Opinions wanted on moving away from NOVA (Virginia Beach, Richmond: apartment, townhouse)

[mathogre]

I've been in the NOVA area for over 30 years. I live in Oakton and work in Tysons. I work in the tech industry also.

Personally I've never liked Manassas, and have deeply negative opinions of it. When my wife and I moved here, we were just engaged at the time. She lived in Manassas and I lived in Fairfax. My opinion of Manassas was and remains that I never want to either work or live there. I also never considered Manassas a part of NOVA.

Definitely move out of Manassas. Whatever you happen to do, I think the idea of moving away from there is a good one. While there are worse places than Manassas, there are lots of better places too.

I'll suggest looking at jobs closer to or in Tysons. It goes against some of the things you want, but supports others. There's good work around here if you're good at what you do. Job security, for what that's worth today, is decent. If you've got marketable skills, if you keep up and remain employable, you'll do fine. If you want to change jobs at some point, you generally don't need to move.

Yes, traffic is terrible. It's more expensive to live here than in Manassas, but the quality of life is much better. Fairfax County schools, while struggling a bit, are still some of the best in the country.

Depending on how you define "tech industry", most of the places where you can have a variety of potential jobs are in busy suburban/urban areas. There's the Tysons to Dulles area, Silicon Valley, Boston, Denver. Yes there's Research Triangle, the Raleigh-Durham area, and I'm sure it is nice. I know in the past it has been a draw for some folks. Certainly having a bit of land makes sense, though you should make sure you can really do that there. The tradeoff for me is always a question of how many places are available to work.

I'm married, have a daughter in high school, and I work to support my mantra, "food, clothing, and shelter". I'm probably paranoid about employment, so I'll tolerate certain things such as traffic. I also like urban areas, though I grew up in a small town in NH. If I want to continue to do what I do, I'm in an area that looks like NOVA. Businesses that do the work I'm doing don't move to rural areas.

Good luck!

[VRE332]

Please get out of Manassas. Try to live in the nicer areas. Wells Fargo is offering 3% down payment for new loans. You can get a nice place is North Reston, near the Reston Town Center.

[ACWhite]

OP, how important to you are the house and land? I know for me, the quality of home and neighborhood are much more important than for many people (for example some people like to go out and travel a lot), but I don't need a lot of land (we had that in another city--liked it but it was not a high priority compared to a short commute here). If the house and land are very important, there are many other places where you could probably earn similar salaries but afford a much nicer living situation. However, many of those places cannot match the positives of this area--lots of interesting things to do, moderate climate, tons of well-educated people around you, diversity of cultures, etc. How do you trade those off? Your answer may be very different from others'.

What income growth would you expect if you stayed here versus moved elsewhere? You're very young, so it's possible that your income will be very different in a relatively short time, and you will be able to afford a house you would like.

[springfieldcollegealum]

I used to live in Manassas-lived there about 12 years. I worked mostly in Fairfax. I lived in Fairfax and Leesburg as well. I ended up moving away and lasted 6 months at my "new" locale and then decided I missed NOVA and moved back. Well, I realized that was a mistake after a few months of being back. I lived there 3 1/2 more years and moved away to a warmer place than I moved to the first time and so far 4 years later, it's been a much better life for me. I still live in a city, but COL is lower and I don't spend all that time in traffic and around rude people. Not sure I'll stay here (where I am at currently) after I retire, but NOVA for me is a place to visit and not to live. A lot of people in NOVA hate Manassas and think that's your problem, but it very well could be the entire area is not for you. NOVA was not the right place for me...

[car54]

As a 65 year resident, I can assure you it's only going to get worse around here.

Life is too short. Go, go now.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by MarineVet89

Hello everyone,

So the down and dirty point of this post is to gather opinions on moving away. I understand that it is ultimately my own decision, I just want input. So I'm a married mid-twenties man with no children, I work in the tech industry and I live in Manassas. I've lived here a for a little while and I'm just finding more and more that I don't like this place, and it's not just Manassas, it's NOVA as a whole. So here are the things I like about NOVA:

1) I love my job
2) The money is good
3) Job security
4) ... That's about it.

