Thinking of moving to VA from NJ in 2017 or so...looking for info on Tidewater/Williamsburg/Jamestown (Virginia Beach: crime rate, school)

[rekaten]

Well, of course there is elitism everywhere - it would be foolish to insinuate otherwise. But it certainly is less in some areas of the country than in others. In NC (at my school, at least) there aren't nearly enough stuck-up people for it to be a real issue at all.


HRVT, you really do seem to be right (in fact, all of you do) - the Hampton Roads area, if not an awkward fit from my own personal perspective, definitely doesn't seem to be a great fit for my family and their needs. Just from the last couple of post exchanges, I think my father would actually be very unhappy in this area given his own personality. I especially agree that Richmond and Charlotte, as well as Wilmington (and perhaps Raleigh/Durham), do seem to be much better fits for all parties concerned. No matter. The HR area, I think, is ruled out as a possible destination henceforth.


I really appreciate the honest answers. Thank you all so much for the help!

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by rekaten

We're in North Central NJ, a wealthy/upper middle class suburb 25 miles outside of NYC. One of the snobbiest towns in the whole state of NJ, it's known for having a high-ranking school district and very uptight, elitist residents who all live in a bubble. Yes it is higher-paying in NJ, but I don't see any other pros in staying here outside of that. The COL is so overpriced here that it's not even funny. The state as a whole is, simply put, incredibly overrated. There's a reason it always tops the list for the most moved-out-of state in the country each year.

I must say, the HR area wasn't particularly high on my personal wishlist to begin with, but you've done a great job of reducing the chances that I would even suggest it to my family.

What makes you say that I'm not ready for a move to VA?

It sounds as though it's not NJ that's the problem then, it's your town. I would suggest starting local and exploring different areas.

The COL is actually somewhat comparable to HR. The most noticeable expense, property taxes, are much higher in NJ, but they do include more services than VA. In VA most things aren't bundled which means you pay separately for things like trash and recycling. You also have other taxes like personal property tax (your vehicle is taxed every single year,) annual state vehicle inspections, taxes on food, taxes on clothes, etc. You also generally pay more for gasoline in VA compared to NNJ because of the lack of refineries.

I say that you're not ready because you really don't know the area. A lot of places look good on paper, but until you've really done thorough research, visited, and stayed, you can't say you're ready to go.

I understand that you're frustrated with where you are now, but now's the time when you can tirelessly research and travel to find what area suits you best. You've taken a good first step here, but there's hundreds if not thousands of hours of research still to go. The last thing you want is to move some place on a whim (especially if your family moves with you) and have it end up worse than what you came from.

[rekaten]

Originally Posted by Coconut1

It sounds as though it's not NJ that's the problem then, it's your town. I would suggest starting local and exploring different areas.

I understand that you're frustrated with where you are now, but now's the time when you can tirelessly research and travel to find what area suits you best. You've taken a good first step here, but there's hundreds if not thousands of hours of research still to go. The last thing you want is to move some place on a whim (especially if your family moves with you) and have it end up worse than what you came from.

Cut half of the post out.


Ehh, mom has never warmed up to NJ despite having moved here from NY when she moved in with my dad 20+ years ago. In fact, I'd say her disdain of the state only increased during the Christie administration, as that coincided with the height of our personal battles we were struggling with. Having seen another state in this country, I feel like I'm fairly qualified to encourage a move outta here. I'm not at all very keen on moving within the state, but maybe it couldn't hurt to at least look.


Hmm, if you say that hundreds if not thousands of research hours are left, then would you say that summer 2017 would be too close by for an OOS move? Or is a year plenty of time?

[Lockdev]

Originally Posted by Poquoson7

Hello Moderator, can something be done about the negative and insulting spew from this person? It's really gone on long enough and is threatening the credibility of this forum.

Just about every single post that Coconut1 makes has not one bit of sense, but we should by no means promote censoring her or anyone else's opinion.

[Coconut1]

Originally Posted by rekaten

Cut half of the post out.


Ehh, mom has never warmed up to NJ despite having moved here from NY when she moved in with my dad 20+ years ago. In fact, I'd say her disdain of the state only increased during the Christie administration, as that coincided with the height of our personal battles we were struggling with. Having seen another state in this country, I feel like I'm fairly qualified to encourage a move outta here. I'm not at all very keen on moving within the state, but maybe it couldn't hurt to at least look.


Hmm, if you say that hundreds if not thousands of research hours are left, then would you say that summer 2017 would be too close by for an OOS move? Or is a year plenty of time?

If that's the case, you may indeed want to move to another state. I just wouldn't rush it.

It really depends on how much time you can devote to research and how much time/money you have to travel to each place. You definitely need to visit any place you're contemplating before pulling the trigger.

