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Iraq has zero to do with our freedom. The powers that be want you to live in fear of terrorists. This is how they control you. Please do your part as an American, and go shopping.
The expensive parts of Virginia Beach are probably okay to raise kids in. The poor parts are not. I had a coworker that moved to 757 from Seattle (from Microsoft). They tried to do research but their kid ended up in a school where the kids all acted ghetto. Kid was miserable (they were in a night hood). Ended up moving to a different neighborhood in VaBeach and the kid moved to First Colonial HS and I believe he was much happier. Now kid is going to HS and they are working on relocating back to Seattle. I think everyone that moved here for the company hated it and moved away.
Just my observation.
This was a tech company, prob mostly 6 figure salaries, stock options, etc.
I am looking at a possible retirement areas to live. My idea is to purchase a home in the next year or so, rent the property for 15 years and then retire there. I am looking for an home close to the beach, without to much jet noise, and the ability to walk, swim in, and fish. Are hurricanes a problem in Virginia beach? Ideally I would like to live on the beach but if there was a channel i could put a boat on and get to the ocean, that would be OK too. What area would the local people suggest?
I am looking at a possible retirement areas to live. My idea is to purchase a home in the next year or so, rent the property for 15 years and then retire there. I am looking for an home close to the beach, without to much jet noise, and the ability to walk, swim in, and fish. Are hurricanes a problem in Virginia beach? Ideally I would like to live on the beach but if there was a channel i could put a boat on and get to the ocean, that would be OK too. What area would the local people suggest?
I suggest the area between the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel and First Landing State Park. Google Maps
You are on the bay rather than the Atlantic and away from most of the tourists. There are neighborhoods on Lynnhaven Bay with boat docks and houses and condos on the ocean. There is no jet noise in that area. I can give you some specific examples if you give me your price range.
*I am a Realtor, but not in Virginia Beach. I have a condo there and am very familiar with the area. Not trying to sell anything
I am looking at a possible retirement areas to live. My idea is to purchase a home in the next year or so, rent the property for 15 years and then retire there. I am looking for an home close to the beach, without to much jet noise, and the ability to walk, swim in, and fish. Are hurricanes a problem in Virginia beach? Ideally I would like to live on the beach but if there was a channel i could put a boat on and get to the ocean, that would be OK too. What area would the local people suggest?
Honestly Virginia is not one of the better states to retire in but what it may be like in 15 years is anyone's guess.....The jet noise issue will be your biggest problem as an area that does not see allot of jet noise today may get direct fly overs next week......there are no set flight patterns that the jet base must follow so 100% of the air space is fair game.
Price of homes will be your next biggest issue as homes on the water be it the ocean/bay or inland waterways that have deep water access have lost little value even with today's housing market crash...so attempting to get fair market rent on a home like this in today's market would be very difficult as rental prices have dropped more on single family homes then the actual selling prices...If you are from Houston as your nickname states you will be very surprised at how expensive the home prices are in Hampton Roads compared to Houston
Honestly Virginia is not one of the better states to retire in but what it may be like in 15 years is anyone's guess.....The jet noise issue will be your biggest problem as an area that does not see allot of jet noise today may get direct fly overs next week......there are no set flight patterns that the jet base must follow so 100% of the air space is fair game.
Price of homes will be your next biggest issue as homes on the water be it the ocean/bay or inland waterways that have deep water access have lost little value even with today's housing market crash...so attempting to get fair market rent on a home like this in today's market would be very difficult as rental prices have dropped more on single family homes then the actual selling prices...If you are from Houston as your nickname states you will be very surprised at how expensive the home prices are in Hampton Roads compared to Houston
I have never been to Virginia, but the map and pictures seem very nice. The weather is a factor for considering retirement there. Some of the posts I have read seem very positive. A realtor e-mailed and said there are areas to live that don't have the jet plane noise. Is that accurate? I would be looking at a home with access to the ocean by boat. I don't think I could afford a home directly on the ocean. Why wouldn't it be nice to retire in the area? Specific answers would help.
I have never been to Virginia, but the map and pictures seem very nice. The weather is a factor for considering retirement there. Some of the posts I have read seem very positive. A realtor e-mailed and said there are areas to live that don't have the jet plane noise. Is that accurate? I would be looking at a home with access to the ocean by boat. I don't think I could afford a home directly on the ocean. Why wouldn't it be nice to retire in the area? Specific answers would help.
I have lived in Virginia for about 40 years but plan to retire elsewhere in 2-3 years, Va does not have very favorable income taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, health care plans or tax advantages for retiree's compared to states boarding VA like NC or Tenn. Also the cost of living in Hampton Roads is very high compared to many other cities that offer pretty much the same activities...In fact if you look at most retirement guides Texas is either the 1st or 2nd favorite state to retire in because of things like no state income tax
Not to say anything bad about a Realtor but they just want to sell you a house, just like a car salesman that wants to sell you a car.....It is your job to find out if there are any issues with that car just like it is your job to find out about possible jet noise issues when buying a house.......
Are there places in Va Bch where the jet noise is not bad most of the time.....sure... but search "jet noise" on this forum and look at the number of post where people are complaining about jet noise......You have people that will debate the jet noise issue by saying they like the jet noise and it is the sound of freedom etc but how ever they want to try and paint the picture it is still jet noise.....
