Affordable Housing for a Veteran in Virginia (Richmond, Roanoke: 2015, apartments)

[FlipORican]

Medically retired US Army veteran living off VA benefits and BAH from GI Bill. I am currently working on my Master's degree online, so I can relocate anywhere.

I am looking for a place to live in Virginia for me and my 4-year-old Beagle. The most I can pay monthly for rent is $700. I currently live in Culpeper, VA sharing a house with my cousin, aunt and uncle, but will be homeless by June 30th, 2015. My cousin and her parents are moving closer to George Mason Univ, where she goes to school and prefer I no longer live with them (I have assumed, since they haven't discussed moving with me). I don't really mind, because I prefer to live alone away from family drama.

I moved here from Colorado Springs, CO and lived with my brother. However, a year later he decided to move with his girlfriend following his divorce leaving me to fend for myself, even though he had been the one to convince me to move to Virginia. In Colorado Springs I was renting a 2 bed & 1.5 bath town home from an Air Force veteran paying only $625 a month, but I took a gamble moving out to Virginia for better job opportunities.

A few months before the lease ended for the apartment my brother and I had rented ended I started my search for a place to live. However, I had trouble finding a place to live that was willing to rent to me alone, because I was unemployed, even though, I earned enough from my benefits to afford the rent and other living expenses (i.e. utilities, cable, internet, etc.) and an excellent credit report. Fortunately, my cousin who also lived in Northern Virginia was looking for a place to relocate following her divorce, so we managed to pull together to find a very large affordable house to rent.

Now, I have until June 2015 to find a place to live. However, I'm am still not so familiar with all of Virginia and I need to find very affordable and decent housing, so I can finish my degree and eventually return to the workforce. I should be finishing my degree by March of 2016, so wherever I move to now should be near areas with potential employment opportunities in Administrative/Office, Management, Public Relations, or Customer Service related work, so I can avoid having to relocate again.

What I like to know is where in Virginia has the cheapest possible rental properties (houses, town homes, apartments) and lowest cost of living overall or the best places to look. Living close to a VA Facility would be a plus, so I can have less of a commute for medical appointments (I currently drive over an hours to a VA clinic in Fredricksburg and close to 2 hours to the VA Hospital in Richmond), but is not necessary.

Also, I might be open to purchasing a small affordable home or rent-to-own. My family back in California (where I'm originally from) are will to help me purchase a small home if the mortgage is less than what I can afford for rent monthly.

[Mountain Living]

There are lots of rental properties in Roanoke. If you go too far out of town rental units are scarce in smaller towns.
There is a large VA in Salem also. Good Luck in your search!

[ocngypz]

Petersburg, VA.

You could use the facilities at Ft Lee.

Plenty of rentals in your price range.