Culpeper! Opinions and advice needed. (Charlottesville, Winchester: for sale, real estate, condo)

[jtees4]

Hello all. I live on Long Island in NY. I grew up in a bad area of NYC, especially during the "bad" 70's. We want to move to the area soon. We have family in Barbourseville and have been there many times, and have been to Charlottesville many times. We do not really want to live in Charlottesville, and Barbopurseville/Ruckersville are too "rural" for us....though we like them both.
We think Culpeper might be the answer for us.

We want:
Stores within 2 miles of us, which seems to cover most of the town.
Bus transportation for our daughter to get around (she is an adult that does not drive)
A Hospital close by.
Having Amtrak in Culpeper is a big plus for us too!
Schools are meaningless to us at this point.

Like I said, we have been to Culpeper, but we didn't spend much time there to really know the place. I'd like to hear some information and advice from actual people who know the area. I have read all the City Data threads that I could find about Culpeper, but most are old at this point. I have seen the "iffy" parts of Main Street myself, many people refer to this in their posts....but that does not bother me unless it was the entire town.

We do not have a specific type of home chosen, I have searched the area for all the homes for sale and have found many that look OK that we can afford. I would not rule out a condo either.
One important question: The Hospital: is it a full service hospital, meaning do they do surgery there, or generally would a person be sent to another hospital for more major types of things....and if so...where would that likely be?

I'd appreciate any and all info and advice...and thanks to anyone who read this far already (once I get going,m it's hard to stop).
THANK YOU!

[theminnow]

We moved to Rixeyville in Culpeper Co about two and a half years ago. We are about 12-15 minutes from the old town portion as well as the Walmart/Lowes area. The hospital is on the other side of town from us. So far we have not needed there services. Not sure about surgery. I can tell you that my wife had a friend that required two surgeries on their leg, neither one seemed typical as I can remember. One was performed at Fairfax INOVA Hospital, and the other at UVA Hospital. Both are excellent hospitals and each are about an hour away.


There are housing developments around the outskirts of town, not sure if the trolley bus goes to them or not. There are some really nice older houses in downtown Culpeper within easy walking distance to Main & Davis Street. The trolley from what I have seen goes to the old downtown as well as by the new shopping area near Walmart/Lowes.


We have everything we could need here with the exception of Costco. But there is one in Fredricksburg,as well as Charlottesville, each around an hour away. And the drive to each is thru the country and an absolutely beautiful drive.


A few other nice things about living here are there are several wineries in the area. Also there are two breweries downtown. One is next to the train depot and the other is right around the corner. There are many more located close by. Shenandoah National Park is close by as well.

Coming from Long Island NY there are two things you'll not find here. Traffic and high taxes. We cut our real estate taxes in half compared to Fairfax Co. And traffic is pretty scarce.

If you need any other info I'll try to answer.


Good luck

[jtees4]

Originally Posted by theminnow

We moved to Rixeyville in Culpeper Co about two and a half years ago. We are about 12-15 minutes from the old town portion as well as the Walmart/Lowes area. The hospital is on the other side of town from us. So far we have not needed there services. Not sure about surgery. I can tell you that my wife had a friend that required two surgeries on their leg, neither one seemed typical as I can remember. One was performed at Fairfax INOVA Hospital, and the other at UVA Hospital. Both are excellent hospitals and each are about an hour away.


There are housing developments around the outskirts of town, not sure if the trolley bus goes to them or not. There are some really nice older houses in downtown Culpeper within easy walking distance to Main & Davis Street. The trolley from what I have seen goes to the old downtown as well as by the new shopping area near Walmart/Lowes.


We have everything we could need here with the exception of Costco. But there is one in Fredricksburg,as well as Charlottesville, each around an hour away. And the drive to each is thru the country and an absolutely beautiful drive.


A few other nice things about living here are there are several wineries in the area. Also there are two breweries downtown. One is next to the train depot and the other is right around the corner. There are many more located close by. Shenandoah National Park is close by as well.

Coming from Long Island NY there are two things you'll not find here. Traffic and high taxes. We cut our real estate taxes in half compared to Fairfax Co. And traffic is pretty scarce.

If you need any other info I'll try to answer.


Good luck

Thank you! I never heard of Rixyeville...but I have to say that is a very cool name! You are right about the taxes for sure, and traffic too of course....although I have had plenty of traffic near Charlottesville as well as Northern VA. The first time I went to Culpeper I was stuck in traffic on Main Street up until the McDonalds....but it turned out to be construction....so no biggie. I was hoping the hospital was a "full service" hospital but I really assumed it was kind of a smaller "community" hospital like you describe. I'd really hate to have to go to Charlotteville, I do have medical issues...but I can't have everything. I was in the area a week ago, but did not have time to really look around Culpeper, I was in Barbourseville and then decided to go up 81 to The Poconos for a couple of days....I did not want to go through DC if I could help it. I went across to 81 in Madison, a nice ride over the mountain, very pretty. I believe Fredericksburg would work for us also (actually outside Fredericksburg which I guess is part of Spotslyvania, I had looked along route 3 and liked it there also. It was about a half hour further than Culpeper to my family.
Thanks, I'm sure I will need more info, I really appreciate it.

