Moving to Richmond
 

My husband and I are thinking of moving to the Richmond, VA area from Charlotte, NC. (Husband has new job offer there). Any suggestions where to live? We are both late 20's, no kids, but thinking of buying a house while interest rates are so good. Thanks, Lucy

I don't know what your finances are but I love The Fan District, Monument Avenue, and Little Five Points. Also, the River Road area has some beautiful homes. I know the Charlotte area is not cheap at all but don't know the real estate market in Richmond. Beautiful old southern city. I really love Richmond.

Thanks for the advice. Luckily money is not much of a problem for us. Is it better to live in the city itself or a suburb? One of our friends said Mechanicsville is nice.

It depends........do you want peace and quiet, or more "action"? The suburbs will give you more of a family atmosphere. (I can't imagine why your friend recommended Mechanicsville---kind of "blue collar".)
The Fan District downtown is great, and the "West End" of Richmond. (Henrico County). I live in Midlothian (Chesterfield County), and it's more family oriented. Downtown & the West End have more young adults, it seems.
Are you planning on kids? If so, and you think you'll be in your home awhile, you may want to buy in a good school district. (which would be Hanover, Chesterfield, or Henrico Counties, not City of Richmond). If that's not a worry right now, then your field is wide open! Good luck.

If you live in the city a few of my friends lived around the country club of richmond (or virginia - i dont really remember) but that was a realy nice neighborohood. I also had some friends that lived near U of R, and those are also really nice neighborohoods... and the houses on Monument ave are nice also..... good luck with the move

The Fan Area is also a good investment---good resale value. Monument Avenue is gorgeous, gorgeous, gorgeous.
These are beautiful, old, historic houses. If you want a newer house, again, the West End is good to check out for young couples. Resale values in Richmond are good. Our house's value has increased a lot in the 4 years we've lived here. What part of town is your husband's new job going to be in? You may look at commute time, too. I love Midlothian, but it takes longer to get to the interstate.

If you do not have kids, I can't think of why you would want to live in the burbs.

The advice given by many of the previous posters are pretty accurate. The River Road area is gorgeous! Henrico County's West End is also nice. Most homes along Monument Avenue are draw-dropping georgeous. Very detailed, nice architecture. We've lived in Richmond for 2 years and left. I hope the economy there has changed a lot since we left. We just couldn't adjust fully to a place where the city was defunct. Otherwise, Richmond is a beautiful town.

Lucy needs to tell us what she's looking for.

While I never actually moved there I did interview for a job with Hunto Williams there and seriously contemplated the offer and the move before coming to Florida instead. I was lucky in that Hunto as an employer brought me down for an "extended trip" and put me with a real estate specialist or several days. I had also visited Richmend several times before and was already pretty familar wit the city. Personally if I had decided to take the job and move there I would have bought in the near West End. It is not total suburbia bu tis a happy medium between dowtown and the suburbs. There are also some really good restaurants and shopping in that area. I am a 30 yo single female (was 29 at the time) and that is the area that appeared to fit my tastes with lots of young professional types and plenty to do. Again I never actually lived there so please don't take this as the gospel, but of my house hunting trip, that is what I found.

Lucy-

If I was in my 20's and married-looking to start a family-then definitely the WEST END...as in FAR WEST END-- the newest shopping center is opening there on Labor Day and will have Nordstroms and Lord and Taylors and will be a HUGE shopping area....There is also another shopping that is opening up South of the James that will have a Saks 5th Ave--but that shopping center will be quite a bit smaller...

Do NOT live South of the James--ie Midlothian or Chesterfield, as the traffic going INTO the city in the AM and OUT of the city in the PM is at a total standstill....

Also- forget about Mechanicsville--If money is no object- it is too blue collar for you...

A terrific area to live is near the Univ. of Richmond- Three Chopt Road area-but these are not subdivisions but neighborhoods...close to Libbie and Grove , a really neat little shopping area that reminds me of the Dilworth area in Charlotte, only more upscale...
( I used to live in Charlotte and now live outside of Richmond! )

Where is your husband going to be working--as that will help us tell you where to look to avoid the massive traffic jams that this city has....and where are you living in Charlotte-ie. subdivison or area....as we used to lived in Southeast Charlotte....

Commute time will be a very important factor. I live in New Kent county east of the city, and have a 25 minute commute to downtown. I live in a fairly rural area, but close to the interstate, commute is not bad even with traffic. I have friends who live in southern Chesterfield County and have monster commutes with tons of traffic every day. U of R area is lovely with older homes, beautiful yards with well-established plantings, central location to movies, restaurants. I LIKE Mechanicsville, have quite a few friends of all collar colors (one is a university biology professor!) who live in Mechanicsville. The schools are very good, people are really friendly, good buys on new and old homes, they even have things like golf courses I hear tell!

Thanks everyone for the great advice. We are definitely looking for a nice neighborhood that has some personality..shopping, restaurants etc. Right now we live on Lake Norman which is pretty but not very practical. My husband would love to have a shorter commute and if we had it to do again I think we would have moved to one of the close-in Charlotte neighborhoods. We do want to have kids in the next few years though. Any suggestions for balancing commute times(husband will be working in the city itself) with good school districts and safe neighborhoods?

If your husband is in downtown Richmond, then look near the U of Richmond-

Stay out of the city of Richmond for schools though- unless you can afford private schools....

Better option is the West End in a nice subdivision-- the commute to town would be about 30 min..similar to living at Lake Norman and going into downtown Charlotte...

If you are near U. of Richmond, I think that will put you in city of Richmond, and you'll end up paying for private schools. Sounds like the West End
(Henrico County) would be great for you.
Great schools, lots going on for a young couple, convenient to interstates for driving.

How do they feel about Italian in Virginia? My husband and I visited friends in Leesburg last year. We LOVED Virginia, but my husband sure got some long hard stares from the locals. I know he is handsome, but I think they were thinking "foreigner". Could it be? - we live in CA.

That part of Virginia is pretty parochial, state capitol notwithstanding. "Foreigners", perceived and real, do get stared at a bit outside of the more vibrant parts of Richmond.

E

Why? I just never have stared at a foreigner in L.A. or San Diego. I would not even know one if I did see one. I am beginning to believe that So. Cal is a different country after all.

Calamari, let me just say I'm not defending staring at "foreigners"! But Richmond, to say nothing of most of the rest of the US, isn't as diverse as SoCal (or a lot of other densely populated areas), so anyone who looks different from the locals may get extra attention, whether they're actually from another country or not. And the staring isn't necessarily hostile: often it's simply in recognition of the rarity of that person's appearance.

By no means were they hostile. A couple of old guys in down town Leesberg did keep saying "Merci" to my husband everytime he asked a question. Must have been too much moonshine. Anyway, we had a great time although it was somewhat of a "culture shock"...no toilet seat covers in the restrooms.