Relocation to VA?

[slammin.e28]

Cville is awesome.

I am here.

That's all you need to know.

[McGyver]

Why do Virginia summers suck? Humidity? It gets pretty humid in CT too.. so much so that I'm mapping out how to fix the A/C in my convertible

You don't understand humidity. I'm talking about days where it's 80F by 8 am and goes up to 100F in the afternoon, then add 80-90% humidity. Its so bad that there are weeks where my house (build in 2005) can't keep the place cooler than 80F inside. Outside of a city it's at least 5 degrees cooler because less concrete, but you still get thick haze from the direct sun and all the humidity. That being said, drinking cold beer next to the river all summer is realllllly nice.

[stonea]

Why do Virginia summers suck? Humidity? It gets pretty humid in CT too.. so much so that I'm mapping out how to fix the A/C in my convertible

Pretty much, I can't stand it anymore. If I had an air conditioned garage I could probably live with it. After graduation I'm looking at moving to colorado or somewhere like that.

[Das Delfin]

That's good to hear. I played sax in the school band too but liked bari more than tenor :P I used to play all over in CA but haven't done anything with anyone since I moved here. It's kinda nice, like a long meditative retreat, but it's also really. boring.

Why do Virginia summers suck? Humidity? It gets pretty humid in CT too.. so much so that I'm mapping out how to fix the A/C in my convertible

[McGyver]

McGyver are you into performing arts? Play in a band?

I have a decent amount of friends in bands and a friend that use to book shows at an underground house venue, but I don't play in a band. I used to dabble with the guitar and mandolin, but I rarely play them anymore. I also played tenor sax in middle/high school, but it's just sitting there too. I want to get back into playing, but adulting takes so much time and I have too many car projects.

So for now I just go out with friends to see local bands at various places around town. It's fun and Richmond has a HUGE local music scene.

[stonea]

I've lived in Virginia for all my life and have lived in two drastically different parts of it. First I grew up in Fauquier County which is about 20-30 minutes west of Manassas. Its a very rural area and the north side of the county is filled by big money horse owners, and the south side is nothing but fields and farms. Your GF might be able to find a decent job there though. Everyone who is moving out of NoVa seems to be moving to the center of the county and it rapidly expanding. They had to build a brand new high school, middle school, and elementary school and all three are already mostly filled up and need to build more. Plus Prince William County is right there and their student population is bigger than Fauquier's total population (or used to be).

The second place I've lived is Hampton Roads, Norfolk to be exact, and its a interesting place to say the least. Virginia Beach and Chesapeake are nice, but Norfolk, Hampton, and Newport News can get real ghetto real quick. Traffic sucks down here though, not NoVa bad, but enough to not make me live here any longer than I have to.

The thing that sucks most about Virginia are the summers.

[Das Delfin]

McGyver are you into performing arts? Play in a band?

[Kershaw]

Yeah, maybe something this summer would be cool.

[McGyver]

Well maybe you can show me the cool side of Richmond sometime. It has been a few years since I've been there.

Lemme know when you come down. We've got pretty much everything. Country roads for driving, breweries, distilleries, cideries, all kinds of bars, secluded river spots (if you know how/where to go), great restaurants of all price ranges, word of mouth house shows, small and mid sized venues (up to 500 people) for local bands, larger venues (1500 people) for larger national acts, tons of history, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Center Stage for performing arts, the Richmond Ballet, a festival every other weekend, etc. Plus affordable housing, decent paying jobs, and lots of job opportunities.

I have DEFINITELY noticed a difference from 8 years ago when I started college. If it was longer since you've been here, you probably won't recognize much of anything. Especially around VCU.

[Bothfeetin]

Das Delfin
I hope your significant other has a masters degree especially in NOVA; or is at least working towards it. There is a lot of competition for getting a job as a high school teacher. Granite that NOVA does pay more than other areas, but for someone with a masters the pay really is not that great; most do it for the benefits. If she plans on teaching at a public school she is going to have to deal with heckling; each school has their own mixture of low-income and over privileged ass-holes. IMO I would check out private schools there are a number of them in the NOVA; pay is considerably better, students want to learn (smaller classes), but there is more competition. Hope this helped, NOVA is a great place, TONS of jobs in both government and private sectors so it would not be hard for you to find something as well.

Good luck!

[TimeMachinE30]

MD law concerning the historic plates is vague in judicial context. Not does it give much meaning to the traffic cop. Now, I've seen commercial motor vehicles with historic tags and I have seen vehicles operating in a business fashion with historic tags. They are getting themselves the attention they deserve.

Teaching in MD, your GF is up for?

[Kershaw]

Whoa dude, cool your tits! That's a pretty broad brush you're using based on a handful of visits from what must have been several years ago.

