MOVING! But don't know where! Glen Allen/Chesapeake? (Norfolk, Richmond: apartment, rentals)

[Mav80]

Hey everyone...
My family and I are relocating from a very sunny, very very HOT part of California to Virginia. We are just OVER the heat. My husband and I have always wanted to live in a four season state that gets a little bit of everything. Among the other wishes are: fireflies at night, large houses with a little land, good schools for our 4 children (elementary, middle and high school) and an airport within 30-40 mins is a MUST because my husband travels a lot for work. Here is another MUST: Nursing school. I am ready to apply to nursing school and would need one in close proximity to my home, I do not want to have to commute for this! 20 mins max. So from the thread trolling that I have done on here I have narrowed it down to a few cities. I need your help deciding where to start looking for homes for rent in the $1500-$2200 range.

Glen Allen, Midlothian, Mechanicsville, Chesterfield.

vs.

Chesapeake area ( I like this because it is closer to the beach for summer)

We do NOT want a large city where traffic is an issue, i.e. going to get groceries and getting stuck for 20 mins. I don't want to be stranded in the middle of nowhere either. Here are some additional questions:
Are there any Targets? Are there any Starbucks? My husband and I also love going to a good concert now and then and are willing to travel a lil ways for that, so keep in mind we do enjoy being able to still get out and go do adult things although our focus mainly on the kids.

I sure hope some of you have some input for me on where we should go looking! I am visiting in 2 weeks for a few days to scout the area and see what would be a good fit. PLEASE HELP!!
Thanks in advance!

[novanwbie]

Well, you should probably start by reading the (somewhat contentious) thread about TX to VA, it's very similar. However, I would note that Chesapeake is basically no town -- it's all suburban or rural sprawl. Very different from CA, I'd expect. Look at the posts from Spencer114 with links to the Richmond Arts Guide and other cultural events. Very helpful.

I would strongly recommend the Richmond area. It's a relatively small city that is very easy to manage. Traffic in Tidewater (aka Hampton Roads, the general coastal area that includes VA Beach, Norfolk, Portsmouth, Chesapeake, Hampton and Newport News) can get really bad, in VA it's only rivaled by Northern Va, which is top three nationally for bad traffic. Also, the Norfolk airport is pretty small. If you don't live close by, getting there at prime traffic hours could be a pain.

Richmond has many Targets and Starbucks. In your price range you can rent a very nice property. I would recommend concentrating on Midlothian, because the traffic in the far West End (Henrico County) is much worse at rush hour. Although depending on where you're from in CA, you might consider all our traffic light. We feed into an excellent elementary school where my son is learning Chinese and Spanish and which has a strong STEM focus, and he'll go to top middle and high schools. We are within walking distance of the Y, the school, and the library. We are less than 5 minutes from groceries and Starbucks, and have dozens of dining options within a few miles. My husband commutes downtown at rush hour and it takes him less than half an hour. We recently had family fly in, and it was less than 30 minutes door-to-door to the airport. Having moved here from northern VA, we find it pretty idyllic. I'd look at zip codes 23113 and 23114 on Trulia to see what's available for rent. Neighborhoods along the Robious corridor will have larger yards and are in excellent schools. You might not find any rentals there, though. That was our first choice, but we couldn't find anything in our price range to rent quickly. We also really like Queensmill and many of the developments near Charter Colony -- Queensmill also has large yards and Evergreen is a great elementary school.

In the far West End, I really like Gayton and Nuckols Farm, and you should be able to find a rental in your range. I like being south of Broad Street, because you can avoid the Short Pump congestion very easily.

Now, nursing school. Check out VCU/MCV. Excellent school. In both of these areas you'd be about 25-30 minutes away. YOu'll have to consider your blend of best schools/neighborhoods for kids and how much you want to commute -- the best schools are furthest from the city center, where VCU is. Virginia Commonwealth University School of Nursing

You might consider the Bon Air area, Bon Air Elementary school is a neat, little neighborhood school with an excellent reputation. Great middle and high schools. You'd be closer to downtown but still in Chesterfield County (watch that you're not feeding into the city of Richmond -- Huguenot HS is AWFUL). It's suburban, with a neat, community feel, I think. And the older houses have bigger yards than the postage stamps in new neighborhoods. We love the area around Stony Point and Buford Road.

[Mav80]

Thank you so much for all the information! That was SO helpful! Do you live in Midlothian? Also, I noticed that a lot of homes do not have fences around the back yards. Why is this? Every home here has a lot more privacy and I don't have to worry about my little ones running off.

[Armyvet1]

Richmond is a nice city, I moved to Virginia in 2006 from Florida after my wife finished college. I to missed the 4 seasons, I was born and raised in Putnam County New York.

I live in rural Virginia cause I always liked the peace of country living however I'm still within 60 miles of Richmond, my youngest actually races BMX at Gilles Park.

Richmond has had some bad reviews in the past due to crime but I've been there both during the day and at night and have never really felt unsafe, cautious and aware of my surroundings sure but not unsafe.

I would willingly live in Richmond, I like the charm of the city, it's got a little urban grit to it, southern charm, and it is a city so if does have some bad areas. Overall I think it's a good choice. I like Richmond, you couldn't pay me enough to live in NoVa/DC area however.

[Mav80]

What are your bills like? Average electric bill/water bill/gas bill in summer and winter?

Also, what do you pay for cable/internet/telephone. I am trying to figure out my budget and am clueless as to the prices out there compared to CA. Right now my electric bill is $350 a MONTH!!! (Due to extreme heat of course.) I need estimates for a family home of at least 5 people and the size of house would be around 2500-3000 sq.ft. Thanks in advance!

[snatale1]

I say Glen Allen. Everything is here, close to anything you can think of. There must be a Starbucks every 5 feet in any direction. When I first moved to VA I lived in Short Pump (Apartment) lived there for 2yrs and loved it, but bought a house in Glen Allen, their both in Henrico Co, so good , stable area, always growing and improving and has great schools if that's a factor for you. 10 min to downtown if you need it. As far as "Traffic" Richmond doesn't have a real rush hour, Short Pump traffic isn't HALF as bad as people make it out to be. Only the locals think that as there not used to actual city traffic (no offence natives, that's a good thing). Richmond may be the capitol, but it's not a major city, more like a busy town.

[novanwbie]

Sorry for the delayed response -- super busy week! I do live in Midlo, we moved here from the West End (Short Pump) a few months ago. Our electric bills average about $120, I'd say. Higher in winter, when the heat is running. The highest I've ever had was when we had an older home, about 2400 SF, and it ran about $260 in the winter. We have Dominion VA Power here. Columbia Gas, I think. Cable you can go with Comcast, satellite or Verizon FIOS. All offer super start-up packages. We had a really bad experience with satellite, and don't have FIOS in our neighborhood yet, so we get internet, cable, OnDemand and whole-house DVR for $110 a month. We've been very happy so far, no outages and the internet speed is generally good. We are not gamers, but we do stream a fair number of movies via Netflix and Amazon.

You can and should check our Glen Allen as well as Short Pump, but I would be very surprised if you could find a property with land, in a good school, in your price range. The distance to MCV/VCU will be almost the same, from the far west end as from Midlothian. Check out both areas, they both have positives and negatives. But given your criteria, I think Midlo is a better fit than the Henrico County areas.