Small Farm near Richmond (Mechanicsville, Chester: real estate, HOA, buying a house)

[tvc719]

We have heard that the Richmond area is a great place to live. We are interested in buying a house with 5 or more acres of land where we can raise chickens and maybe a cow. This would not be our full time job, but something we want to do if we owned some property.

When looking at real estate we notice that some neighborhoods have an HOA. Do you we need to steer clear of this if we want animals?

We also have two little kids, so we want to buy a place in a good school district. Does this exist near Richmond?

Thanks!

[sls76]

Originally Posted by tvc719

We have heard that the Richmond area is a great place to live. We are interested in buying a house with 5 or more acres of land where we can raise chickens and maybe a cow. This would not be our full time job, but something we want to do if we owned some property.

When looking at real estate we notice that some neighborhoods have an HOA. Do you we need to steer clear of this if we want animals?

We also have two little kids, so we want to buy a place in a good school district. Does this exist near Richmond?

Thanks!

Well the hard thing is finding somewhere with land and good schools. Ashland in Hanover County would have the land you want, but the schools are not as strong as in Mechanicsville (both Hanover County schools, but in general homes in Ashland with property are assigned to schools that are not as strong as homes in Mechanicsville). Western Henrico and many Chesterfield County schools are also excellent, but those areas are mainly subdivisions with smaller pieces of property. Goochland might be an option but the schools there don't have as strong of a reputation right now (Goochland is fairly affluent, but many of its residents send their kids to private schools).

Take a look at these sites to dig for school info:
SchoolDigger.com - School Rankings, Reviews and More - Public and Private Elementary, Middle, High Schools
GreatSchools - Public and Private School Ratings, Reviews and Parent Community

[Pruzhany]

When looking at real estate we notice that some neighborhoods have an HOA. Do you we need to steer clear of this if we want animals?

The large tracts with HOA's usually stop at horses. If you want property that will allow more than that, then you want it to be zoned A-1 and not be part of a neighborhood. Look into Powhatan or Goochland. Powhatan has the least HOA subdivisions and is set up to me mostly private A-1 lots. So you can get much more acerage and its also a very clean and quiet county. Its 20-30 minutes from Short Pump. About 40 minutes to downtown richmond with sun in your eyes.

[richmondpics]

Hanover, Goochland, Powhatan.

More details on want you want will probably get you better opinions, suggestions, etc.

[SparrowGirl]

There's also Prince George county south of Richmond. Still pretty rural out that way.

[tvc719]

Thanks so much for the replies!