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I will relocate to Roanoke, VA weeks later. But I have no clue which part of the town I should stay in. My first priority is safty. Thank you very much for nay suggestion. And are there lots of job oppurtunities for a CPA?
I'd suggest stay out of Roanoke. Aside from that, Hickory Woods Apartments and Glad Creek are nice. Also anywhere near Electric/Ogden where there are a lot of apartment complexes are nice. If you want a house, get an apartment for a year to figure out the lay of the city before purchasing. Again, stay here as short a time as possible.
GradVT06-
I gotta ask where your disdain for Roanoke comes from. I've seen a few posts where you bash the city a bunch, and I'd like to find out what specifically you don't like about the place.
I don't live there, but I am planning to move there in the next year or two. I just wonder if it's really as bad a place as you say or if you and I just want different things from a town/region. (for ex: you might hate the fact that it snows in Roanoke while I hate the fact that the coast gets no snow at all)
Just curious. Some specifics about the place would help a lot. Thanks.
I thought I would send a quick reply to you concerning my feelings of Roanoke even though your question was aimed at GradVT. Currently, I am very anxious. Everyday, I look for job listings in the various classifieds from Roanoke.com, Cities of Roanoke, Salem, Christiansburg, and Blacksburg, the Counties of Roanoke, Montegomery, and Botetourt (sp?), several of the well known companies, etc and I don't find a lot of opportunities that bode well for a career.
Instead I find general labor, blue collar work, etc. I know that classifieds aren't the end all and they don't necessarily paint a complete picture of an area's economic/professional offerings. Nonetheless, I find my heart sinks to my stomach every Sunday when I look through the employment classifieds. There are three categories: Jobs - Driver, Jobs - General, Jobs - Healthcare. In a given week, I am lucky if I find maybe 5 advertisements with any amount of promise.
Now keep in mind, I don't know why you are interested in the area. If your interest in the area is for retirement, then I don't blame you one bit for your interest. It is pretty, quiet, laid back, and the property is cheap relatively speaking. You can get some amazing views and not have to deal with the hussle and bussle of a larger city.
However, if you are looking for a career, then I am not so sure. No doubt if you in healthcare, you can probably do well with Carilion. They are huge and as a healthcare professional you will do very well by them. Outside of that, I would be wary based on what I see (or perhaps more importantly what I don't see).
To be fair, I haven't lived here long and as such I am by no means an authority on the subject, but until I see differently, I am going with my gut feeling that work here will NOT come easily for me. My biggest fear is how it will affect my relationship eg she is doing well here with Carilion while I may have to seriously consider reducing myself to retail work. It may be cheaper to live here, but it isn't 50% cheaper...which is just about the pay cut I would take doing such work. How is that for instilling a sense of self-worth?
athornbury,
Thank you for your reply. I understand where you're coming from...many rural areas don't bode well for office/executive careers, and I can see how something white collar might be tougher to find.
I'm moving to Roanoke because my fiancee is from that area, and I love the mountains and the outdoors. I think being so close to two major national forests, Shenandoah NP and Smith Mountain Lake are amazing things. At the ripe old age of 28 I'm nowhere near retirement, so that's not a factor, though I am looking at the Roanoke area as a place to settle down permanently. I say "Roanoke area" beacuse my fiancee and I have been looking at surrounding towns such as Blue Ridge, Daleville and Bent Mountain rather than actually living downtown.
Even though I'm not planning on moving until sometime after my April '07 wedding date, I pretty much have a job lined up. I won't go into too much detail (though my forum name pretty much gives me away), it's with a company that very much fits the white collar model you're looking for. Also, I think I will be getting paid about the same amount (and maybe a bit more) than I'm getting paid now over in Chesapeake, where the cost of living is way way way higher than Roanoke.