[Poquoson7]

Originally Posted by Lockdev

Just about every single post that Coconut1 makes has not one bit of sense, but we should by no means promote censoring her or anyone else's opinion.

Reread the post. "Fake, backstabbing liars" is full of hate. This person is mentally unstable and needs to be officially called on it. Moderators do in fact censor comments on these forums, they do it all the time. I am just so fed up with the crap emanating from this person. It really does DUMB DOWN any thread/discussion that he/she latches on to.
I am no Pollyanna skipping around HR smelling all the roses and pretending to live in paradise, this place has it's worts and I am well aware of them. But nowhere deserves the sophomoric disrespect and hatred emanating from his/her keyboard. Folks coming on this forum looking for advice on the area encounter a Coconut post and envision some kind of dank, rank cesspool full of idiots lounging on dirty beaches....pathetic.
The Voice of Reason he is not and him thinking that he is frightens me a little, just totally and irrationally egotistical....whew, I'm done with this right now, time for breakfast.

[rekaten]

You do have a good point about visiting any place we're researching. At the moment, I know we plan on visiting my personal first choice (Wilmington, NC where I go to school) for vacation at some point this summer. Perhaps we will make plans to visit Charlotte, Richmond, etc later on in the process.

But of course, I have to discuss with my mother this weekend first (not sure how my father would react to such an idea right now). And unfortunately, it's not looking like the HR area will qualify for that first preliminary discussion right now.

[goofy328]

It's not a science project. Virginia is pretty conservative overall. If you want something different, try Northern Virginia or DC. Hampton Roads is growing, but it isn't changing. Attitudes aren't changing. Coming from NJ I'm not sure if it's up your alley. Although I do know a lot of Blacks from NJ here.

Your best bet here, are with the transients and transplants to the area. Or you can let a lot of those old racial and economic hangups go. Because this area isn't changing anytime soon.

There is money here, obviously. Question is whether or not you want to do what is required to get it. Do you want to change into the individual that is required. Lay your politics to the side.

There are plenty of NY and NJ here doing the their thing. You just have to find your own path.

[rekaten]

Yeah, I'm pretty doubtful that Hampton Roads would be a good fit for us now. Would Richmond also qualify as "something different" along those lines?

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by rekaten

Yeah, I'm pretty doubtful that Hampton Roads would be a good fit for us now. Would Richmond also qualify as "something different" along those lines?

Richmond is "more urban". But keep in mind that Richmond is just one city, so you'll get a city with a metro that is about right for it's size, but you don't have the benefit of other cities.

Hampton Roads is about half and half. The original cities give you that urban sensibility, have ghettos, have housing projects and have are multi-ethnic, multi-racial. The other cities, that were primarily farmland or some other type of land before they were incorporated as cities as the state allows an entire county to be a city (yet the city and county are separate political entities), like Virginia Beach, Chesapeake, Suffolk are more so cities in the sense of how they are recognized as political entities, are primarily White, are conservative, and are, in essence, suburbs to the older, original cities, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Hampton, Newport News that continue to serve as shipping ports. So you get more variety here.

Richmond is also the state capital. But it is not the largest city, and it isn't "progressive" in that sense. It isn't Columbus, Indianapolis, Atlanta or Austin. It is more like Albany, Lansing, or Dover. I say that in that the liberal, progressive, culturally "loose" element is somewhere else in the region, in the case of Virginia that would be Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads.

The conservatism here is that while this is a growing region, and a very large region, the vision here is more like that of a smaller city. Some things get done here, because the cities compete with each other. Virginia Beach and Norfolk, in particular, are having all types of ego contests (I'll just say that much as to not be vulgar on the forum), and are in consistent, never ending, competition to see which is the better city. Virginia Beach is sort of like Verizon after coming out of AT&T, or ABC after coming out of NBC, if those analogies make any sense to you. Former residents in a new county building it out to create a new city that is bigger and better than Norfolk.

Then you have Chesapeake that is an overgrown bedroom community that only wants to be a suburb. Nothing else.

Now there are Blacks everywhere, in all ten of these cities (there are others I didn't mention). You might see mentalities, or sensibilities, change depending on the neighborhood, or economic level. Plenty such as those in NJ you do not like, plenty of inner city, so on and so forth.

There is a lot of everything in Hampton Roads. And in Richmond too; the place is notorious for having some of the worst neighborhoods in the state and some of the highest homicide rates in the country (within those neighborhoods). Take that as you will. And even in Hampton Roads you used to have really thick project/Section 8 neighborhoods on the level of what you might experience in Cleveland or Detroit, or in your case Newark or Trenton. Things did not stay out of control but if the economy were to ever collapse here, or go through a number of systematic changes for some people believe that things can get back to what they used to be before I moved here, like it was back in the 90s, etc.