I live in an area in Va Bch where loud jet noise is rare (but it has it's days) but I am also not on any type of deep water so my neighborhood would not do you any good.....there are not to many places in Va Bch where you would not hear at least some jet noise, sure we have neighborhoods that the jet noise is so loud the windows of the house rattle when the jets fly over and the jets are so low you can wave at the pilots..... we also have neighborhoods where you would not hear the jets unless you were outside and then it would be just a dull roar in the distance.........now what is a bearable noise level would be a personal decision you would have to make
Depending on the size of your boat and how much water it draws fully loaded will make a big difference on which neighborhoods you would have to choose from....there are plenty of neighborhoods on the water but many of them do not have access to the bay or ocean due to the low mean tide being so shallow
In order to stay within 20-30 min of the beach, you should really consider Cheapeake - maybe the Greenbrier area due to the large number of stores/restaurants/mall etc and many new neighborhoods. With a large shopping area, you do have alot of traffic tho.... I feel that Chesapeake is a little more centrally located and away from the touristy area.
Norfolk DOES have a family friendly area with older established neighborhoods (not Ghent) but I cannot remember where it is (I want to say it is NE of McArthur near the big cemetary??). However, I do not know about the schools and it is kind of on the edge of a not so great area.
I understand your desire to be near the beach, but in reality you probably won't go there very often. IF we go, we go in the off season just to walk around. Sandbridge is a much nicer beach in the summer, but a little further drive.
I have lived in the Hampton Roads area for 18 yrs...with plenty of interaction in VA Beach. Straight up---the traffic is hell. Visit the place first. It is very congested and you need a lot of money to find a more private home. The military population there is HUGE--meaning TRAFFIC and congestion. Also a nightmare to get out of if there are tunnel problems---can't imagine a hurricane evacuation---NO WAY! The last hurricane was 3 or so yrs ago and indeed they do happen here. My vote for someone your age would be to hook up in WILLIAMSBURG---awesome shopping, restaurants, GREAT SCHOOLS, culture, nice churches, low crime.....such a nice place to come home to after work. Pleasantly affordable for your income level at this present buyers market---buy resale, as the new construction is still high priced. LOTS of new things going up there all the time to make the community amenities even better. Historic Willimasburg never gets old, great place to walk the dogs and kids. Check it out and good luck to you!
Iraq has zero to do with our freedom. The powers that be want you to live in fear of terrorists. This is how they control you. Please do your part as an American, and go shopping.
The expensive parts of Virginia Beach are probably okay to raise kids in. The poor parts are not. I had a coworker that moved to 757 from Seattle (from Microsoft). They tried to do research but their kid ended up in a school where the kids all acted ghetto. Kid was miserable (they were in a night hood). Ended up moving to a different neighborhood in VaBeach and the kid moved to First Colonial HS and I believe he was much happier. Now kid is going to HS and they are working on relocating back to Seattle. I think everyone that moved here for the company hated it and moved away.
Just my observation.
This was a tech company, prob mostly 6 figure salaries, stock options, etc.
Count me amongst those who stayed briefly ( A few months ) and was very happy to leave. My ex loved it though granted she moved across the line into NC and a bit closer to Elizabeth City. She still commutes to VAB though for work. The vibe of the whole area just seemed weird. Mind you i have lived in a number of other areas in MD/VA/OH/PA.. VAB just seemed like one of those areas that didn't know what it wanted to be. Had a bigger city feel to it ( never felt touristy even at the beach along the ocean front ) but lacked the community aspect if that makes sense? Guessing that has had to do with the large amount of transplants going through the area? The jet noise i got use to and i lived very close to Oceana NAS.
Wow this website provides so much information on so many cities; it's great! I've read most of the other Virginia Beach threads but wanted to throw a new one out there with a spin specific to me; so please reply with a helpful post if possible.
My wife and I are in our late twenties (kids on way) and currently live in Chicago Suburbs. For the most part we like it here; we're 30 minutes from downtown, plenty of culture, golf, high paying jobs, entertainment, etc. However one thing that we cannot stand are the months December through March; the dreaded Chicago winters... they are brutal! We are looking to relocate someplace considerably warmer. We've been to several cities across America but mostly as tourists so we didn't know where to begin. Don't laugh but I googled "best cities to raise a family" and the first site to come up was www.******. We filled out the 50 or so question questionnaire and it spits out your top 25ish "compatible" cities. Virginia Beach was in my top 5 (along with Tampa, Houston, West Palm, & Charleston)
I've since done some research on these cities and became fixated on VB due to it's geographic location. Wikipedia has desirable things to say about VB's climate that are of interest to us. I've read in other VB threads that crime is an issue. I can get over that as you'll get that in any larger city. I've read that education is good and also read that airplane noise is a common complaint about the area.
Basically what I'm asking is, and shoot me straight here, is VB the ideal city to raise a family? I understand the answer is dependent on what's important and I'm saying that climate, and an overall good environment for children especially education options are what's important. My wife and I make in the ballpark of 140K (I'm in business development and she's in IT). I browsed local real estate at www.realtor.com and saw some nice places by TPC golf course, Signature at West Neck golf course, and the Heron Ridge Golf course. Would this be a nice area to raise a family??? If in your opinion, other cities along the eastern seaboard would be more ideal I'd love to hear about them so I could research them as well. We'll likely fly out and visit these places when we get closer to moving..... still in the early stages of research right now.
Oh and if we bought a plot of land and built a custom house... can we have a walk-out basement put in????? I heard walkout basements (& basements all-together) aren't too common out there. Thanks in advance for any opinions you'd like to share. Best regards.
A lot of out of town from all of the country move to VB. Some prefer it to the other areas of the city. If you are comparing VB to say, Baltimore, then definitely yes. Although Baltimore may have more cultural/artsy types of activities than Virginia Beach, and of course Baltimore is more of a working class town, whereas VB is more military/government, etc.
DC is a good city if you can afford it. Then again that city has more of a dramatic shift between the working classes and the rich than Hampton Roads does. This is a pretty good area though; you have Norfolk for a more urban/artsy vibe (though VB does have its areas and has improved over the years).
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new poster from Houston
