Possible move to Tidewater (Virginia Beach, Norfolk: apartment, to rent, house)

[Woodland Smith]

I may be moving to Hampton Roads with a job - I could be in Norfolk or Hampton. I'm trying to get a feel for both areas and hope you folks might be kind enough to help.

I've lived in Southside Virginia for 3 years, so although I read negative reviews on the social scene, I'm guessing that anything will be an improvement on my current situation. I'm nearly 30, and unmarried. I never really got into nightlife, but I enjoy wholesome family-type entertainment - festivals, baseball games, museums, outdoor activities. I understand there are lots of hunting and fishing opportunities in the area. I'm not Navy, but volunteer with the Coast Guard Auxiliary. I'm a fairly traditional Catholic, and I'd like to know of good parishes, especially those with schools, in the event I do have a family in the future.

For now, I'm wondering if it might be feasible to rent a smallish house with a smallish yard maybe $600 to $1000 per month. I don't absolutely need a house and yard, but after 3 years of no garden and no workshop for woodworking and coppersmithing, I'd like to have space. How is the commute from the Smithfield area to Hampton or the rural areas of VA Beach or Chesapeake to Norfolk?

Your comments are appreciated, thank you.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by Woodland Smith

I may be moving to Hampton Roads with a job - I could be in Norfolk or Hampton. I'm trying to get a feel for both areas and hope you folks might be kind enough to help.

I've lived in Southside Virginia for 3 years, so although I read negative reviews on the social scene, I'm guessing that anything will be an improvement on my current situation. I'm nearly 30, and unmarried. I never really got into nightlife, but I enjoy wholesome family-type entertainment - festivals, baseball games, museums, outdoor activities. I understand there are lots of hunting and fishing opportunities in the area. I'm not Navy, but volunteer with the Coast Guard Auxiliary. I'm a fairly traditional Catholic, and I'd like to know of good parishes, especially those with schools, in the event I do have a family in the future.

For now, I'm wondering if it might be feasible to rent a smallish house with a smallish yard maybe $600 to $1000 per month. I don't absolutely need a house and yard, but after 3 years of no garden and no workshop for woodworking and coppersmithing, I'd like to have space. How is the commute from the Smithfield area to Hampton or the rural areas of VA Beach or Chesapeake to Norfolk?

Your comments are appreciated, thank you.

I prefer Norfolk. Even though Hampton is cheaper, Norfolk is on the Southside. Hampton is on the Peninsula. The Peninsula doesn't have as much going on for it as the Southside. I'm only paying $900 for a home in Norfolk.

Rural areas of VA Beach or Chesapeake to Norfolk is 30 minutes to an hour, all depending on the traffic on I-264 if you're speaking of VA Beach, or I-464 if it is Chesapeake you speak of, which actually runs into I-264 anyway. Either way you'll have to deal with the downtown traffic in Norfolk; not that Cheseapeake and Virginia Beach's traffic is any lighter, but they have wider roads than Norfolk. Norfolk is more 2 lanes or 3 lanes each direction, whereas in Virginia Beach and Chesapeake 4 lanes each direction is the norm. You don't even get 4 lanes in one direction on the one way streets in Norfolk. Norfolk is a major bottleneck.

When you say Southside, I assume you mean Southwest? Yes, this is far more urban than anything you'll experience in Staunton, Roanoke, Harrisonburg, Winchester, etc. The real fun starts in Richmond, and then it is just one big bottleneck until you get here. Hopefully they expand I-64 East of Richmond another 2 lanes in each direction, hell, they really need an additional 3, but I'll be thankful for one.

But to your other question, the Peninsula is nice, and has its advantages, particularly during Noreaster or a Superstorm like Sandy, but it just feels neglected. Newport News and Hampton you get the feel you made a wrong turn into Youngstown, Detroit, or Baltimore somehow. It can be pretty rough. Norfolk has its spots here and there, but it seems to have more going for it because it is considered the urban core of Hampton Roads. Downtown tries to be a major tourist trap, but outside of MacArthur Mall and Nauticus, not really. Waterside is in limbo.

