Where, Oh Where
First, we’ll share Clara’s new favorite song because it’s semi on topic. I don’t know what possessed Sherry to start singing the chorus of “Where In The World Is Carmen San Diego” to her the other day, but when she realized she was making up most of the words for lack of actual knowledge of the song she googled the lyrics so she could sing it correctly. Lo and behold, watching (and singing along) is now Clara’s favorite pastime ever (although we all could do without the gratuitous beatbox solo in the middle):
But back to the actual topic at hand. Where our new house will be located. Sherry and I quickly realized that the number one question we had to answer to keep our house hunt somewhat focused was “Where do we want to live?” Sure, we love the area that we’re in now, but with no work commute to factor in (one of the perks of working 8 feet from where we sleep) we were excited by the freedom to live pretty much anywhere we wanted. We even asked ourselves if staying in Richmond was our best move. Maybe we should go elsewhere in Virginia? Or elsewhere in the United States? Or even elsewhere in the world?
As adventurous as that sounded, we quickly realized that we definitely want to stay right here in good ol’ RVA (translation: Richmond, Virginia for any non locals). We love this city for its mix of urban and the great outdoors, its low cost of living, and its proximity to many members of our family. Plus it sure simplifies our hunt if we’re not trying to decipher a new town along the way. Plainly stated, we think Richmond rocks (much like these guys who made a rap about it):
This is turning into quite the musical post, eh? Anyway, while we have plenty on our housing wish list, our priority numero uno when it comes to location is schools. Sure Clara’s still a few years off from that and we know better than to assume that we won’t find ourselves moving again before she hits kindergarten (never say never) but we’d hate to put a time limit on our next house from the get go. Especially knowing my wife’s propensity to get attached. What the whole school district parameter means around here is that we decided to nix any homes within the Richmond city limits since the schools are said to be not-so-hot after elementary school (which we confirmed by checking out ratings on sites like greatschools.org and talking to friends and family members who have kiddos in our area). Ruling out Richmond city homes was a total bummer because ‘hoods like Forest Hill, The Fan, and Bellevue basically ooze charm left and right. Many lucky lads and ladies live there but they have the means to send their kiddos to prestigious private schools and we just don’t think we’ll be able to make that commitment while considering where to live – so eliminating the areas without high ranked public schools was the best choice for us. Even though many of the houses and neighborhoods there are a DIYers dream.
Our next priority after Clara & future bean(s) education is proximity to family. Right now my sister lives about five minutes away (and my parents are talking about moving nearby in May). Sure, it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we landed in a spot only 30-ish minutes away from Emily, but we do think we’d miss the ease of popping over on a whim, swinging by to let out each other’s dogs, or even borrowing her SUV to haul craigslist and thrift store finds. So that means outskirt areas like Hanover County’s Mechanicsville, Henrico’s Short Pump, and even Chesterfield’s Swift Creek regions sadly got the boot from our consideration list. They’re certainly lovely, but they’re not the perfect fit for our little “family parameter” goal.
Once we effectively limited our search radius to 5-to-10 miles of our current house, the “old house filter” came into play. Since we prefer not to live in a newer-than-the-’50s-or-’60s house, we were able to eliminate a lot of the traditionally suburban developments that have popped up in Chesterfield County (where we currently live) and nearby Henrico (just a hop over the river from us).
And while Henrico’s West End neighborhoods boast lots of charming old capes with a pseudo-city feel, their smaller lots and tendency for on-street parking made us realize how much we liked our current neighborhood set up (with tons of privacy and expansive green lawns).
Which brings us right back to Bon Air.
Yep, it appeared that after all of that geographic soul-searching and (apparently pretend) adventurous spirit we decided that we’d love to end up right where we started in our current wooded, old, private, and scenic stomping ground (that’s still just 10 minutes from downtown Richmond). It has some of the greatest schools in the state, it’s close to family, and it’s packed with old homes on lots of lush land that need some serious love.
And it’s not like we’ll end up on the same street or anything because Bon Air is actually quite a large area, so we can move into different neighborhoods within Bon Air (and can’t wait to start exploring other developments). Oh yeah and it has a water tower. Idyllic, right?
