I need your advices! (Richmond, Roanoke: apartment, for rent, house)

[green cleo]

Hello everyone. I'm new in USA. I have a family and a 4 years old daughter. We are living in Nj for almost one year and we want to move to VA. Actually I dont know lots of things abouth cities of America ; because I dont know English well. I need your advice for choese to new living area.
The most important thing is , safety and have a good school for my little one.
I know using endustrial sewing machines. I have experiement for 15 years and i need a job with this skill. My husband is a chemist but he is working in a factory as a employee because our university degrees is not equal in here.
So we cant earn so much money.
We will need find a job and rent a house or apartment . Our price range is $1000-1300.
I need your help because you know the area. Thank you !
If i write something wrong please forgive me!

[Bigfoot424]

Is that price range for renting? I realize English is tough for you but we can understand what you're trying to say so can you provide more info? Do you want to live in an area where it's all suburbs/cities? If so move over to the Northern Virginia board as well. Virginia covers a huge area with a mix of smaller towns and cities and country living. The jobs of course will likely be more plentiful in the Northern Virginia area but there are also more people competing for them compared to the less populated areas listed here in the Virginia board. Also consider the Richmond board as this will be a more populated area/city but is generally less crowded as compared to Northern Virginia.

I'm not sure what your use of industrial sewing machine entails so not sure what to recommend. But there is a company in Northern Virginia where they make tactical vests for police officers and I've seen them using what I guess are industrial sewing machines as they were impressive looking machines so I assume there are more like these around.

But without knowing more of what you really want it might be tough to help you.

[green cleo]

@Bigfoot424 Thank you for your attention. Actually i said my skill becase of I thought maybe some textile jobs can be in a special area. Maybe no textile in there it's okay.
Yes, price was for renting. We dont want to live in big and crowded city.. I want to live with kind people. But you are right, there are more jobs in big cities. We can drive. Maybe you can advice me somewhere which is safe, have good schools and close to the big cities.
I will check the Northern Virginia.
Thank you!

[Bigfoot424]

You sound like you want Northern Virginia for sure. Not a true big city but a collection of counties with some busy and somewhat crowded cities mixed in. Others can advise better on rent than I can as I owned for my last 30 plus years there. But for that rent you may need to go a little further out in the suburbs to maybe Woodbridge, Manassas and such in Prince William County. There are too many good and bad areas to list on here so maybe you can ask about certain areas as you narrow them down. But do this in the Northern VA sub.

[green cleo]

Originally Posted by Bigfoot424

You sound like you want Northern Virginia for sure. Not a true big city but a collection of counties with some busy and somewhat crowded cities mixed in. Others can advise better on rent than I can as I owned for my last 30 plus years there. But for that rent you may need to go a little further out in the suburbs to maybe Woodbridge, Manassas and such in Prince William County. There are too many good and bad areas to list on here so maybe you can ask about certain areas as you narrow them down. But do this in the Northern VA sub.

I know $1300 is not much money but if schools will not open i have to stay at home with my daghter so i cant spend for rent more. I will check. You helped me so much ! Thank you ! Stay safe!

[ersatz]

Dear Green Cleo

Welcome to America. I regret to say that the price that you can pay is really too low for Northern Virginia unless you can find another family to share with. Northern Virginia is not really a factory area, it is more government and computers.

I have a suggestion. The Northern Virginia area, and the areas surrounding Washington D.C., have a lot of people from other countries. Many of them establish groups so they can meet, talk to, and help each other. Most people feel better when they can meet and talk to people from their original country. I am not sure if you want to identify your original country on this forum. If you wish, you can send me a private message on City Data. I will do my best to find out if there is a local community of people from your original country that you can talk to.

Regards
ersatz

[green cleo]

Hello Dear Ersatz,
Thank you for your answer. I can understand abouth price, I wish I had more.
Maybe I should look another state.I dont know, it's a hard desicion and i want to do my best for my child. I have 2 months for searching. Your ideas are so important for me in this step. Thank you so much!

[YorktownGal]

Originally Posted by green cleo

. My husband is a chemist but he is working in a factory as a employee because our university degrees is not equal in here!

Have your husband redo his chemistry degree at night. Once he has a job as a chemist, you'll have more money.

Look at all the colleges for chemistry. See which one has night courses (so he can work during the day). Then research their location and move close.

Instead of him working in a factory for low wages, he could be a well paid chemist.

[green cleo]

Originally Posted by YorktownGal

Have your husband redo his chemistry degree at night. Once he has a job as a chemist, you'll have more money.

Look at all the colleges for chemistry. See which one has night courses (so he can work during the day). Then research their location and move close.

Instead of him working in a factory for low wages, he could be a well paid chemist.

Thanks for tour advice, this is a great idea but now it's not possible. He is working for delivery at nights. When i began to working , he will try night courses.
Thank you so much!

[Panna_Manna]

I am just curious, why Virginia?

I am born and raised in Europe myself, and it is important to know that different parts within a US state can differ a lot.
Northern Virginia and Southwestern Virginia are like two different countries. And I say this as someone who have visited around 15 countries, and lived in 4. (All countries have differences, Milan is very different from the village in Borgo Schiro in Sicily, yet both are in Italy.

So think instead of saying "I am moving to Virginia", I think you should list 3-5 parameters that YOU and your family are looking for, and then pick an area that has just that.

I also recommend that you locate a group of folks from your part of the world, and see what they say. Let's say you pick Northern Virginia/the Washington DC suburbs. What do they say about living there. Especially the ones who do not like it. It is important to get opposing views (as long as they are relevant)

Northern Virginia is very urban and crowded. Maybe not as much as New Jersey.
Smaller cities could be Roanoke, Charlottesville or Harrisonburg.