Portsmouth? (Norfolk, Chesapeake, Hampton: to rent, low crime, houses)

[ndarling]

I have a contract on a condominium in River Pointe, in Portsmouth. I will be moving from Virginia Beach (mainly to get away from the jet noise). I have driven through the area, and would like to know where the closest shopping is located -- supermarkets, movie theaters, drug stores, etc.? If anyone has any positive or negative experiences in living in this part of Portsmouth, I would appreciate a reply. Thank you.

[Velvet-T]

I only peeked in here because I was curious as to what my fellow Virginian residents have to say about their hometowns and I'm a little amazed! Every town has it's ups and downs. I'd suggest checking housing prices online. If you find many houses under 120,000 you are headed toward the low income, high crime districts if the house is around 250,000 you are in the low/middle class districts with "family" style neighborhoods, at 350,000 in VA you have entered the military, professional zone (some blue collar and very few city workers) These areas have the people who keep nice houses but you will probably rarely get a chance to know them since they either travel a lot, work a lot and generally keep to themselves. (near military bases etc).
The housing prices are up right now so you may want to adjust the figures a little and a rule of thumb, if the address is a direction, or a number you are in the downtown, shoot em up districts (26th st, 29th st, N st etc.) And that seems to be in every city in the VA.

No matter where you move, VA is beautiful, somewhat confusing, and your part of the street will be as pleasant as you make it. Plant flowers and your neighbors will too.

[shane.reid]

Originally Posted by ndarling

I have a contract on a condominium in River Pointe, in Portsmouth. I will be moving from Virginia Beach (mainly to get away from the jet noise). I have driven through the area, and would like to know where the closest shopping is located -- supermarkets, movie theaters, drug stores, etc.? If anyone has any positive or negative experiences in living in this part of Portsmouth, I would appreciate a reply. Thank you.

I've lived in Waterview for over a year now - Portsmouth is great if you don't mind living close to the city. Riverpointe is a very nice area as well - the closest "nice" place to go for some dinner and a couple shops (spa) and a movie theater is Harbourview Grande.

if you want a mall - there is a limited mall called "Chesapeake Square Mall".

[brookitus]

I live in Sterling Point in Churchland, and it's a great neighborhood. Perfect for a family! Unfortunately, we have to move and I'm sad to leave Sterling Point. Our home is for sale, so it's all official now. We are near Western Branch and Churchland Elementary Schools. Traffic on Downtown tunnel can be bad, but getting around the other bridges and tunnels is not bad at all. You should buy my house!

[Dellie212]

Katerina03:
I was in stationed in Norfolk and loved every minute of it, VA is a Military state so there are a lot of military.i 'vetraveled to Portsmouth and other parts of VA. I can tell you that Suffolk is up and coming and if you have been sheltered all your life you might want to reconsider moving to Portsmouth. There are some really nice areas there and if you like I can introduce you to several firends of mine who are professionals and that live in Portsmouth

[winke]

Originally Posted by katerina03

I am moving to Va this spring if I can get a teaching job. So far I am looking into Suffolk and Portsmouth. Are these safe areas with low crime? I am coming from a tiny town in Ohio and I am very apprehensive about relocating because I have lived in such a safe area my entire life. Someone, please let me know about the safest places in the Suffolk and Portsmouth area. Thank you so very much.

Portsmouth IS a safe town but has a less than safe reputation. I've lived here all my life(born here) and I'm 60 yr old. Portsmouth schools do not pay as well as the surrounding cities of Suffolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach and Norfolk....All of these cities are within 30 minutes of each other. There are shopping malls, businesses of all types, professionals, anything you would want in any one of these cities...

I have a VERY close friend who taught in Suffolk public schools for about 10 years and left to teach in Chesapeake for more money. She stayed in Chesapeake for 1 year and left because the teachers got SO much static from parents about their kids. She teaches at the community college level now. Suffolk is a large city as someone else said but in size only. It's farm country now but is starting to grown VERY fast. BTW, my friend taught english at the high school level.

