Live in Virginia? Can you help me?

Hi all. Just visiting here from the Texas Gardening forum. =) I am considering the east coast, particularly Virginia area as a place to move to in a year-two. I would appreciate ANY INFO you can provide from the following if you have lived there, do live there or know someone else who does.

Any favorite links for the state/city/county's of Virginia?
What do you think of the cost of living (taxes...food....housing)?
How long would you say each season is...or what do you think of the seasons?
More expensive & cheaper areas to live?
Cost of property taxes there? Cost of sales tax (is it 1 rate for the whole state?)
Is it fairly easy/affordable to start a small business in the state?
What vegetables grow well there? What are the months you are able to plant vegetables?

And any other things you might be able to through in, I'll appreciate the cons and pros of it all. THANK YOU!

Tir, I am in the top of VA near the WV border. VA is definately a 4 season state. I grow whatever I want to grow, even tropicals in July (like cannas). Roses are my newest passion and do great. Perennials abound and vegetables do just fine. the soils range from great to clay, even in the same town. Just depends.

Housing is going up but flatlining at this time. Fairfax Co. was the fastest growing county in the USA last year. My town grew 11% in 2005. But, again, I am Northern VA outside of D.C. Property taxes are town by town, not a flat rate. Sales taxes are between 4-6% in general. Small business is as easy as you make it. What are you looking to startup?

Any Chamber of Commerce website will help you with all the finance and points of interest questions you have. It depends where you are looking to relocate, really.

Loudoun Co is the most expensive county in the USA, but then there's Richmond, or Lynchburg, Danville ... towards the bottom. So, do you know where you want to focus?

Pegdog,

You've been most helpful, thank-you! I am just trying to get a lot of what-ifs answered...such as the business etc....I don't have anything in particular in mind as it will be my DH who brings home most the bacon. I just always toy with the idea of what kind of business I can make.

Here are some more questions to think on for any Virginians:

How does your city water rate on quality?
What garden pests/bugs are most common in VA?

Sales tax here in Texas is supposed to be one of the highest in the nation running about 8.25%.
We have no state income tax but they get around that by having a high property tax rate. We have a nice new house (2,300 sq ft) on a generous corner lot. We paid $134,000 in Jan 2005 (homebuilder has since upped his price on this same model about $15,000 since then)....and property tax on that runs almost 4 grand a year.

From what I've seen of VA real estate (and still checking) it is quite a bit more. So I am pressing forward to find out more with the assumption that yes I would get less house (quality/size) for the price in VA. Any more info you have would be great.

I've been looking up home prices to get ideas and it seems Maryland is more affordable than Virginia although property taxes seem to run about 1/3rd more or so than in Virginia.

This is all so fun and interesting!

I won't repeat myself, I would say that most of what I told you about MD is true of NOVA. The southern part is quite different. Tiny houses around here sell for at least $600k. And in many cases they are torn down and new places built. Every inch of spare ground now has condos being built on it, and the commutes are growing worse by the day. The other parts of the state are nothing like this area.

Anywhere in the DC metro area is going to be very expensive, Virginia or Maryland, in the cost of living including houses and taxes.

What kind of work do you and your husband do? If you can live in any other area of Virginia or Maryland, it's going to be a lot cheaper.

For example, real estate taxes here are a fraction of what they would be in any metro area jurisdiction. Houses cost far less. But if you have to drive into the DC area for work, your commute is going to be long. However, if you do the kind of work that allows you to get a job here, you have low cost of living and a reasonable commute.

The other thing you have to look at, though, is salaries. In the metro area, average salaries are much higher than here. I would guess, judging by the cost of your home, that they would be higher here than in your area.

The Tidewater area (Norfolk, Virginia Beach) is also fairly expensive, Richmond a bit less so, the suburban areas are expensive and all of the rural areas are far cheaper. The same is true in Maryland. For example, Arlington (very close in suburban city) would be a bit more expensive than Manassas but both would be far more expensive than here.

Water quality isn't a huge issue anywhere in Virginia or Maryland that I'm aware. This isn't like the west where water has to be piped in from miles and miles away. Water and sewer charges are something else that is much more expensive in the metro area than in the rural areas. For pests and bugs, I suggest you check out the Virginia Tech website, which has a lot of information on gardening including bugs and weeds.

For taxes, you have to look at real estate taxes, personal property taxes (which are a little more complicated in Virginia. A personal property tax phase out passed several years ago means that you can get a rebate on a good bit of that amount), income taxes and for a business, whether the jurisdiction you're looking at has a Business and Professional License or BPOL tax. Some jurisdictions have BPOL, some don't.