Well maybe you can show me the cool side of Richmond sometime. It has been a few years since I've been there.

Since Maryland is not a Commonwealth, you don't pay property taxes on cars. Own as many e30s as you want! I've registered all my cars historic. My DD e36 is historic. No inspection, no smog. Historic tags are "occasional use only," but I've never seen a cop care. In fact, one cop asked me, "what is occasional use? One hour out of the day?"

The only time I've been ticketed for speeding was when I was doing 97 in a 55. It was a gloriously sunny early afternoon Sunday and there were no cars on the road except me and the cop. Cop wrote 74 so it wouldn't be reckless driving which would increase the points/fine. I went to court and the points were dropped. I've definitely had a few other warnings though. Lol.

[roguetoaster]

While it looks like MD is out of the area you're considering but you can easily use our historic plate scheme to skip emissions/safety inspections on any 20+ year old car. I totally do not use that for 4/5 of my registered cars, nor do I drive those on a daily basis at all.

In MD speed camera tickets are only $40, and can be used as a good v-max reference or as a friendly competition with others as they send you a neat photo of your car and list your actual speed! Further, going 20 over in many places in MD will net you nothing, not a glance, not a tag-along-bumper-buddy, not even an evil look. The only time I, a habitual, but careful speeder, have been caught it was for er, let's say 81, which is what the kind officer wrote. In reality, if that were VA I'd have been arrested, pilloried, whipped and whatever other antiquated tortures they deem fitting for such a heinous & nefarious act.

Snow can be a bit of an issue for the majority of drivers in the DC metro area, as in 2" and you can expect a near complete shutdown. Other areas, like the panhandle or SoMD, don't sweat it.

In MD you will not pay a yearly additional personal property taxes on cars, as in VA, unless I've somehow avoided them for all these years. Property tax for cars, fuck that, live in MD, the land of merely continually nibbling taxes.

[Das Delfin]

^ Thanks! That's exactly what I'm looking for. I'll check out MD as well but from a brief look at their dmv, I'll have to smog the bmw :( which means I'll have to figure out how to get the check engine light to work

Bummed about the antique plates. I'd get normal plates to be safe. Here in CT the advantage of antique plates is that I pay pretty much no property tax on the car. To put it in perspective, my gf paid around $600 on her '13 Jetta last year and I paid somewhere around $12.

I haven't gotten a speeding ticket in years so I'm not really concerned. I mean I drive a 30 year old bmw...

So the plan of attack is start in south eastern VA and work my way west ;)

I love the snow. Call me crazy but driving in the snow in my bmw was the first time I really started to enjoy the east coast. So I'm hoping it still snows! At least it did this year!


Thanks for the tips, guys. My girl and I will hit google maps and see what we come up with. Anything else, keep it coming

[McGyver]

Richmond is not civilization, but even that's a hike.

Richmond still hasn't recovered from the race riots of the 60s. I've only been there a few times because my sister went to VCU. I try to stay out of that city. Hell, I stay out of that state.

Whoa dude, cool your tits! That's a pretty broad brush you're using based on a handful of visits from what must have been several years ago.

Richmond (RVA) has changed a lot since I moved here in 2008. VCU is buying tons of land, people are moving back to gentrify, and the city is working hard to change it's image. RVA is basically an eastern Portland complete with hipsters, thriving music/arts, amazing restaurants, too many breweries, and an awesome river. That being said, there is also a racial/economic divide among the residents and one neighborhood can be very different from one neighborhood to the next. Overall it's a great city and I've loved living here.

OP, I have lived in the City Richmond for the past 8 years, have owned a house in the city for 5 years, and have lived in VA for most of my life. So here are some things to consider:
-No collective bargaining for teachers in VA, so picking a good school system is very important.
-Generally speaking, Virginia gets very hot/humid in the summer and cold/rainy in the winter. But doesn't get much rain.
-Northern Va is is very crowded and is basically one giant suburb of DC.
-Most of VA is rural and exceptionally conservative.
-Charlottesville is pretty, but is also pretty yuppy because of UVA and their desire to be different than the rural areas around C-Ville.
-Property tax in VA is generally reasonable.
-Reckless driving is currently 80 mph or 20 mph over the speed limit. Reckless driving is an actual misdemeanor and you can to jail time for it. Also, radar/laser detectors are illegal.
-No smog unless you're in Northern VA.
-Antique plates (20+ year old cars) are a $50 one time fee with no registration, yearly state inspection, or milage restriction. BUT, you are limited to occasional pleasure drives, trips to the mechanic, and must be within 250 miles of home unless you're going to a show. HOWEVER, you are allowed unlimited trips to test the mechanical functionality of the car. Lots of people abuse this, but it's a class 4 misdemeanor and your antique plates are revoked for 5 years if you're convicted.