There are so many schools in Roanoke that I think they would be great places to work. I went to a small college, so places like Roanoke College, Hollins or even Ferrum a little to the south would be nice spots to spend 8 hours a day at. And yes, if you work outside the city a little bit, you might have to drive 40 or 45 minutes to work in some cases, but gosh, they have to be some of the prettiest 45 minutes drives out there. My best friend commutes and hour and half one way into Chicago, and I'd hate to spend my time cruising along dirty buildings and fighting stoplights when I could have the green mountains as my backdrop. Plus, Roanoke seems to have lots of character and actually has some roots in the area. Hardly anything on the Virginia coast dates back more than 20 or 30 years, so there's no real heart to it. Couple that with the in-fighting between cities in Hampton Roads and the insane housing market, Roanoke looks more and more desireable every day.
Anyway, thank you again for your comments, and I wish you the best of luck in your job search.
If you have any professional contacts in the area, I would very much appreciate any information you can lend. I am willing to try every avenue to find work in this area! I understand that you probably don't want to publish such information publicly, so if you willing/able to help, you can send such information to athornbury@adelphia.net. I greatly appreciate the help! Congrats on the upcoming wedding!
GradVT06-
I gotta ask where your disdain for Roanoke comes from. I've seen a few posts where you bash the city a bunch, and I'd like to find out what specifically you don't like about the place.
I don't live there, but I am planning to move there in the next year or two. I just wonder if it's really as bad a place as you say or if you and I just want different things from a town/region. (for ex: you might hate the fact that it snows in Roanoke while I hate the fact that the coast gets no snow at all)
Just curious. Some specifics about the place would help a lot. Thanks.
No problem.
1st thing which I experienced again today:
Orange Ave, one of the largest/busiest roads that goes almost across the entire city, has a section that keeps caving in. They close a lane or the entire road, causing huge traffic jams, without a way to get around it or don't put up signs for detours. In the last month, we've had to plan to be an hour early to wherever we're going. There's easily been half a dozen cave ins/water main breaks closing the busy roads.
2nd thing
Winters. I love snow, and I'm sad I'll see less when I move back to Williamsburg in 2 days. But during the ENTIRE winter here, the wind swirls loud and fast all the time. It pierces through leather and everything else. No matter how strongly you hold your car door, the wind will pull it open and smash all the way out (and often into the car next to you). It lasts the entire winter. Roanoke is a big bowl (valley) and the wind stays there and swirls around.
3rd thing
No one here respects themselves, much less anyone else. Meaning, people don't feel the need to wear clean clothes, clothes that fit, are appropriate, or keep themselves groomed. My wife worked at a shoe store part-time in addition to being a teacher, and tons of people come in with black/dirty disgusting feet waring sandals. It's very common to see extremely overweight men or women wearing clothing for someone half their size. For example, fat rolls hanging out, overweight guys wearing only a wifebeater for a shirt and it looks like they've been on their back under a car all day, very poor personal hygiene.
4th thing
Trucks. I-81 is never flat. It's either uphill or downhill. Most of the traffic is large semis. It's way overcrowded. It's horrible to drive on from 6am to 10pm.
It's not better actually in the city or around it. Trucks are everywhere. They are slow, clog the streets, etc. You never really think about it until they make turns they can't navigate and block all directions, or block a parking lot, or get stuck behind trucks going 20 below the speed limit when you've got to get to work, or an appointment, or whatever.
5th thing
The people. Like it or not, lots of rednecks. Old pickup trucks, old junkers, confederate flags/tshirts, country/folk/bluegrass music (which I hate), etc. It's just a fact that there's more people here that are uneducated work more entry level service/warehouse/factory jobs and people.