We know, it’s a bit of an anticlimactic ending. But we’re glad we went through the exercise of exploring our options (literally, we spent a few weeks on field trips through various counties and neighborhoods every other day while Clara snuck in her early evening nap in the backseat). And all that recent road neighborhood tripping definitely makes us more confident and excited by our decision to stay nearby. Now if only the perfect house would reveal itself. We promise to share our actual house hunting adventures as those arise. And while we’re on the subject, have any of you made much more exciting huge cross-country or international moves? If so, how exotic of you. We still remember the thrill of loading up my mom’s minivan and moving from NYC to Richmond nearly five years ago. Has anyone else cast a wide net and ended up right back where you started like we did this time around?
Psst- We announced our big winner for this week’s contest at the end of Monday’s original contest post. Click here to see if it’s you.
Photo of The Fan from here, new construction photo from here, Bon Air watertower image from here.
Leave a comment
If you enjoyed this post, please leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.
It’s okay to stay where you are! We moved from Texas (where we were born and raised, went to college, and where all our parents, grandparents, and siblings live) to California for a job, but it’s just too far and now we’re trying to get back! You won’t regret staying near family, especially for Clara’s sake.
After college I wanted some adventure so I moved to South Korea to teach English..after 2 years I missed the good old US of A too much and returned to my home state of New Jersey. My husband, whom I met in Korea, is actually Canadian and he moved back to NJ with me so we could get married… he’s lived all over as well: Egypt, China, Korea… given our shared love of traveling and experiencing other cultures it may be NJ for now but who knows where we may eventually end up! Richmond looks beautiful so we’ve put it on our list of places to consider raising a fam… :)
I was born and raised in Waco, Texas, where I lived until I was 29. Then I moved to Turkey. Yes, THAT Turkey, on the other side of the world. I lived there for a while, then got married and moved to Oregon for three years, and now live in…Waco, Texas. There’s just something about family that draws the heart back.
I was 1/2 expecting you to say you were taking the house off the market! ;)
We’re an Army family who have lived in 7 homes/ 6 cities in the last six years (five of those have been in the last three years – crazy!) My husband got the opportunity to get his Masters degree through the Army and we could pick any school in the country that had the right program. We considered Florida and Boston and all sorts of exciting places before deciding on Manhattan, KS because it’s only two hours away from our home town in Nebraska. All of our friends thought we were crazy for heading back to the midwest when we could go anywhere in the country, but we loved the idea of finally being able to see family almost whenever we want. Since being back in the midwest we’ve realized just how much we absolutely love it. It’s going to be hard to leave here once my husband graduates but we’re going to enjoy every minute of it while it lasts.
Mary Munford and Fox Elementary are amazing schools! The middle schools and high schools would be a lot better if parents didn’t all pull their children out and place them in private schools. Its such a shame. Not attacking you at all, you have to do what is best for your family, but I moved to Richmond 6 years ago and I couldn’t believe how segregated the school system is!
When I was 18 I moved to NYC alone, not knowing anyone – greatest life experience ever. I met my now husband, when we were ready to start a family we moved to FL (where my family lives) then last year we moved to ATL for his job.
p.s. I think you meany NYC not NCY
Oops, thanks for the heads up on NCY Heather! Consider it fixed!
-John
haha Lora I was thinking the same thing!
My husband and I are going through the same checklists and neighborhood road trips lately trying to find the perfect location for our first home (we are still renters). We have only narrowed it down to about a top 5 so you guys are doing much better than us.
My husband and I had remodeled and added on to a house in a neighborhood we loved. We had it just like we wanted it two years ago. My husband and a friend were building spec houses on the side and the house market crashed. We had this house that we loved and a spec house that wouldn’t sell, so we had no choice but to put both houses up for sell and which ever one sold, we would move to the other. As you can guess, the house that we loved sold in 12 days so we moved to the new spec house. We kept it on the market also trying to sell it which we did this past spring. Lo and behold, the house right next door to the house we loved came up for sale. We are remodeling it and moving this weekend. We feel like are going home! We are so excited. So basically, we are right back where we started!