If you do end up in Virginia Beach or Chesapeake, rents are higher, and both aim to be a bit more cosmopolitan than say Norfolk or Hampton. Neither (Virginia Beach or Chesapeake) seem to have a whole lot going on for the poor, or the working poor, or even the lower middle class, so you'll want to get with a realtor and find out which neighborhoods a city like Norfolk or Hampton are worth your time, safe to live in, not as much crime, etc. Stores seem to be hard to come by in Norfolk, not as many options as Virginia Beach or Chesapeake, for example. On the other hand, the only Peebles in this area are in Norfolk and Hampton, if Peebles is your thing.

[Falcor117]

600-900 would be a stretch for all but the smallest of homes, or homes in areas you would probably not want to live.

Any reason your budget is so low? 1200+ would get you a nice place around here if you *had* to have a home.

If you're considering moving here for a job, I'd hope they would be paying you more than enough to cover a $1200 rent.

I'm in nearly the same boat, 30, single, no kids. Not a great area for people like us. If I weren't locked down here with a mortgage, I would leave and never look back. Second I sell, I'm gone.

[Lt. B]

I just left Va Beach for Suffolk. It just had started to close in on us. Im married and 25 years older than you but the prospects arent much different. I owned a place in Kempsville that took all of 30 min to cut the grass and weed eat. Our garden consisted of veggies in the rear flower beds and movable earth boxes. about 1600 square feet of heated living space and I rented a room out for 550. The house next door rented for 1300 and was in poor condition. I grew up in that area and the way it was changing was not what I wanted for this point in my life. I would suggest on line dating if thats your objective. It was a lot of fun and I met a lot of nice folks. Churches are another way to get socialized with people that have the same value system as you. Believe me brother bars and nightspots are no place to find a mate. I commute from suffolk to Ches each morning at 630. 35 min on avg. and I start work at 8. I have some time to kill each day but traffic is very bad at rush hours so pick your place carefully.

[Woodland Smith]

I have been away for a bit - thank you all very much for posting. I have prospects narrowed a bit - the job offered would be in Hampton. I backed up my rent estimate with numbers, and yes, based on potential pay, $900.00 would be the max. I'm seeing that St. Joseph in Buckroe and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newport News seem to have the most thriving Catholic communities on the peninsula. From the little I can tell so far, both seem to be in decent neighborhoods (Newport News seems to have the worst reputation, south and east of OLMC).

I don't have to have a home, but I would love a bit more privacy than I have. If I do have one - or even if I get an apartment with balconies - I'd love to have a few planter boxes, like Lt. B.

Goofy 328, Southside is roughly the counties of Lunenburg, Charlotte, Mecklenburg, Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry, and Patrick. It's about the emptiest stretch of land I've ever seen, with factories replaced by call centers.

[goofy328]

Originally Posted by Woodland Smith

I have been away for a bit - thank you all very much for posting. I have prospects narrowed a bit - the job offered would be in Hampton. I backed up my rent estimate with numbers, and yes, based on potential pay, $900.00 would be the max. I'm seeing that St. Joseph in Buckroe and Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Newport News seem to have the most thriving Catholic communities on the peninsula. From the little I can tell so far, both seem to be in decent neighborhoods (Newport News seems to have the worst reputation, south and east of OLMC).

I don't have to have a home, but I would love a bit more privacy than I have. If I do have one - or even if I get an apartment with balconies - I'd love to have a few planter boxes, like Lt. B.

Goofy 328, Southside is roughly the counties of Lunenburg, Charlotte, Mecklenburg, Halifax, Pittsylvania, Henry, and Patrick. It's about the emptiest stretch of land I've ever seen, with factories replaced by call centers.

Oh that Southside. Well $900 goes a lot further on the Peninsula. You might be able to get away with $900 in Norfolk, you may not particularly care for the neighborhood, but it is available. In Virginia Beach, $900 is unusually small plot of land, very small house may as well be an apartment. In Chesapeake, you could find something even cheaper in South Norfolk for like $700, but again, you probably wouldn't want to live in it South Norfolk is a sketchy part of Chesapeake.

From what I understand Hampton isn't quite as bad as Newport News, but not much better either. Your realtor would have more information about it. Newport News' reputation isn't entirely underserved. Just seems like a depressing place to live a lot better closer to Hampton and closer to Williamsburg but in its core not a lot going on for it. I would love to see the core go through gentrification, or be torn down or rebuilt, or whatever works. The core is very urban, very dense, would work well if it weren't so underutilized. Lots of possibilities IMHO.