I'm entertaining the idea of moving to Richmond (from Raleigh). Staying with my current employer who has an office in Scott's Addition. It's been a while since the last Richmond thread, so.... what's good in RIC?

- Close to work
- Good schools / safe area
- I was looking to move locally for <$350k at around 3,000sf + 1/3ac; ideally would match that (or as close as possible; it appears that prices are a bit higher in RIC)

12/26/2019 11:35:36 AM

Richmond is rad. Good arts scene and lots to do. It honestly feels bigger than Raleigh to me but I believe that is because it’s more dense.

Not sure if you have kids or not but I’d consider Richmond to be like Durham, but with less educated people and more arts culture. Say a 75/25 blend of Durham and Asheville.

If your office is in Scott’s Addition, then you’ll be fine without much need for advice. I’d love to take my current salary there.

1/3/2020 12:29:06 PM

Been here about 7.5 years.

I still miss raleigh and would move back in a second, but that's more to do with better job opportunities for me in RTP and having all my close friends and family there.

Richmond is, overall, a cooler city than Raleigh. Take the best parts of Raleigh and Durham (ok with some of the rougher edges too) and then add a major river that runs through the middle of it, sprinkle a lot of historical sites, and probably the best museum situation of any mid-size city in the country, and there's a lot that makes this place fun.

That's not even getting into the awesome beer and culinary scene. Scott's addition is probably the epicenter of the beer scene, and I've seen that part of town go from mostly dilapidated and half vacant industrial buildings to one of the most happening parts of town.

One downside of Richmond proper is that the public schools are shit. A lot of that is because of the general wealth disparity problem, Richmond proper has a lot of upper middle class/wealthy people and a lot of poor people. The middle middle class tend to move out to the various suburbs where housing is cheaper, taxes are lower, and schools are better. There are a number of really good private schools, which is where those high earners send their kids.

For 3k sq feet at under $350k, you'll definitely be in the suburbs, and probably the outer suburbs.

We're in Midlothian just a couple of miles outside of Richmond and picked our location based on being close to my wife's hospital and having good schools, so typical price per sqft here is around $150.

1/22/2020 12:27:04 PM

^I actually found the housing to be way more affordable than Raleigh. At least Raleigh proper these days. My home in east Raleigh is about $320/sqft right now. I saw homes on Monument for about the same.

The schools aren't something I have personally considered. Are there any good public schools there or is it a private or nothing situation, much like Chicago.

1/23/2020 9:17:33 AM

Oh it's definitely more affordable than raleigh right now, but not $350k for 3000 sf affordable.

For, Richmond City schools there are a handful of really good elementary schools, a couple of really good middle schools, and 2 or 3 really good high schools.

In the counties surrounding RVA (Richmond predates the existence of counties so isn't part of a county), the schools generally are better funded and more consistently good to great.

[Edited on January 27, 2020 at 1:34 PM. Reason : s]

1/27/2020 1:34:01 PM