is a lot to do, I will say that. It seems that there's always something going on in one of the cities. I'm not sure what ages your kids are, but you can check out myactivechild.com which gives a list of different attractions, festivals, parks, activities etc. for kids in Hampton Roads.
The call center were I currently work is closing as of June 2014. Employees are being encouraged to transfer to 7 of the remaining centers, one being in Chesapeake. I currently live in Florida in a extremely well kept, quiet, lake community, with very little crime. The school system where we live is the top rated school system in our county. The beach is appoximately a 50 minute drive... While doing research on Chesapeake, I seem to be reading a lot of "STAY AWAY FROM CHESAPEAKE" comments. Is Chesapeake that bad or just certain parts of Chesapeake less desirable? Is it possible to work in Chesapeake and commute to another area that is similar to where we live now? Best school system, nicer homes, etc??? What are the nicer areas in the neighborhood? Is Virginia Beach a nicer area and how would that commute be daily driving to Chesapeake for work? Thanks again for any feedback.
There's nothing wrong with Chesapeake. I was in South Norfolk for over 3 years. Chesapeake and Virgina Beach are suburban because of the way they were formed. Chesapeake is Norfolk County and South Norfolk merged together. South Norfolk was it's own city. South Norfolk is the urban core of Chesapeake. From what I can tell, South Norfolk needed access to county public services, and logistically, it made more sense for them to go with Norfolk County. You also have Berkeley, another city, which is now part of Norfolk.
Virginia Beach is Princess Anne County.
Both have good and bad areas. Chesapeake's bad areas are poorer (ie. South Norfolk). But there are efforts to revitalize South Norfolk (ie. Gentrification). Virgina Beach has more people. Outside of South Norfolk in Chesapeake, Virginia Beach is more urban. Chesapeake has housing projects, Virginia Beach has Section 8.
Both cities are 50 years old, roughly, and are suburbs of Norfolk and Portsmouth. Virgina Beach is a little older. Both cities stretch out to their county limits, and are quite large.
People need to explain their likes and dislikes, rather than be bourgeois. Virginia Beach has a lot of middle and upper middle class from cities like Boston, New York City, and Philadelphia that never spent real time in Chesapeake. Don't pay them any mind.
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