I don’t think I could ever leave my “home” town. Maybe for a few years, but never permanently. :)
There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.
I was born in the southern most area of Argentina, my parents moved us to florida when I was a kid. later they moved to California. this past June they actually packed their entire house into a container and moved back to southern Argentina. I’d say THAT’S a wide net!
I just bought a house, and happened to stumble on your blog after looking for inspiration. I cannot believe the wealth of information that is on here! You two are not only cute as all get-out, but extremely prolific. I can’t wait to apply some of these tips to my upcoming projects, especially the info on the bathroom, which will be one of the first things I tackle. I’m actually really excited that you’re looking for a new place yourselves because it means more gorgeous rooms designed by you!
We apparently have pretend adventurous spirit as well. Our house is two blocks from my parents’ house (the house I grew up in) and two blocks from the elementary school I went to (which is still a great school, so that was a big plus, too!). Maybe we just prefer to have adventures when on vacation and return home to the city we love? After all, we did travel to Tennessee (twice!) and San Fran in the past year. (It still counts if it was for family related adventures, right?)
Like many of the commenters, I’ve really ventured out…
Raised in Central Jersey, went to college in North Jersey, now live in South Jersey.
But someday, somedaaay! I will live in Hawaii :)
ps- I was wondering if you guys had considered elsewhere due to the work from home factor. If I had that opportunity, Hawaii! Okay I’m a little unrealistic…
For Clara: More a capella silly fun!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=chxIr1e09A0
(Yes, I have that on my itunes.)
I’ve moved from Florida to Hawaii back to Florida and now to California and who knows where next!? (Military spouse). It is a great adventure, but its also about priorities and it sounds like yall have figured yours out pretty well and what works for you. A couple of streets over might not be a blind move to a crazy destination, but its still a totally new place and will be a new adventure!! Fingers crossed yall find a place that meets every criteria on your list AND you love it.
Wow, bringing out one of the most influential games/game shows from my youth is making me feel a tad nostalgic! Bravo for whipping out the Rockapella!
Good luck on the house hunt. We’re going through it right now, and it seems as though this could either be “The best of times, or the worst of times” as far as the housing market goes, what with the the colder winter months coming as well as the recent debacle that is FORECLOSURE FRAUD.
My road-tripping experience: Grew up in SE Michigan, spent 2 years in South Korea on a service mission, then went back to Michigan, then went to Idaho for school, met my wife, then moved BACK to SE Michigan, literally 4 minutes from my high school and 15 minutes from my old house – and we couldn’t be happier.
Have you started touring houses yet?
Hey Brandt,
We’ve generally started driving around neighborhoods and looking around on MLS- we’ll keep you posted about actual house tours and stuff soon!
xo,
s
Your post reminded me of the movie “Away We Go” where the couple go searching for the perfect place to raise their babe (still in utero) and end up, not exactly where they started, but home.
What a wonderful feeling it must be to search all over the world and realize you were in the right place all along.
WOW, what a small world. I grew up in Chesterfield, just off of 360. I loved it there so I know how tough it is to imagine moving out! I moved to GA last may to be with my (now) husband. It’s been a fun transition and I love the area we are in but I definitely miss VA. We first moved to a swanky little townhouse (It was me and three boys)in Gainesville = BEAUTIFUL but when it was just the two of us we hoped into the city in a basement apartment (gross). We just bought our first house north of the city and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. I get so much great inspiration from you all and am planning to paint our master bedroom using some advice you gave based on one of the house crashings you did with the artichoke green living room. I can’t wait to get started and will definitely give credit on my blog! I love you guys.
Good luck with the rest of the move!
Are you using a realtor?
Hey Sara,
We’re definitely open to using a buyers agent on our house hunt (depending on the situation and what we find) but we’re attempting to sell our house by owner (fingers crossed). We’ll keep you posted!
xo,
s
i do love the town where i grew up, but I love to experience different places even more.
Love the Richmond rap video! Lol. I must stay, having grown up in Richmond (Chesterfield mostly), I was dying to leave and headed to the DMV area (DC, MD and Northern VA). Now I’m ready to move on from here; I just love the idea of exploring new areas…who knows where I’ll end up next. :-) Happy house hunting!
