Need Help On Va (Norfolk, Richmond: high crime, new home, buying)

[Njrover0216]

I am looking to relocate. My husband is a police officer, so it would have to be somewhere that is hiring. It looks like there are several department hiring in Virginia. I am looking for a nice place, that has not yet been hit by the skyrocketing costs of homes. Here are a list of some of the places hiring. I would like to get a fairly new home for under 250.

Counties:
Chesterfield
Ablemarle
Prince William
Henrico
Arlington
Fairfax

Cities hiring:
Virginia beach
alexandria
charlottesville
roanoke
petersburg
norfolk
hopewell
lake monticello
winchester
massanutten

Those are the available jobs in VA. Again I would like affordable housing, good schools, I do not want to be more then 3 hours from the coast, due to having family there. So I would like to stay on the east side of VA, north, south middle it doesn't really matter. I just need some guidance as to where I should start?

[Stonecoldharbours]

I think most of those counties sounds nice, esp Roanoak and alexandria, housing would prolly be alot more in Alexandria. I think Petersburg is sorta of depressed, but I could be wrong here too. I personally would pick one of these two as I have seen them and have some knowledge of. Housing should be doable at 250 in Roanake and you should be bout 4 hours or so to the coast in my calculations here. Going from Roanoak to Norfolk would be about 4 or 4 and half hours maybe. Good luck to you, Va is beautiful, we lived here for a few years and are going to move oursevles over to the area north of Roanoak.

[EricD]

Chesterfield would be nice I think... it's a great area, with affordable housing and good schools

[Rhett_Butler]

Lake Monticello would be good too..... Those priced out of Charlottesville and Albemarle County have been buying out there and I believe it's still affordable and a beautiful area....

[williamsburgfan]

I would look at where is a place he wants to work and then decide where to live. No way would I consider norfolk, Hopewell, Petersburg - so many nicer communities to work in. I am in James City County - a nice community where it is desirable to be PO and many of them work here and live in new kent, gloucester. If a community isn't listed as hiring that doesn;t mean they won;t in the future - jobs open up all the time. Pick a great place to work, where is more likely to come home veryday, doesn't have to deal with a high level of violent crime everyday and is still challenged. He should call each deaprtment he is considering and ask about community make-up, number of calls, type of calls - he'll know what to ask, and get the published numbers. Once you narrow down the job to the communities he is interested in you'll know where to look. Many PO's are leaving the larger, hard to police areas and applying to the smaller communities - so keep at it.

[onevthoki]

Another option would be to get in with a sheriff's department. The rural counties here use them and the cost of living is going to be less. Also, he might want to look into some of the military installations. They are always looking for police - many of them have contractors, but some still have their own hires, and then you can get federal benefits, which is HUGE! I would recommend looking at Ft. Lee (Chesterfield County), Fort AP Hill (Caroline County) and then you have Ft. Eustis (Williamsburg area), Ft. Monroe (VA Beach) and numberous others in the beach area.

As to affordable housing, the closer you get to the DC area, the more expensive your housing will be, and the traffic will be worse. Good luck!

[emailvasally]

I live in Newport news. which is near Ft. Eustis. If you stay on the northorn side Newport news is real nice. be choosy about the neighbrhoods and houses stay away from the downtown area where the houses are cheaper. high crime horrible schools.

virginia beach is real nice but a lot more "city like" and homes are much more expensive. Suffolk is up and coming and most of it has decent schools and is most affordable. There is so much to choose from around here depending on what you want.

Oh! keep with your idea of staying away from norfolk.

[Stonecoldharbours]

Lee hall is in the north end of NN, where is "safer" but certainly has alot of problems as well, but its the better part here...and the school is horrible, voted 1 or 2 and is in big trouble...rethink it if you have children.

Look into the lower end of James City County, if you really have to live in Hampton roads, better to towards Richmond where housing is better and more affordable.

[emailvasally]

I would agree about lees mill. I dont live to far from there. the beechmont area is great. schools are good. (except middle, passage is horrible) a lot of people in this area send their kids to private school just for the middle school years. The Mechville area is fantastic. Menville high even made the best schools list. (top 10 I think). York county is awsome also.

[The Dissenter]

Originally Posted by emailvasally

I would agree about lees mill. I dont live to far from there. the beechmont area is great. schools are good. (except middle, passage is horrible) a lot of people in this area send their kids to private school just for the middle school years. The Mechville area is fantastic. Menville high even made the best schools list. (top 10 I think). York county is awsome also.

It's spelled Menchville and it's a great area i think the best you can do in Newport News. York County is also a good option but a little expensive.