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Hello. I want to come up to look at homes for sale in Eastern West Virginia, would look at homes that are out of town, on small rural acreage.
I want to find something close to National Forest and for full time living. (this is for my family member)
Can you recommend safe towns/areas? Somewhere with little property crime and safe for a woman to live alone. Would be good to find area with wired internet (though realize this might be a pipe dream) and somewhere where there's no too much snow and getting around in winter won't be an issue. I understand that elevation will play a role here.
Also, finding the area where people are friendly towards newcomers is important...
I'm not looking near bigger towns or at the Panhandle, but rather searching for more of a rural quiet area where not much is going on and not growth-oriented.
Any recommendations?
Your best bet is somewhere east of the mountains to avoid snow. Try Petersburg or Moorefield just east of the Mon Forest in the base of the panhandle. Other than that, maybe White Sulphur Springs to the south of the Mon Forest. Basically everywhere else near the Mon Forest gets a ton of snow.
I see - thanks! Petersburg/Moorfield area had been of interest to me earlier.
Did not realize eastern side of the mountains was getting more snow...I thought eastern side would be wetter because of being closer to the ocean. I guess elevations tend to run lower in the eastern part.
The locations you mention seem to be getting around 25 inches/year, very moderate... Yeah, checking locations West of the Forest I'm seeing 50-70ish inches of annual snow.
I see - thanks! Petersburg/Moorfield area had been of interest to me earlier.
Did not realize eastern side of the mountains was getting more snow...I thought eastern side would be wetter because of being closer to the ocean. I guess elevations tend to run lower in the eastern part.
The locations you mention seem to be getting around 25 inches/year, very moderate... Yeah, checking locations West of the Forest I'm seeing 50-70ish inches of annual snow.
East of the mountains and you're in the rain shadow of the Appalachians. When clouds hit the mountains from the west, the dump snow/rain.
I think all the towns near the mountains would be fine for you and all would be safe. Petersburg,Moorefield, Wardensville and Franklin would be towns on the eastern side of the mountain to look at. Buckhannon and even Elkins would be good to look at. Snow totals have dropped the last few years and we have had on one major snow in that time period. East of Elkins just a few miles can had 4-10 inches in some years. Summersville would also be a town to look at. I live in Randolph County and unless you are in the higher elevations in Randolph,Tucker,Pendleton or Pocahontas snow is at a minimal.
How much snow do you consider ideal? Summersville's historical snow average is around 50-55 inches a year so not exactly light. Richwood gets even more. Elkins has an average around 70 inches. That of course doesn't mean you'll get that every year but some years you might get even more.
I would stick to the towns in the Potomac Highlands such as Petersburg or Moorefield. As 304eer stated earlier, they are on the Eastern side of the mountains and therefore have much smaller annual snow totals. Wardensville is a nice town but very small even compared to Moorefield and Petersburg- it's also only about 95 miles from the DC Beltway so more and more people are starting to look into the area for second homes and therefore increasing the land prices.
Thanks so much!
I see that crime levels starts for all these towns are low, indeed.
I don't have set cut-off amount of snow, but the less the better. Probably less than 70 inches, though...White Sulphur Springs or Petersburg's 25 inches/year seem really nice. If I don't find the right property, though, I'd expand my search to where there's more snow...
One consideration is I want to be away from faster-paced areas in Virginia... so getting into the area where property values are increasing because of 2nd home purchases by DC folks might not be on target for me. I've actually stayed in Winchester, VA this summer, right over the border, and the town seemed extremely fast-paced, I was surprised - especially since it doesn't have big population at all, very fast-paced and I liked much slower enviornment in Eastern Kentucky, if you compare places along WV borders. I'm used to more slow-paced and laid-back, rural places and think would be nice to be further away from areas that get more home buyers from DC even though property values wouldn't grow as much. So, not sure - going South towards White Sulphur Springs might be the right thing for me, as it's further away from DC.
Thanks so much!
I see that crime levels starts for all these towns are low, indeed.
I don't have set cut-off amount of snow, but the less the better. Probably less than 70 inches, though...White Sulphur Springs or Petersburg's 25 inches/year seem really nice. If I don't find the right property, though, I'd expand my search to where there's more snow...
One consideration is I want to be away from faster-paced areas in Virginia... so getting into the area where property values are increasing because of 2nd home purchases by DC folks might not be on target for me. I've actually stayed in Winchester, VA this summer, right over the border, and the town seemed extremely fast-paced, I was surprised - especially since it doesn't have big population at all, very fast-paced and I liked much slower enviornment in Eastern Kentucky, if you compare places along WV borders. I'm used to more slow-paced and laid-back, rural places and think would be nice to be further away from areas that get more home buyers from DC even though property values wouldn't grow as much. So, not sure - going South towards White Sulphur Springs might be the right thing for me, as it's further away from DC.
That makes sense. The Winchester area has seen a lot of growth over the past decade or so - it has become an exurb of the DC area as people move farther out seeking more affordable housing. It will only continue to get bigger / busier.
I honestly would check out places outside of Lewisburg- the Greenbrier Valley area is one of my favorite parts of West Virginia. It can definitely be pricier though, especially in town but if you head south into Monroe County you might find something.
Yes, I'm looking way out of town...
I know that the Eastern panhandle, where Martinsburg is, is a very developed place. I stopped there this summer and it felt like being in DC suburb (I haven't lived in DC in 22 years, and haven't lived in Virginia in 20 years, things had been changing...)
I wonder if these changes are really affecting Petersburg/Moorehead area pace of life and if there're development plans.
By the way, I was pretty surprised at high grocery prices in Martinsburg and very happy with ones in Clarksburg, I simply passed through and had no chance to visit Petersburg area yet, but will do shortly.
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