I'm considering relocating from Southern California and I'm considering Richmond as a destination. I've never been there but I'm hoping it meets my criteria for a great place to live. I was hoping that some of you could advise on a few things:

1) Are there any nearby tracks?
2) How much snow does Richmond get?
3) How is the insect situation?
4) I'm a mechanical Engineer....any idea how the job situation is?
5) Home prices......What can I get for $400,000-$500,000? How are property taxes?
6) Driving roads....are there good roads for weekend drives? How's the cop situation?
7) How are the schools?
8) How's the night life? Restaurants? Weekend activities for families?

I was born and raised in Buffalo, NY and have been in SoCal for the last 9 years. The housing prices are through the roof here and I was considering cashing out. I'd also like to find a better place to raise my son and someplace with less traffic. Thanks in advance!

Jake

 

Don't have answers to all of your questions.

Cops: horrible! Easy to get a ticket on the highways, especially if you're from out of state, it seems.

Track: VIR about 3 hours, there is an oval right in Richmond used for NASCAR, Summit Point also about 3 hours.

Good luck!

 

1. yes, but better to ask someone else.
2. not much, one storm a year, ice more typical
3. depends on your reference, i have seen worse and better.
4. no idea, i would expect nearer to DC it would offer more choices.
5. 400-500k will get you a biggy.
6. yes and yes.
7. no idea
8. no idea

as a qualification, i dont live there, but i did stay at a residence inn last night.

 

Why not consider Charlottesville,VA? Much more rural setting than Richmond, You have the Blue Ridge mountains, not the Dismal Swamp. It's a college town with Univ. of VA present, It's closer to VIR and Summitpoint racetracks, Oh, and the author of the Declaration of Independence built his home there too.


VA is one of the most beautiful states of the Union, and Albemarle County is one of its more scenic areas.

 

Funny, I was considering Charlottesville because a guy on another forum (different car) lives there and has a killer house and just built the garage of all garages. The only thing is the lack of Mechanical Engineering jobs. I'll have to check commute times for where the closests jobs would be. My wife (who's an Occupational Therapist) probably wouldn't have a problem finding a job anywhere though.

BTW....is Richmond really a dismal swamp compared to Charlottesville? They're not that far away from eachother.

The one other thing that kinda sucks is the average rainfalls for the area were pretty high. I compared it with Buffalo and the rainfall is about 20% more per month during the summer. I think I'm spoiled by the zero rainfall we get here in SoCal for most of the year.

Thanks for everyone's imput so far.

 

Jakemate,

I won't badmouth any part of VA, it's that nice. Still, check out this site:

http://www.albemarle.org/

Judge for yourself.

 

Not being from Richmond but having visited many times when my sister used to live there, it's a GREAT place to live. You can get a really nice house in a really nice neighborhood for $400-$500k. The James River runs right through the city - very scenic. The historic district, Shockoe Bottom, which was just thrashed by Gaston, will certainly be restored and is a blast: great food, bars, that sort of thing.


The other cool part is that you're not far from VA beach (about 2-2.5 hours depending on traffic through the Hampton Roads bridge-tunnel), not far from the Outer Banks (4 hours tops), and can access places like Charlottesville (smaller but prettier, not as many jobs) and Blacksburg, where Va Tech is situated as well as the New River - rock climbing and whitewater rafting and fishing.

VA is where my fiancee and I will likely end up. My two oldest brothers like in Yorktown, which is on the eastern side of the state on the York River/Chesapeake Bay. Nice area but getting a little bit too developed for my tastes. Plus I like cities, and Richmond has that flavor to it.

Good luck, and try to visit us out here if you can!

Marty

 

Avoid VA at all costs, it sucks to live there (though the state is pretty!). I lived in Norfolk for 6 years. Laws are screwy and the cops suck. There are a lot of screwy laws, like about modding your car and things like that.

 

Right, make your most important life decisions based on 'screwy' laws about modding your car.

Marty

 

Jake,

Homefair is a pretty cool site for doing research on moving places. You can do school comparisons, cost-of-living comparisons and also search for areas with demographics like a place you're from.


BTW, what's with the insect inquiry? The others I get, but why do you want to know about bugs?

Also check out River City MINIs' website if you haven't yet. Nice folks...

Deb

 

Because I dealt with mosquitos for 25 years in Buffalo and there are virtually no insects in SoCal. I've come to appreciate the lack of insects.

 

I grew up in Rochester, and there are bugs down here but nothing like what I knew in NY.


Marty

 

I used to live in Panama and Central America. There are bugs in those locales that are larger than infants. We have it easy in the USA.

 

I think I'm leaning more towards Raleigh, NC now because there are a bunch of Mechanical Engineering jobs there. I need to visit.

 

Well, I actually lived in Apex(just outside of Raleigh for 5 years) On the whole, it was a good place to live. If I were to choose, I would choose Raleigh over DC, and Richmond over Raleigh. The traffic there is limited to a couple roads......but they are the only roads. If your work allows flex hours, then it is not bad at all. a couple hours early or late, and you miss traffic completely. Water is a big issue there. They dont have much. What they do have, they are allocating towards many, many developments. Cary has done some better planning than most, but the town is a little like the stepford wives in my view. The towns that were controlled by the developers are slowly realizing the problems of school over-crowding, lack of water, lack of sewer treatment. School over-crowding is a big issue. I lived in Chapel Hill for two years, and it has a more/real small town feel. Raleigh proper has a few bars on a few streets.....you walk a lot. Chapel Hill has them on one street, and you dont have to stumble as far. Chapel Hill is obviously more college town than Raleigh. Durham should be avoided......the county, the town etc.....The area around Duke is about the only good area. North of Raleigh has the best long term potential with the beltway.

The area's prosperity goes up and down as IBM goes up and down. They are the major employer there by a large margin. Although there are many chemical and high tech firms there.

If i had to live there again, i would live in Chapel Hill and commute to the triangle park or to raleigh.....that is the main counter traffic flow......although there were putting in a mega mall before i left that could really change that outlook.

Its hot there. day, night, its hot and humid. lawns die without a double dose of water each day, and many communities there(in the dollar range you indicated) require a certain level of green......hence, a good size water bill. ....its hot....really.....baking hot.....it took me three years to get used to the heat........i can now play golf comfortably in 95+ degree heat.

Why do i put Richmond over Raleigh.......proximity to the mountains and the ocean.......Raleigh is about 5-8 hours away from both. ....and raleigh is flat.....and very few twistys.....but you can drive to the mountains for the weekend to make up for it.....but its a vacation, not a day trip.

thats all IMHO. Good Luck.