Looks like retirement may actually be in the forseeable future for me. Years ago, when we were first married, my wife and I lived in Baltimore City, in Fells Point. We really enjoyed city living, and always talked about moving back in after raising our family. Career changes, family moves, we've ended up in Virginia, but Lynchburg (where we live now) has no appeal to me beyond my job. So now, RVA is really showing up on my radar screen.
So teach me about RVA's neighborhoods. What area do you live in, and why? What are the "hot" neighborhoods (Manchester? Scott's Addition?) and what's good about them? What's a good place for a night out, but not to actually live? What looks good on Zillow, but not in real life?
Thanks.
I lived in the Fan during my college years and a bit beyond (loved it, still love it), but then my wife and I bought in Bellevue. I looooove Bellevue. It's a bit of the "best of both worlds" vibe. It's a city suburb (I can jog to the Fan, Scott's Addition, etc), so the houses are historic and crazy "cute", but we also have walkable shops and restaurants within the neighborhood. It's two seconds from everything, but it's also nice because it's a neighborhood where kids are riding bikes, people are always jogging through it (the Richmond marathon goes through it as well) and it's just darn cozy (we have our own Christmas parade, a popular music festival that involves people's porches, etc). The price per square footage has gotten pretty high in this neighborhood (been around $250 per for larger houses and $315+ for the small, 1000sf bungalows), but people basically buy the neighborhood.
Related note: I got into real estate a year ago and have been loving it (and super busy) and I mostly work within city neighborhoods. The vast majority of my deals are within the city limits, so if you ever have serious questions on price per square footage in these neighborhoods, average days on market in certain spots etc,
feel free to email me at [email protected].
All I do really is research and drive through Richmond neighborhoods. It's quite literally my job.
Hottest neighborhoods really are Bellevue/Rosedale, Westover Hills/Forest Hill/Woodland Heights, Church Hill and obviously if you find a house in the Fan/Museum District under $500k, it can be a knife fight to get one, but usually those houses are more expensive and thus, can sit on the market a bit longer. The Ginter Park/Brookland Park area is blowing up as well, but some of those can sit on the market a little longer, so I wouldn't say it's as hot as the first neighborhoods/areas I mentioned. Basically a TON of historic homes getting flipped there constantly similar to Church Hill, Union Hill, Oakwood, etc. Also Lakeside and basically near West End areas of Henrico are very city-ish options, but technically across the county line (and lower taxes). Same goes for Fulton/Montrose Heights. That area has become super popular for first-time buyers because you can get a historic house near or in the city for under $250k.
In terms of fun, you can't beat Scott's Addition. I'm obsessed with that neighborhood, but it's hard to find single family homes in there, so you gotta be down for a condo in that case (some great condos in there though...but pricey and can include high HOA fees that people don't want to pay).
In terms of growth there is a lot going on in Manchester, but I've yet to have a buyer pull the trigger on a Manchester property. I have folks who want to go see Manchester/Swansboro/Blackwell spots all the time as well as Brookland Park/Ginter Park, but I find those buyers almost always end up in the Church Hill area.
Hit me email if you have any specific questions on anything and welcome to Richmond, whenever ya get here!
But I appreciate the recommendation.