Great Neighborhoods

Hi H.!! I grew up in Virginia Beach and went to Kempsville public schools and I moved away for a few years and now I am back living in Kempsville. I have a daughter who is only 11 months but I think Kempsville is a wonderful place to live and the schools are the best in the area. Its nice because you are at the center of everything and can pretty much be to any other area of Hampton Roads in 10-20 min. I don't know if your going to rent/buy but I also I can give you a wonderful reference for a real estate agent who works with renters and buyers. Let me know if I can help!! Good luck.

We live in the Hilton Village neighborhood in Newport News. We love the neighborhood, which is very friendly, tree-lined, and easy to walk to things. We walk our daughter to Hilton Elementary, which is a great school right on the James River with a nice playground and a fishing pier. Our middle daughter goes to Hilton Presbyterian Preschool, which is right across the street from the elementary. I have heard mixed things about the middle and high schools, although people seem to love Booker T. Washington middle school, a magnet program, and the International Baccalaureate program at Warwick High Schoool. Good luck!

Hi, H.! I'm 38, too, and moved to Virginia Beach just over a year ago (from Los Angeles!). We chose Virginia Beach for the schools -- the schools all had good/great ratings on greatschools.com, and we've been very happy. We actually like her public school here better than her private school back home!

We live in Windsor woods right by Lake Trashmore. It is a great place for bike riding and skateboarding -- there's even a super skateboard park right in the park. A bike/jogging trail surrounds the lake.

I don't know if you're looking to buy or rent, but I'm sure there are houses available for rent, and there are apartments in the area too. Good luck!

Hi H.,
I also just recently moved to Virginia Beach. We just had our first child and that was also very important to us in choosing our first home. We ended up moving in to the Buckner Farms community. Statistically the schools around here are pretty good and there are so many children in the neighborhood. You can always see them riding around int he community. Might be a good place to start.

If you want to be in the hubbub of things then yes VABeach is the area. Chesapeake is nicer, imo and still w/ plenty around to do. If you want to get away from all the chaos then York County is the place. You are still close to Newport News and Hampton for things to do but not so much congestion like VaB. You might have to go where ever the best job offer is if you cant decide which place you like best.
Good Luck.

I hear that both Kempsville and Bayside in Virginia Beach have very good schools. People tell me over and over that Kempsville is a great place to live and that the schools are very good there. It borders Chesapeake. I have also heard that Chesapeake has great schools, but honestly, unless one can get a big house in Great Bridge, I have yet to find my favorite area of Chesapeake.

I hope this helps some. Best of luck! We just moved from Arkansas in March, so it is still a learning process for us.

Hi H.,

We just moved here last summer. Grafton and Tabb have the better of the schools in York County. Any of the divisions feeding into these schools are safe places to live, but can be very expensive. I would suggest searching for homes in these areas.

G. T.