Questions for VCU students

[Flyboy]

I am stoked about going to VCU this upcoming summer and I have a few questions. I have a wife and 1 1/2 kids (2 by the time we move), so please keep that in mind while answering.

1. Rent or buy?
2. Where are safe areas to live?
3. I've been looking at some houses in Chesterfield, is that a good area?
4. What is the crime like in Richmond?
5. Is it warm enough in the winter time to still go outside and do things?

I know some of the questions sound silly, but I am wanting my wife to have a good experience while she's single for the next four years. Thanks in advance for the advice, and feel free to add anything you feel is important about VCU/Richmond area.

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[sicspeed]

Bump

 

[digitlnoize]

I am stoked about going to VCU this upcoming summer and I have a few questions. I have a wife and 1 1/2 kids (2 by the time we move), so please keep that in mind while answering.

1. Rent or buy?
2. Where are safe areas to live?
3. I've been looking at some houses in Chesterfield, is that a good area?
4. What is the crime like in Richmond?
5. Is it warm enough in the winter time to still go outside and do things?

I know some of the questions sound silly, but I am wanting my wife to have a good experience while she's single for the next four years. Thanks in advance for the advice, and feel free to add anything you feel is important about VCU/Richmond area.

I'll bite. I am a 29 year old VCU undergrad student, but my wife is a student in the VCU dental hygiene school. We have a six year old daughter.

1. Either one. Rent in Richmond isn't terrible depending on where you live. We live about 10-15 minutes straight north of school and LOVE it up here. No crime at all, you can rent a large house for around 1000/mo. We bought our house for 200k.

2. Safety. Richmond gets a bad rap. I've never had a problem. That being said, we avoid the really bad areas, but we still hang out downtown alot at night. We have a rock band ( www.myspace.com/ladenangelrocks ) and have played lots of shows in the downtown bars without incident. The Fan is probably the most likely place you'd want to live with lots of crime. It's trendy, but overpriced and dangerous in my opinion.

3. Chesterfield is very nice, but it's a HORRIBLE commute. I have alot of friends that live down there and they HATE the commute. Nice area...malls restaurants. But they don't have anything that we don't have near our comparably priced house. I can walk to: Target, Barnes and Noble, Walmart, 4 Starbucks', 2 Grocery Stores, Michael's, Dick's Sporting Goods, a decent indoor mall, tons of restaurants and alot of other stuff. Not that I actually walk it, but it's not far.

4. Crime. See #2. Campus is fine. It's patchy. Good areas and bad areas. There's shuttles to and from parking to the dental school. I would recommend living outside of town, if you don't mind a little drive because it's slightly cheaper, safer, and you get a yard for the kids to play in.

5. I'm moving to Florida. Winter gets cold here, but it's not that bad. I didn't need a jacket today, but it's been unseasonably warm. Occasional ice on the windshield. A quick google search will get you average temps. It snows a couple time a year, but it's more ice than snow. Summers get very very humid and hot. It's rare to drop below 20 in the winter. It's not as cold as Chicago or anything...

Let me know if you have anymore questions. Again, I highly recommend living up where we do. If you look on a map, find where I-95 and I-295 meet. That's us. Mechanicsville is another option, but slightly longer commute. The "West End" (Short Pump, etc) is very trendy and way too expensive right now. Also a worse commute than I have.

When I go to school, it takes around 10 minutes and if there's an accident on the interstate I have about 3 alternate routes that add about 5-10 min to my drive.

If you live in Chesterfield or the West End, you're pretty much screwed in case of accident and you'll be sitting still for a LONG time...and accidents are pretty common here unfortunately.

PM me if I can be of anymore help. We'll sell you our house when we move this summer!

 

[SmilingHokie]

I'm a D1 at VCU and live with my fiance in the west end of Richmond. I LOVE where we live. I am not a city person, and we live in a beautiful, very resonably priced area. The area out here is MUCH safer than the downtown area, and I love having a yard and parking spots right in front on my townhouse. The only downside is that it is a 20 minute drive to school, but I actually enjoy the commute, gives me time to destress and listen to some music. Hope this helps, best of luck to you!

 

[skyskier]

My wife and I have been looking on-line for apartments in Richmond and would like some advice. We want a two-bedroom place a reasonable distance from the school in a safe area. Are there any apartment complexes where a lot of the married students live? I've heard a little about a place called "Chelsea Square" where I guess a lot of students live? From what I've found the prices there seem a little steep compared with other places I've found. I'd appreciate it if someone could enlighten me on the married student housing options that a lot of the students choose. Thanks!

 

[mailman]

My wife and I have been looking on-line for apartments in Richmond and would like some advice. We want a two-bedroom place a reasonable distance from the school in a safe area. Are there any apartment complexes where a lot of the married students live? I've heard a little about a place called "Chelsea Square" where I guess a lot of students live? From what I've found the prices there seem a little steep compared with other places I've found. I'd appreciate it if someone could enlighten me on the married student housing options that a lot of the students choose. Thanks!

Chelsea square is on the west end and is a little higher priced. I know a place on the south end where I new a bunch of married dental students lived. It's called Meadowbrook apartments. They are cheaper than chelsea square. But they are in an older part of town so you have to drive 15 minutes to get to a mall or wal mart or something. But the area is safe. THe apartments are older than chelsea square but they are fine. Like I said, a lot of married dental students with children live there. I am going to VCU next year and this is where I plan on living.