The things I don't like:

1) The "northern" attitude (rude, busy, angry people)
2) Everything in Manassas just looks dirty
3) Even though my wife and I both work and make good money, I couldn't imagine buying a house
4) Traffic, Traffic, Traffic
5) High taxes and poor public shcools
6) And I guess I'm just not a fan of urban living

So there it is, I've got a great job that I enjoy in a crap city that I can't stand. My wife and I would like to have kids soon and I just can't see raising children in Manassas. I'm considering maybe moving to Raleigh, but I'm open to other places. I just want somewhere quiet where I can have a few acres of land and a decent house.

So what are your thoughts?

I find some of the posts puzzling. "Everything in Manassas just looks dirty." Seriously? I've lived in Manassas since 73 only to move last year to the mountains in Shenandoah Co. While Manassas has it's less than desirable areas it's far from being a 'dirty" area. Our main reason for leaving was out new job location (Front Royal) and the desire to live around less traffic and people. And your comment regarding the northern attitude leads me to believe the problem may just lie with you and not your neighbors. Again, I lived there for ever and had some great neighbors. Of course I was nice to them and didn't go in expecting them to fawn all over me. I really don't care that you don't like Manassas but your problems might lie with you and not so much with Manassas and those that live there.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by jeff22152

Here are some thoughts that come to mind.

First, I wouldn't draw conclusions about northern Virginia as a whole based on Manassas. Personally, I don't care for Manassas very much, and for most of the same reasons you state. With that said, Manassas is a small and rather confined city; it's not indicative of the larger region. Fairfax, Loudoun, and Prince William Counties all have scores of attractive and family-friendly neighborhoods with excellent schools.

Second, I think it's something special to raise a family in close proximity to D.C. The Washington metropolitan area, combined with greater Virginia and Maryland, offer some of the greatest historical and cultural opportunities in the country. Yes, it's expensive to live here and the traffic at times can be mind-numbingly bad, but I think it's ultimately worth it. I know Raleigh and North Carolina are becoming wildly popular. I have nothing against Raleigh or our neighbor to the south, but I find it much more vanilla and bland down there -- all with worsening traffic.

Ultimately, you'll do what's best for you and your family. I guess my only advice is to look beyond Manassas before making a final decision. Good luck.

Manassas actually covers a very large area. Not just Manassas City.

[Mnseca]

Originally Posted by MarineVet89

Hello everyone,

So the down and dirty point of this post is to gather opinions on moving away. I understand that it is ultimately my own decision, I just want input. So I'm a married mid-twenties man with no children, I work in the tech industry and I live in Manassas. I've lived here a for a little while and I'm just finding more and more that I don't like this place, and it's not just Manassas, it's NOVA as a whole. So here are the things I like about NOVA:

1) I love my job
2) The money is good
3) Job security
4) ... That's about it.

The things I don't like:

1) The "northern" attitude (rude, busy, angry people)
2) Everything in Manassas just looks dirty
3) Even though my wife and I both work and make good money, I couldn't imagine buying a house
4) Traffic, Traffic, Traffic
5) High taxes and poor public shcools
6) And I guess I'm just not a fan of urban living

So there it is, I've got a great job that I enjoy in a crap city that I can't stand. My wife and I would like to have kids soon and I just can't see raising children in Manassas. I'm considering maybe moving to Raleigh, but I'm open to other places. I just want somewhere quiet where I can have a few acres of land and a decent house.

So what are your thoughts?

Sounds like this is an ideal time to move. You aren't encumbered by anything - no house, no kids. I say go for it - I also don't love NoVa, but I have a spouse, house and kids, so it's nearly impossible to leave. Go before you get stuck here and regret it forever.

[Old Guard]

If you are not happy you should move. I would urge you to find employment first though.

I am not sure what kind of IT work you do but there are large data centers nationwide, many (most?) in less populated areas. I like Northern VA.

I did not like it at first because I never looked at it as "Home" so I was always thinking of going back home. Until I realized where I was from was not going to work for me on any level.

After that I dove in and made my life here and it got better. I do not think I could ever be happy in a place if I always had one foot out of it. I have found many areas that I like as well and could live in one of those easily if I had a good job.

I personally think if a person is unhappy they are unhappy. Sometimes it is external influences but in the vast majority of unhappy people I personally find it comes from within. They focus on the negative, they focus on what they do not have, they focus on how much better things would be IF.....

[Fallout Zone]

Honestly, given the list of negatives, you have to leave and don't look back. If you think that "northerners" are rude and the schools are poor around here, you have made up your mind.