[choff5]

Now, Fredericksburg is very nice, I like it a lot, but it’s going to be higher cost and I’m not impressed with their public transportation call FRED, https://www.fredericksburgva.gov/523...gional-Transit. I live at Lake Anna which I don’t recommend as we are out in the middle of no where without good medical nearby and no public transportation. Given your orientation is Barbersville, I’d take Culpepper over Fredericksburg.

[jtees4]

Originally Posted by choff5

Now, Fredericksburg is very nice, I like it a lot, but it’s going to be higher cost and I’m not impressed with their public transportation call FRED, https://www.fredericksburgva.gov/523...gional-Transit. I live at Lake Anna which I don’t recommend as we are out in the middle of no where without good medical nearby and no public transportation. Given your orientation is Barbersville, I’d take Culpepper over Fredericksburg.

Thanks! I have wanted to go to Lake Anna for awhile, but have not made it yet....not to live....just to go to the lake and maybe stay a few days. It looks like a really nice lake/area. I would say I think Fredericksburg has everything we want, and probably is best suited to us, BUT Culpeper is better for it's proximity to Barbourseville...and it has most of what we want. Coming from NY (Long Island)...everywhere I look is less costly than living here, especially in property taxes. Housing in Charlottesville is right up there with my current area, but the taxes are still much lower. I am aware that the personal property taxes in VA does add somewhat to the overall taxes, but it is still lower overall.

[SteelCityRising]

I can't give in-depth knowledge about Culpeper, but when I last visited the town several years back I was very impressed. Seemed like it had such a cute historic business district with restaurants and shops, and the periphery had all of your everyday "big box"/chain needs.

I never heard of Culpeper being "sketchy" before, but bear in mind as a very, very affluent white-collar area some people in NoVA might view working-class/blue-collar people to be "sketchy" because they don't dress as nicely or can't afford to maintain their properties as well. I remember back in 2010 when I was raving about Winchester some ex-forumers countered me because it was "gritty" (or some variation of that word that was a euphemism for "sketchy"). I always felt perfectly safe exploring Winchester, though. Same with Culpeper.

[jtees4]

Originally Posted by SteelCityRising

I can't give in-depth knowledge about Culpeper, but when I last visited the town several years back I was very impressed. Seemed like it had such a cute historic business district with restaurants and shops, and the periphery had all of your everyday "big box"/chain needs.

I never heard of Culpeper being "sketchy" before, but bear in mind as a very, very affluent white-collar area some people in NoVA might view working-class/blue-collar people to be "sketchy" because they don't dress as nicely or can't afford to maintain their properties as well. I remember back in 2010 when I was raving about Winchester some ex-forumers countered me because it was "gritty" (or some variation of that word that was a euphemism for "sketchy"). I always felt perfectly safe exploring Winchester, though. Same with Culpeper.

The actual word that people used in these forums about Culpeper was "ghetto", but to someone like me that was a teen in the 70's in The Bronx...I just laughed at that assertion. But what they specifically meant was that there is an area along Main Street that has become majority Hispanic, and I guess that can mean "ghetto" to some people. But Culpeper is not ghetto at all in my opinion.
Your description of Culpeper matches mine very closely. I ate at a great restaurant when I went there the first time a number of years back, but for the life of me I can't remember the name.
Thanks for the response.

[Bigfoot424]

Originally Posted by jtees4

The actual word that people used in these forums about Culpeper was "ghetto", but to someone like me that was a teen in the 70's in The Bronx...I just laughed at that assertion. But what they specifically meant was that there is an area along Main Street that has become majority Hispanic, and I guess that can mean "ghetto" to some people. But Culpeper is not ghetto at all in my opinion.
Your description of Culpeper matches mine very closely. I ate at a great restaurant when I went there the first time a number of years back, but for the life of me I can't remember the name.
Thanks for the response.

Back when Prince William County enacted an immigration law making it easier to ID those who were here illegally the county was packed with immigrants first living in tent cities then moving into apts/homes with anywhere from 10-20 people living in them. It was a tough time for all involved and the county was trying to find a solution. Before the law went into effect many of the Hispanics moved out with many going to Culpeper. Even some who were here legally moved out. Culpeper changed very quickly and was not equipped to handle some of the issues that came along with so many moving there. Language was the top issue along with an increase in crime. Once things settled down some things improved but some still feel it to be a sketchy area but keep in mind it was considered sketchy in some places before the major transfer of the Hispanics. I spent many days in Culpeper as a teenager back in the early 70's and the sketchy people were the white collar beer drinking and trouble making white rednecks. (No offense to anyone) So the word sketchy was around before the Hispanics moved in or at least some variation of it. I have many friends out there and they have no issues with anyone else living there as long as no trouble is started which is something I'm sure we all want.