Thinking about moving to NOVA. (Virginia Beach, Richmond: ski resort, apartments, rentals)

[Jean71]

Hey guys and gals,

My GF and I are thinking about moving to VA early next year and are leaning toward the NOVA region as it seems to meet much of our criteria.

We wanted to be pretty close to beaches, maybe a hour and a half(at most) or less and within a 3 hour drive to ski mountains. Would love to be as close as possible to the mountains for nice scenic motorcycle rides and car drives too. Jobs however are the most important though. We would like to live in a safe place with good schools. No kids yet but would like to in the future. I am 32 and she is 28. So an area with things to do(shopping, concerts..) is important too. I would like to get into the I.T field for work. She wants to go back to school and study Criminal Law and get a part time job ideally as a 911 dispatcher.

We were heavily leaning on Fredericksburg since its between D.C and Richmond. I'm now thinking that the commute is going to suck from there. Not sure what the job market is like in Fredericksburg itself?

Are there any other places/areas you guys can recommend for consideration?
We will be renting and would like to keep rent less than a $1000p/m if thats possible.

Thanks in advance.

[Bigfoot424]

Better keep doing some research. Beaches are further away and you might not like what you'll get for $1000 a month. You're well within reach of some decent Ski areas from here but the beaches are further away.

[CaliTerp07]

If you're looking for ocean beaches, you won't find them within an hour and a half of DC. They're at least 3 hours (Ocean City, MD, Virginia Beach, VA, Bethany or Dewey Beach, DE...) Even Fredericksburg to VA beach is still 3 hours. You can find a lake or the bay in closer to 2 hours.

I would highly recommend finding a job for at least one of you, and then moving and choosing your housing based on that job location. Traffic is nasty here! You could have a job 10 miles from home and spend over an hour in the car getting there if you aren't careful. Your job will also dictate your budget. $1000 isn't realistic for anything other than a 1 br apartment in a less-than-pristine area, or a basement apartment in someone's home. Or a really long, really nasty commute. You may get lucky though and find work in an area further out from DC, and be able to take advantage of a shorter commute and/or cheaper rent.

Really though, I'd find a job--that will narrow down your search immensely! If you decide to move here without a job offer, I'd try hard to find a 3-6 month lease (though that will cost you a higher rent, most likely) because if/when you do get a job you don't want to be stuck living in an area that would make for a nasty commute.

[jillybean720]

Agreeing that you won't reach a beach in 90 minutes from this area. Unless it's maybe 2:30am, not within a week of a holiday, there's no road work nor accidents (ha!), and you don't get caught as you're driving 100mph

I don't know about Fredricksburg for rentals, but I know I moved to NOVA and got my own one-bedroom apartment in Manassas (which is by no means considered very close to the city) back in 2004, and my rent was just barely under $1000. And rent, of course, did not include any utilities, cable, etc. Commuting from Fredericksburg all depends on where you're commuting TO. If you're thinking of commuting all the way to DC (or even near DC - Alexandria, Arlington, Tysons, etc.), I would STRONGLY advise against it to save your sanity and to have any semblance of a "normal" life without hours of time spent commuting each day.

[govmoneynvegas]

Protip1: We have traffic here, so if mapquest says 1.5 hours, double it plus another half hour, that should be about right. 3-4 hours is more like it for getting to the beach. I don't think I've ever heard anyone say they like NOVA because of the beaches...LOL

Protip2: $1,000? I'm guessing you have't even started looking at apartments yet. Add another $500 to that, $1500 is on the starting low end for apartments in this area, and you certainly don't get what you pay for. It will be old and crappy.

Protip3: Do more research. Unless you have an amazing job lined up, I'd recommend not coming here.

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by Jean71

Hey guys and gals,

My GF and I are thinking about moving to VA early next year and are leaning toward the NOVA region as it seems to meet much of our criteria.

We wanted to be pretty close to beaches, maybe a hour and a half(at most) or less and within a 3 hour drive to ski mountains. Would love to be as close as possible to the mountains for nice scenic motorcycle rides and car drives too. Jobs however are the most important though. We would like to live in a safe place with good schools. No kids yet but would like to in the future. I am 32 and she is 28. So an area with things to do(shopping, concerts..) is important too. I would like to get into the I.T field for work. She wants to go back to school and study Criminal Law and get a part time job ideally as a 911 dispatcher.

We were heavily leaning on Fredericksburg since its between D.C and Richmond. I'm now thinking that the commute is going to suck from there. Not sure what the job market is like in Fredericksburg itself?