I'll try to fill in some of the blanks from other posts......Portsmouth and all the surrounding cities ARE safe but they all have areas like any city in America that are less desirable than others. The "Churchland" area being the best and safest in Portsmouth but there are many. I sound like I'm promoting Churchland because I live there and have all my life ! There is an area of Portsmouth called "Old Towne" that is downtown....very quaint, lots of restaurants, art galleries,lots of young professionals, nice apartments, an excellant, renovated 'SUPPER CLUB' movie theater. The entire "Old Town" area is about 4,5 blocks square in area. Portsmouth is the smallest of all the cities I mentioned and Virginia Beach is the largest in terms of population

BTW, the person who said Portsmouth is loaded with crime and strip bars is 200% WRONG,WRONG, WRONG. Did I mention they are WRONG ! !

Suffolk is safe and enexpensive to live.....There is a very large military population in all the areas I mentioned.... Hampton Roads( the collective name for this general southeastern part of Virginia) is the home of one of the very largest Naval bases in the world but the Navy community in general is a good neighbor ....no problems.

Please, feel free to e mail me(mwinkmeister@aol.com) with any questions that might come to mind. Good luck ! !

[par]

My daughter teaches at the beach and lives there. At her age, she would not even consider the other cities for work or living. Great school system and she loves living in the Hilltop area, lots to do and 10 minutes from the beach, very popular area for younger people..

[arudd427]

Old Town/Downtown Portsmouth is nice. There are a lot of old homes converted into apartments & a few newer apartments, but they're pretty expensive (expect to pay at least $800/900/month).

Chuchland is OK. There are nice neighborhoods, but the commerical area is pretty depressing & most of the apartments are less than desirable. You can buy a nicer home for around $200-300,000 or more.

I'd just be careful in Portsmouth. My neighborhood is nice by day, but in the early evening/night when the kids are home from school I have to put up with screaming, fighting teenagers & think they're gangsters or something.

You're probably best off renting downtown or buying an upscale home in Churchland so you can be sure your neighborhood is OK.

[Vababy7]

Originally Posted by BonitaMamiChula

I am from Portsmouth and I graduated from I.C. Norcom in 1996 and we were not behind then I can not say what is going on now but we were an advanced school when I left. Portsmouth is actually coming up. I have been in a fairly good neighboorhood for 20 years so I can not agree with your review of portsmouth. All citys have their trouble even Virginia Beach. And it is not filled with strip clubs and crack heads. Again these are things that are found in every city. This area has a lot of military because we have the Norfolk Naval Shipyard and there are also a lot of port workers (i.e. Longshoreman) because we have Portsmoutmouth Marine Terminal and Virginia International Terminal and Lamberts Point here.They tore down both the major mall and strip mall and it is being replaced with new items. There are several communities that are being built where old housings were torn down. There is a community college in the area and it is not far from suffolk and chesapeake. Most people would say that Norfolk is the worst city in the Tidewater area, but I say you can find good and bad points in every city. All of the cities have their share of crimes and violence. Virginina Beach is home to a few strange crimes... A husband killing his wife with an bow and arrow. Just do a little more research all of the cities as I said before have their good points and bad points.

I'm From P-Town as well and I graduated from I.C. Norcom in 95. Through the use of the Hope 6 federal grant, Portsmouth has become one of the safest cities in the state of Va. I live in the Richmond area now and I'm looking to make a move back someday soon. I don't know if I would move to Suffolk though, unless I was interested in acreage.

[bookworm18]

I'm in the Portsmouth area now, have lived here since I was 5 and here's what I think: the area is really pretty and everything, but you can't find a decent pastry or pizza place, if you want the latest CD or book or whatever you have to do a lot of looking before you find it in a store, lots of rednecks, "under the table" racism, and from what I've experienced everyone here is very unfriendly and stand-offish. If I run into somebody who's decent I'm actually surprised. Lots of teens who want to be "ghetto", and if you love muffler trucks and boom cars you will LOVE Portsmouth and Hampton roads.