Virginia has a 5% sales tax on everything but food, which has a 1.5% sales tax. You're not taxed on items you buy out of state unless that business has a presence in the state. For example, if I order something from Barnes and Noble online I pay sales tax because they have stores in Virginia. You pay income tax in Virginia and Maryland based on the fact that you live there. It doesn't matter where you earned the money.

To be frank, I don't think you'd be able to find anything, not even a condo apartment, in the metro area in Virginia or Maryland for anywhere near $134,000. Out here, you could, maybe, but it would be pretty small. Here's the real estate classifieds for the local paper.

http://classified.nvdaily.com/results.php?classification_id=&priceMax=&bedrooms=&bathrooms=&text=&dateSearch=2006-10-01&expire_date=&format=ascii&numPer=10&category_id=2&mls=&acTst=Grr

Here's the classifieds for Frederick, which is in western Maryland. You can see the prices are roughly comparable perhaps a bit higher.

http://www.fredericknewspost.com/sections/classifieds/results.htm

Another thing to consider in Virginia. If you live in a county or a city, you only pay real estate and personal property taxes to that jurisdiction. If you live in a town, you pay to both the county and the town. It appears from reading one of these classifieds in Maryland you would pay county and city or county and town taxes. Perhaps someone in Maryland culd clarify this.

I would strongly suggest that if you want to relocate to anywhere in this region that you figure out job prospects first and then target a particular area to research because there is such a drastic difference in both states from urban and rural areas.

Hart,

Wow I am impressed you'd give so much time to answering my questions. You covered a lot and everyone has been most helpful. I guess all in all (looked at salary calculators already) and pay would not increase tremendously to live up that way yet cost of living would go up exponentially! It's a beautiful part of the country though and something to consider with more education under our belts.

THANKS!

I spent 15 years in Rappahannock County, Virginia (unbelievably gorgeous, rural, liberal) then 2 years in Bethesda, MD (Yup-topia, urban, stupidly expensive) and moved in July to a new house in northern Loudoun County (one of the highest growth rates in the nation).

I have also spent some time in Texas visiting a good friend of mine over the years...Dallas and/or Austin, mostly, but also Killeen and the Ft Hood area. The Texas to Virginia/MD transition is instant culture shock every time I do it.

Have you ever been here before?

I will respectfully disagree with the poster who said something along the lines of "A good realtor can help find you something in the right price range." Even the best realtor can't work miracles...even in this depressed market. Just for kicks I went to homesdatabase.com, which is the local multiple listing service. I searched the entire county for single family homes with at least two bedrooms and one bath. There was one house under $300k. Well, technically there were two, but one is a total rehab and has no certificate of occupancy. The least expensive town house in the county with two bedrooms was $229K, and that's in a far flung outlying town about an hour and a half west of DC.

If we were not tied here by my husband's govt job I'd flee this place as fast as I could go.

Not to mention the pollution...

Luna,

Good points, well taken. I hear ya on the gov't job keeping you stuck there...seems that is the main reason to be around DC.

I've not been to that area but grew up in Michigan. I've only lived there, Colorado and TX (SEVERAL towns). I've been to all the Texas places you're talking about...Killeen just ranked one of the cheapest places to live in the US...along with several other TX towns being most affordable compared to the rest of the country. We are expanding every day though....so housing prices will continue to rise no doubt. Maybe then more people who've invested in homes already won't be so limited when thinking of moving northward? =)

I found several affordable homes on realtor sites in MD and VA....but of course NOTHING near DC, just as you said.

I wish you luck finding the right place. : )

And if sky rocketing prices, pollution, traffic, and humidity are your thing, then DC is the way to go. ; )

But if you are already familiar with Colorado, what about out there? I like Boulder a lot.

If I were free to move any place I wanted to, it would be the north of New Zealand. I got to spend lots of time there, on and off, when I was living in Australia for a bit on a job.

ROFL about prices, pollution, traffic, humidity. =)

I grew up in Michigan...and been to several gulf coast places in Texas and have heard our humidity is stronger here. But the others don't sound fun!

Oh we did like CO quit a bit, especially Co Springs. Housing is not near as high as in MD.....a tad more comparable to TX...a tad, depending on area of course. State income tax....LOW property tax compared to Texas...found a stat on that once....like less than a grand or thereabouts on a 300K house. That'd be sweet. But there aren't quite as many jobs there.....and more a dry climate like TX which we'd like to get away from.

The mtns there BEAUTIFUL and TONS of cheap or free natural parks, rivers, lakes, etc to view. It was the only place I've ever been you actually see wildlife all the time. Had baby raccoons, squirrels trying to eat our picnics. And mule deer walking through neighborhoods. Very unique.