Are there any other places/areas you guys can recommend for consideration?
We will be renting and would like to keep rent less than a $1000p/m if thats possible.

Thanks in advance.

Well, first, Fredericksburg is too far south to be NoVa. I doubt there are many job opportunities there. You'd have to go at least as far north as Stafford and then commute into DC or the surrounding areas, like Fairfax and Alexandria. However, rent under 1000 is unlikely, even for a one-bedroom. I think rent starts at about 1500.

Sorry, but the beach is out - nearest one is more than 1.5 hours away, and it isn't that great anyway.

You'll have better luck with scenic motorcycle drives - we do have scenic roads and mountains within an hour.

Not sure about skiing - I know there is at least one large ski resort, but I don't know if it's any good or not. I don't know anyone who skis around here. It's not a very outdoorsy place.

The only thing this area really offers is job opportunities and good schools.

[kevbros]

There are plenty of outdoorsy people around here. Kayakers,bikers, hikers, birders- I see them all the time. As for skiing, we go often, as do lots of people around here. Liberty and Whitetail aren't exactly Kitzbuehel, but they are easily doable in a day trip and their parking lots are full of cars from the DMV, so we are not alone.

[marie5v]

Originally Posted by kevbros

There are plenty of outdoorsy people around here. Kayakers,bikers, hikers, birders- I see them all the time. As for skiing, we go often, as do lots of people around here. Liberty and Whitetail aren't exactly Kitzbuehel, but they are easily doable in a day trip and their parking lots are full of cars from the DMV, so we are not alone.

I think these outdoorsy types are particularly determined. I have seen them, too, but I don't know anyone like that, so I think it's less common than in, say, California. When I lived on the west coast, I didn't know a single person who didn't have some outdoor hobby, and I felt like I was always doing something like kayaking or rock-climbing, and without making any special effort. If I want to do anything outdoors here I have to really make an effort. The weather is not good for outdoor activities for most of the year - either too hot or too cold and wet, biking is very dangerous on most of the roads, rock-climbing requires a long drive and decent weather, and so on. So I'm not saying no one does anything, just that it's not the kind of place where everyone does something, or even where most people do something outdoors. I'm pretty sure the most common kind of exercise is done in a fitness club.

[Nancy in Nokomis]

Looks like all the replys are very truthful. I love the beach and miss it very much - it takes a lot of planning and a very long, traffic filled drive to get to the beach in NOVA. Not a day trip.
Traffic here is horrible - worse then you could ever imagine - it has an effect on every part of your life. My husbands job is in Springfield and his coworker has to take off on Friday in the summer or else it would take him about 3 or more hours to get home to Fredericksburg -

[justtitans]

Originally Posted by Jean71

Hey guys and gals,

My GF and I are thinking about moving to VA early next year and are leaning toward the NOVA region as it seems to meet much of our criteria.

We wanted to be pretty close to beaches, maybe a hour and a half(at most) or less and within a 3 hour drive to ski mountains. Would love to be as close as possible to the mountains for nice scenic motorcycle rides and car drives too. Jobs however are the most important though. We would like to live in a safe place with good schools. No kids yet but would like to in the future. I am 32 and she is 28. So an area with things to do(shopping, concerts..) is important too. I would like to get into the I.T field for work. She wants to go back to school and study Criminal Law and get a part time job ideally as a 911 dispatcher.

As others have mentioned, you aren't quite that close to all of those things but Fredericksbrug wouldn't put you that much out of the way of those things.

If you are looking at jobs, Fredericksburg would be too far out because you would have to hope that you both can find a job that is close by or near the VRE rail. If not then you are looking at a tough commute.

You won't find many concerts that far down.

Depending on how much your job pays, her working part time may hurt your options. It just depends on how much you make and your debt. Either way, the jobs and location of those jobs would ultimately determine how realistic your goals are.

Originally Posted by Jean71

We were heavily leaning on Fredericksburg since its between D.C and Richmond. I'm now thinking that the commute is going to suck from there. Not sure what the job market is like in Fredericksburg itself?

Again, you are likely going to have to commute for work.

Originally Posted by Jean71

Are there any other places/areas you guys can recommend for consideration?
We will be renting and would like to keep rent less than a $1000p/m if thats possible.

Thanks in advance.

You won't find much that is under $1000 in any part of NoVA, but the only other place that is somewhat affordable in NoVA is Manassas, but there are some neighborhoods that aren't particularly safe, that I would not recommend even though they may fit your price range.

If $1000/month is all you can afford, I would consider another area. It may not have as much to do, but your quality of life would be significantly better.