opinions sought

[amy]

I am thinking of retiring to Virginia in the near future and am asking those of you who live there:

Is Virginia a good place to retire? Thoughts, opinions, suggestions requested. Are you glad you live there? or are you looking to relocate? Because.............

Thanks in advance.

Amy

[flatwater]

Amy , What are your reasons for retiring there ?
Flatwater

[RangerRick]

I lived there in 92-95 and could not wait to leave. The surrounding history was wonderful however the fast pace, over-population, crime, difficulty finding good hunting and cost of living was unacceptable for a place to spend the rest of my life.

Rick

[bee_pipes]

I grew up in Northern Virginia - that's not really Virginia - more like Maryland, or just part of DC that crawled across the river. There are lots of nice places in the state, the further out the better. But the Old Dominion is a pain in the butt to deal with. The tax codes and laws date back to colonial time. I like Tennessee much better.

Regards,
Pat

[amy]

Flatwater,
Mostly because it's beautiful. And has four real seasons (SoCal has two--hot and less hot). I am looking at some very small communities in the mountain area of Southwest VA.

RangerRick,
Overpopulation, crime, cost of living (hunting isn't a concern for me)....are these a problem statewide, or are they concentrated in the Northern part of the state?

Bee Pipes,
Pain in the butt? In what way?

You guys are making me worry. I don't want to move 3,000 miles just to be unhappy.

Any happy Virginians out there?

[cinok]

I have never lived there but have heard may call it the communist state of Virginia instead of the Commonwealth of Virginia

[bee_pipes]

I was a youngster that didn't travel much. Left when I was 17, lived there again from '99 to 2002. Stay out of the north - high cost of living. Fairfax and Arlington counties are bad - high population density, high cost of living (ridiculously high). The urban blight is creeping in Loudon and Prince George counties (adjoining). Stay away from Richmond and Henrico county. Emporia is another big town to stay clear of. Lynchburg and Charlottesville are big towns. The entire Virginia Beach region (Norfolk, Newport News, et al) area is one massive naval base. Unless you want to be in the middle of horse country or high priced ag country, stay out of piedmont for the most part. The mountains are very nice, but they have become appealing to the wealthy trying to escape. Southern part of the Shenandoah may be unspoiled as of yet, but when you get towards Blacksburg you're getting towards Virginia Tech - used to be a remote web connection for high speed and a lot of industry has built up around it - much of it VT grads that liked the area and found a way to make a living out there. Roanoke is the local town of size.

You might try the Virginia Gov't web site (http://www.virginia.gov/cmsportal3/). Also, check out the library or buy a Delorme Atlas and Gazeteer for Virginia and read it. There have been a couple of threads about locations that might prove useful: How far is "far enough"? (http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=sel-homesteading;action=display;num=1211850385) and homesteading location (http://www.backwoodshome.com/forum/yabb/forum.pl?board=sel-homesteading;action=display;num=1199398107)

You definitely don't want to make a jump to the other coast without being as sure as possible. I lived in San Diego county for about a decade, and can understand wanting to move as far as possible from that. I lived a few years in North Carolina on the coast and really liked that - much better than Virginia - but understand the cat is oust of the bag. Lots of nice mountains in NC. You will be in for a shock with the humidity. Summers in the Southeast can be unbelieveably oppressive. The good news is that you can adapt/acclimate. I never knew air could be as dry as Souther Cal, when this young virginia boy first moved out there. Still, I would not trade where we are now living, humidity, snakes bugs and all. I love this place and find the state gov't is easily gotten along with. State tax is collected through sales tax, the winters are milder than the ones I remember in Virginia, land is cheap and the local government leaves me alone.

But don't let me spoil your dream for you - you and Virginia may be a good fit.

I think you'll get more input in this conference. Best of luck to you in your future plans!

Regards,
Pat

[kawalekm]

Amy
Maybe you just have to get out of southern California. We are! Our homestead is 40 acres south of Sequioa National Park, near Porterville. We're up at 5000 feet and have 4 seasons, green trees, and wildlife.
Nearst neighbor is 1 mile down the road and we see more deer than people there. http://i141.photobucket.com/albums/r55/kawalekm/Andyhuntinggroundsquirels.jpg
It would be much easier for you to relocate 300 miles than 3000.
Michael

[amy]

Thanks everyone for your input. I appreciate it.

Michael, you're right, gotta get out of SoCal. It used to be a wonderful place to live, but the area had declined and it's getting harder to remember what was so good about life here.
How are the real estate prices in your area?

Bee Pipes, thanks for your help. Tennessee is a beautiful place, too. I am most familiar with the area around Knoxville/Maryville, but both of those have exploded in size since I first went there. I also seem to remember you writing in another post how meth has replaced moonshine in TN. Is this widespread problem?

[bee_pipes]

The neighbor works for the sherriff's dept and has related a number of horror stories about the crystal users that parade thorugh there. It is a problem, but small compared to some of the other counties. Personally, I don't see much of it, but I don't run in circles that would expose us to much of it. We are kind of tucked away in the back of a hollow, and any strangers coming to our place has to pass the neighbor's house. We pretty much stay to ourselves, keep a good relationship with the neighbor so we can watch each other's back. We have dogs - prolly not much good in protection, but they make a lot of noise and it has been my experience that people up to no good don't like noise. We are also far enough back that nobody winds up here by accident. Anything more deliberate can be repelled with manuver and firepower ;D

The neighbor says there are teams of folks coming from the surrounding cities - Jackson, Nashville - and burgularizing houses in outlying rural counties. There again, we're lucky because our county is so far out - these sort of folks are lazy and will not drive any further than necessary. Also an advantage of living in a poor county - pickings are mighty slim. They are after the houses of the affluent, who can afford a second home in a county that is stylishly rural. Copper thievery is still alive and well - unattended property is most at risk, but there have been cases of churches losing their hvac units. They even ripped out of the local NOA tower. That's part of the price of living out in the boonies - jonny law can't be everywhere at once, so it can get kind of wild. One friend has had windows shot out by some bored kid. On our road we had mailboxes flattened by another bored deliquent. Will no doubt get worse as gas gets more expensive and they can't go to town to hang out. I suspect there is more mischief going on in town where bored teenagers tend to congregate.

When we moved to the county we thought they were too poor to put up street signs. I have seen them try to put them up a few times since we've been living here and somebody eventually steals them. WRTN says it's because people are trying to hide out from warrant and subpoena servers ;D

I guess it sounds awful, but we really don't encounter much of this nonsense. We love it here, and looks like we got in just before property prices started going up. Don't know if we could have afforded it if we were to move right now. The kind of freedom we enjoy, that keeps the county and state gov't out of our business, is also the freedom that allows cluster of old trailers to congregate on property with groups of Manson Family types. That would usually be where you'll find the meth labs and other lunacy going on.

Regards,
Pat

[kawalekm]

Our land was about 3000$ per acre in 2003, maybe a little less now with the housing crunch. It was completely fenced with a drilled well and unfinished cabin.

If you want to find land in California, you need to contact an agricultural realtor, not one that deals with residential properties.

You might want to contact "Brokers of Bakersfield Realty" at 661-327-7757. The realtor that helped us find our land was named Jack Thompson. There may or may not be any land in the lower Sierra for sale right now, but at least all the land realtors network, and he can probably refer you to someone that does.
Good luck.