 

[skyskier]

Thanks mailman, do you know of a Website where I could get more info?

 

[tiodrew]

Skyskier,

Just thought I'd join the conversation. I'll be going to VCU this summer and am thinking about Chelsea Square or Meadowbrook. We have two kids. The oldest will start school our second year. I've heard Chelsea Square is in a nice area within a good school districts. It is a little higher in price, but you need to remember that utilities are included (~200 value). Besides, you can't put a price on safety which is a high priority for my wife who may need to walk around town with kids while I'm gone all day and night. Good luck with the search!

 

[SugarNaCl]

I am also a D1 who lived here for grad school (2002-2004) and now dental school.

1. Rent or buy?
I agree with the previous poster that it doesn't matter. Most places here are fairly affordable.

2. Where are safe areas to live?
WEST END...It is a little more expensive in some places, but west is the direction to go unless you want to go far to the north or south. I do NOT rec. the east.

3. I've been looking at some houses in Chesterfield, is that a good area?
Much of Chesterfield is very nice, especially farther out.

4. What is the crime like in Richmond?
Not bad AT ALL if you avoid the east side and as in any city the close proximity inner city places...that is where the bad reputation comes from

5. Is it warm enough in the winter time to still go outside and do things?
Just yesterday was in the mid 70s and though it is rare to stay there, it isn't rare to have a sprinkling of those days in nov, dec, march and then the weather gets really nice. I am from NY and I think the only cold, not terrific months here are January and February.

Good luck to you and your family. I love it here so much that I came back

 

[digitlnoize]

My commute from my very safe neighborhood on the Northside of town is MUCH faster than my friends' commutes from the West End. I got home yesterday in 7 minutes without speeding.

 

[skyskier]

Skyskier,

Just thought I'd join the conversation. I'll be going to VCU this summer and am thinking about Chelsea Square or Meadowbrook. We have two kids. The oldest will start school our second year. I've heard Chelsea Square is in a nice area within a good school districts. It is a little higher in price, but you need to remember that utilities are included (~200 value). Besides, you can't put a price on safety which is a high priority for my wife who may need to walk around town with kids while I'm gone all day and night. Good luck with the search!

I found a website that tells a little bit about Meadowbrook (see like below). I'm not sure if it is all up to date, but it does seem like a nice place to live. Having never been there it is hard to know what the area is like for sure. It does seem like Chelsea Square is in nicer area. From what I could tell, you don't have to pay for gas or internet. Could someone who knows more about the apartments review the site and tell me if it is accurate? As far as $200 in utilities go, that figure seems a little high to me. We spend about $50 here in Utah on utilities (we pay gas and electric). I'm sure it will be more expensive in an apartment twice the size of our current apartment, but am interested where the extra costs would occur with gas included in rent.
http://www.forrent.com/apartment-community-profile/934563918.php

 

[toothfairy0611]

I also was just admitted *very very excited*, however, I am just a single student (no family or kids).

My parents believe it would be wiser to buy a condo/townhome for the next four years. Where should we buy???
considering...
resale values,
finding renters
proximity to campus, or bus stop, &
parking

Please provide suggestions. Our real estate agent is trying to get us to look at Churchill and Fan.

THANKS!

 

[soccergolfrws39]

I live in the west end, right next to chelsea square (at legacy at mayland). If I had it to do over again, I would live in Chelsea, because they are cheaper, and just as nice. Legacy is fine, but just more pricey and doesn't include utilities. As far as I know, none of the places come with internet, except maybe downtown... I like the guys that live on the southside, but as mentioned previously, it's far from everything, and that's no good. With the commute, there was an accident this morning, and it probably slowed us down like 5-10 minutes, max. We used to take the bus, but the schedule for the west end is pretty short, I don't know about the rest of town. As far as buying, my buddy lives in mechanicsville (north) and they have a nice place and it's certainly not as far away as chesterfield (there are 2 students in my D1 class that do live down that way. Mechanicsville (hanover county) is in a good school district for those of you with school kids. If I was single, I would live downtown or in the fan. There's also an option of living in the grad student dorms which are a block from campus. But if you're married it's you're call, personally, I like the west end.

 

[soccergolfrws39]

I also was just admitted *very very excited*, however, I am just a single student (no family or kids).

My parents believe it would be wiser to buy a condo/townhome for the next four years. Where should we buy???
considering...
resale values,
finding renters
proximity to campus, or bus stop, &
parking

Please provide suggestions. Our real estate agent is trying to get us to look at Churchill and Fan.

THANKS![/QUOTE

I'm guessing that you are female, and right now, some parts of churchill are kind of dangerous, I wouldn't suggest you living there - it's supposed to be up and coming, but that's probably like a 10-15 year window as opposed to the 4 you'll be in school. you should do the fan if that's you're only other option, it's more expensive, but way safer and everybody will always want to live down there, even in four years

 

[toothfairy0611]

Thanks for all the helpful advice, I will be going down this weekend to take a look at Chelsea Square, Legacy, Maplewood, Maymont, Fan, Terry Lofts, Fan, Church Hill and downtown area just to get a lay of the land

Our real estate agent had mentioned that church hill was a transitional community and that we should look at the actual crime rates before we completely rule it out, but yeah, my parents and I arent into testing statistics.