Well...you can look in south western Virginia...or even West Virginia.

If you need tech jobs and like the mountains, then the piedmont foothills area of North Carolina might fit your bill....you get four seasons there but much more mild, and a way long growing season.

Oh thanks luna! That is a place we almost moved for a job once and always thought NC would be a great place!

I live in Central Virginia and can boast of living in what two years ago was claimed as "Number ! City" in USA to live. I forget who awarded this title, one of the major magazines I think, but not sure. Charlottesville VA also suffers from some of the same issues as Northern VA, but not as badly. There is much affluence in this area, but still down home enough to be nice place for those who are not as moneyed as some of our neighbors.

I have lived in this area all of my life and do not foresee moving. I like to visit other places, but I am always thrilled to be back home.

Good luck in wherever you decide to live.

Ruby

Charlottesville is one of my favourite towns. And you can't beat it for sheer gorgeousness.

Hey There Luna - Next time that you are visiting, let me know. We can possibly meet up and hit some of the nurseries around here. If I am not too nosey, what were you visiting C'ville for?

Ruby

Southwestern Va. - south of Roanoke, near Smith Mountian Lake, - The property taxes in Franklin Co. are at the moment reasonable, but the land-home prices inflated because of incomeing retires from the north willing to spend whatever is asked.

It is a nice area, but I have to be looking elsewhere for the land I want to retire on. At the moment my thoughts are "the land is everything" (taxes included).

Well I am glad to report Texas has one of the highest property taxes in the nation....which helps to offset my decision to live in another state with income tax. At least there you can make deductions =).

As far as taxes go - I saw a bumpersticker posted in a local resturant recently - it read "Sure you can trust the Government, Just ask an Indian".

ROFL: that is so true isn't it!

Ruby, up till a few years ago I lived in Rappahanock County. I could drive an hour north to NoVa or an hour south to C'ville for Whole Foods/shopping/movies/etc. I always chose C'ville and made it a day trip. My daughter and I go to Monticello at least once a summer. I don't even go in the house anymore, I just go to the gardens.

Also, I do horses. Some of my best clients are based in Madison/Greene/Albemarle, I've hunted with Keswick and Orange all over their territories, the leg vet I like to use is down there.

My now husband, however, lived in Gaithersburg, and althoug the long distance dating worked fine for a while, once we settled down and especially once our baby was born, he agitated to get me to live up in the "city" full time. I caved, and spent three years in Bethesda. Bethesda is nice, and it has a lot of advantages, but I hated feeling like every molecule of air I was breathing was stale and flat and car exhaust scented.

I told my husband I loved him dearly but I was done playing "my Mercedes SUV kicks your Lexus' SUV's muffler" in Yuptopia and I was moving on to greener pastures. I even invited him to come with me. ;-P

So now I am in Loudoun....it's still Yuptopia but at least I can't see another house from mine and the hubby type has a fairly reasonable commuter train ride.

I don't get to the Charlottesville much anymore. : (

When Tir Na Nog first posted about thinking about moving here, all I could think of was how truly staggering the real estate sticker shock would be. I know Albemarle is pricey, but holy cats..... homedatabase.com is the local multiple listing service... you can't buy a single family, 2 BR home in Gaithersburg for less than $340K, and it's a hole. Loudoun County is WORSE, and even Prince William and Faquier aren't that far behind.

I was thinking about buying a small house in my town as an investment propert in which I could house barn help and there is NOTHING, not even a townhouse, for under $400K. And let me tell you, I do NOT live in the ritzy section of Loudoun.

And those magazines that name the "Top 10" places to live...I think they should rename those contests "The 10 places whose Better Business Bureaus coughed up the most cash".

LOL Luna, love the renaming of the top 10!!!!!!!!

Another voice from Virginia here. We live in and love the Tidewater area! Our little county is SO BLESSED with natural beauty. Homes are quite inexpensive if you aren't right on the water. Of course, there is seldom a municipal water system. We have a good number of retirees because there are not the number of employment possibilities, by and large, that one has in urban areas. Other rural areas in Central & Southern Virginia are even cheaper to live in than the coastal areas and certainly Northern VA is the unquestionably the most expensive. Our climate is moderated by the Chesapeake so we seldom have snow like they do in the mountains. It is hotter and more humid in the summer however. If your business hopes depend on a concentration of population, this isn't the place for you probably. Some businesses that operate out of your home could work fine but high speed internet is rare. Good luck with whatever you do!

Thank you subyz, so nice to hear a positive note on this again. =)