On the positive side, we'd be much happier purchasing a house here because it's so much cheaper than eastern Virginia, gas prices are a little less, there's more snow, and it's near Virginia Tech. That's about it. The strong bitter wind will have you hating it after the first winter. Trying to drive around all the trucks and cars that just can't make it up to speed will have you frustrated pretty fast. If you don't mind people that have no respect for themselves (and therefore, you or anyone else), then it won't bother you as much. But us... we're glad to get out of there. I am getting ready to start a terrific job, my wife landed a better teaching job which pays teachers closer to what they should be paid, and couldn't be happier. If you have any more specific questions ask away, and I'll be honst. There's a lot of good Chinese places here and the housing market is cheap. There's a few pluses, but not nearly enough to keep us here.
GradVT06-
Thanks for the reply! What you said helps a lot and certainly gives me more of a feel for what the city it like.
Even before I went for my first visit, I was warned about how psychotic I-81 could be. But living on the coast, I've come to learn that any interstate that runs though a city is going to be clogged, especially at peak hours. Several major roads through Va. Beach and Norfolk are at a near complete standstill from 4:30 to 6 p.m. each day. It bites. That's all there is too it. My fiancee and I have been able to get around Roanoke fairly well, but we certainly avoid the interstate whenever we can. It all depends on where we ultimately decide to live as to whether I-81 is going to really get on my nerves.
I think the wind factor that you mentioned is going to be an issue for my fiancee. She's a warm-weather girl, and begins bundling up when temps hit the 50s. As for me, I grew up in northern Indiana, where lake effect snow and wind (from Lake Michigan) were the norm. The cold and the wind don't bother me at all, but I'm also active in a wilderness search and rescue group and have years of outdoor experience, so keeping warm and layering usually aren't an issue.
Orange Avenue caving in is kinda scary. That's something I've never heard anyone ever complain about. I really appreciate that little tidbit! Good to know.
It'll be interesting to get a first-hand impression of the people. I've spend lots of time in the Center on the Square area, and the first thing that hit me was that even the waitresses and shopkeeps were uber-friendly to us, even when they didn't need to be. In the area I live now, it's tough to go to a regular restaurant and find service that would really impress you. I've never noticed the redneck aspect you talked about in Roanoke, but a lot of my travels have been between Smith Mountain Lake and Roanoke, and SML doesn't have hardly any lower-class income residents.
And downtown Roanoke seems relatively free of scummy people and homeless, but again, I've found myself spending most of my time in the heart of downtown or in the Grandin Road area, both of which I'm pretty happy with. I haven't ventured to see what kind of people roam places such as the mall on a daily basis. In Norfolk, I'm kinda creeped out to walk down the streets at night. Loud, aggressive people roam many parts of downtown Norfolk. It's odd that the crime stats in Roanoke are worse than Norfolk, because I'm definitely more uncomfortable walking through Norfolk after dark (and I'm a twenty-something who goes to the gym three times a week).
As I mentioned in a prior post, I think that Roanoke actually has some character to it. People can argue whether that's good character or bad character, but at least I see it as an identity. Norfolk is trying to pull itself from the gutter. Chesapeake doesn't have even a single road to call a downtown. Virginia Beach has succumbed to tackiness. Places I'm at now are kinda depressing, so I'm looking for something more historic with lots of outdoor opportunities.
After this immensely long post, I will ask one question, since based on your username, I assume you're in your 20s. Generalizations of the populous as a whole aside, did you have trouble finding a corps group of friends your age to hang out with? I tend to see lots of retirees, especially in some of the slightly pricier neighborhoods where my fiancee and I are looking, and I wonder if we're going to meet people who aren't using Roanoke just as a stepping stone to bigger/different cities. Is there a fixed "young working professionals" culture in Roanoke? It doesn't have to be huge, I just wonder if it exists.
Thanks for your feedback. I don't know what direction this thread is going to take, but please chime in when you can. I'm always up to hear more.
Ryan
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I'm nowhere near retirement, so that's not a factor, though I am looking at the Roanoke area as a place to settle down permanently. I say "Roanoke area" beacuse my fiancee and I have been looking at surrounding towns such as Blue Ridge, Daleville and Bent Mountain rather than actually living downtown.
