Lowest housing costs in Virginia that voted blue and has good schools?

[Anonymous]

I anticipate losing my job and having a difficult time finding a new one. I'm considering moving to a lower cost of living area in Virginia. Probably needs to be Virginia because I have aging parents. I also have children in school, one with special needs, so the schools matter. I've looked at (by which I mean poked around on Redfin) Western Albemarle, Roanoke, areas around Richmond. To be honest, nowhere is INexpensive. Where should I be looking that meets my criteria? I grew up in a county around Lynchburg, Va, and housing is so cheap there, but you couldn't pay me to move back or raise my children there.

[Anonymous]

Roanoke City (not Roanoke county)

[Anonymous]

I’d be interested too. However, if you are POC like me, you might have better luck looking in MD. The further rural you get in VA, the more you see confederate flags. It is anticipated to get worse with the new administration.

[Anonymous]

Come on down to Montclair! We are an amazing community with a swimmable/boatable lake just south of Dale City so within commuting distance to Washington DC. Houses are extremely affordable.

[Anonymous]

Norfolk area

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Come on down to Montclair! We are an amazing community with a swimmable/boatable lake just south of Dale City so within commuting distance to Washington DC. Houses are extremely affordable.

But you went red, correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’d be interested too. However, if you are POC like me, you might have better luck looking in MD. The further rural you get in VA, the more you see confederate flags. It is anticipated to get worse with the new administration.

Not a POC, but we are an LGBTQ family, so similar considerations. But my children's god parents are in Virginia, and my aging family is in Virginia, so it feels hard to get too far away. I don't know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Roanoke City (not Roanoke county)

Patrick Henry High School has a Great Schools rating of 3. I realize Great Schools is just test scores, but test scores aren't nothing. 3 is REALLY low.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Come on down to Montclair! We are an amazing community with a swimmable/boatable lake just south of Dale City so within commuting distance to Washington DC. Houses are extremely affordable.

🙄

That’s not commuting distance unless you have crazy off-peak hours or have to go in 1x/week max.

[Anonymous]

If you anticipate having trouble finding a new job, shouldn’t you let that dictate where you end up moving? So you can stay flexible when you are applying?

Or are you relying on a spouse and plan to do with just one income for a while?

[Anonymous]

This is OP. I will be consulting, and I don't need to commute anywhere, but I won't ever make as much as I do now, I don't think. So I want to live somewhere inexpensive.

[Anonymous]

I would think about moving to the areas around second-tier universities in VA. For example, Rockbridge County has lots of smart professor's kids in the schools, plus professors/grad students often have public school teacher spouses so the quality of teaching is better than may be expected. Same goes for Harrisonburg, or Chesterfield, or Ashland.

I also think you could have a great quality of life in an old victorian house in Staunton. If you like Albemarle county but can't afford it, consider Waynesboro or Palmyra. Palmyra was (maybe still is) a place to buy a cheap new house with decent (?) schools.

[Anonymous]

The cities voted blue so find the cheapest city in Virginia and move there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would think about moving to the areas around second-tier universities in VA. For example, Rockbridge County has lots of smart professor's kids in the schools, plus professors/grad students often have public school teacher spouses so the quality of teaching is better than may be expected. Same goes for Harrisonburg, or Chesterfield, or Ashland.

I also think you could have a great quality of life in an old victorian house in Staunton. If you like Albemarle county but can't afford it, consider Waynesboro or Palmyra. Palmyra was (maybe still is) a place to buy a cheap new house with decent (?) schools.

This is a good idea. But note that Rockbridge County is super red.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I anticipate losing my job and having a difficult time finding a new one. I'm considering moving to a lower cost of living area in Virginia. Probably needs to be Virginia because I have aging parents. I also have children in school, one with special needs, so the schools matter. I've looked at (by which I mean poked around on Redfin) Western Albemarle, Roanoke, areas around Richmond. To be honest, nowhere is INexpensive. Where should I be looking that meets my criteria? I grew up in a county around Lynchburg, Va, and housing is so cheap there, but you couldn't pay me to move back or raise my children there.

It is going to be hard to find a rural area that you would tolerate and urban areas are typically more expensive.

Maybe consider that the squares on the map are never all that red or blue anyway. 60-40 is a reliable congressional district but still only a couple in ten voters more team 1 than team 2. No matter where you live there are going to be some people around who don’t vote as you would prefer, and that is good.