I did the same thing after I moved out of my parents place after college. I could go ANYWHERE, and ended up renting an apartment in Louisville two blocks from their house. It’s a great walkable neighborhood, I’m super close to the coffee shop and the bookstore.
And as attractive as big cities are it’s really hard to beat the affordability of a ‘Midwestern’ city.
I really appreciated that video as a former short-term RVA resident. Those cats hit it on the nose!
I always thought my husband and I would buy a house in western Howard County, Maryland (where I grew up) when he said we should look in Pasadena, MD, and I was like, “Pasadena? Isn’t it kind of podunk down there?”
Then we found a house. Oh, it’s such a wonderful house! Built in 1980 and sits on an acre of land at the end of a tidal creek. It’s perfect and it turns out that I really love the area, and I’m glad I put what I “thought” aside and went exploring.
It’s a mom and pop town with a friendly community, and I even found the most wonderful little church to which I quickly became a member.
I’ll never cease to be amazed by where life takes us, and I’m excited that we love the house just how it is yet we can’t wait to make a few small changes that can brighten it up and make it really ours.
I look forward to seeing what you take on in the next house!
Nothing like planting your roots in a place you know you already love!
Sooooo thanks a lot guys. I’m going to have Carmen Sandiego stuck in my head for the rest of the day. Appreciate it!
My husband and I lived in FL when we first married. Nine years later we have moved nine times, with four of those being cross-country trips–NYC to CA (in a mini-van while I was pregnant with our first child–ugh!), CA back to FL, FL to AZ, and AZ back to FL. Obviously FL is where we keep getting drawn back to. My husband has a lot of latitude (no pun intended) in where he can live for his career, so that freedom kept us exploring different places to live until we realized how totally we *heart* Florida. We are preparing to close next week on what we call our ‘forever house’ here in the Sunshine State.
You watch 30 Rock, right? You guys should move to the Cleve! And then watch this hilarious video:
Hey Kristi,
Haha, our brother in law is from there and loves that!
xo,
s
My husband and I both grew up in SW FL. We moved to Los Angeles for five years for school, then moved to NC. We love NC, and even though most of our family is in SW FL, we never want to move back there. We love our families and miss them, but we really do not like living in FL. We never want to move again, actually- NC is awesome. Like Lora, I was also half expecting you to say that you decided to stay in the same house!
I know that these are hard decisions about schooling and so forth, and that schooling isn’t your only reason for staying in the same neighborhood, but I’ve got to agree with Wren on the school thing. The reality of segregated schools really disturbed us in LA, and we see the same thing happening here.
My husband and I just found that that we’ll be officially moving to Richmond in August for his graduate program at VCU. We’re currently looking for cool areas to live there. Any suggestions are welcome! We’re hoping to rent a house or townhouse – not downtown and we don’t have kids so schools aren’t an issue. We still have yet to find “the cool” parts of Richmond. We’re excited to explore a new City!
I moved to San Diego from Parsipanny, but I`m back to my hometown as I missed my friends and family…I learned that good weather can only make u feel good for a few days!!
Btw besides the charm of 50′s and 60′s homes…what are the other reasons you guys prefer old homes? do you think they were well built with better raw materials when compared to newer homes? Pleaseeeeee answer my question as I have been wondering why do you guys prefer old homes, cos you can decorate newly built homes as well!
Hey Aaroohii,
We’re just charmed by the aesthetics of 50′s and 60s homes and also believe they’re built extremely well (especially brick ranches like our own). They are nice and dated and in need of work but still full of interesting and unique details and charm, which to us is the sweet spot!
xo,
s
I got the moving bug straight out of High School (in NH). Since then, I’ve bounced coasts [occasionally stopping in the middle for a while] every 3 to 4 years. It was fun and exciting for a long time, I had some great adventures, mets some amazing people, but now that I’m married and we’re starting to thing about starting a family- I’m feeling the need to settle. Hubs and I just bought our first home together (in CA) so hopefully we’ll be here for a while.
I don’t think I’d totally avoid the newer-house hunt. Understandable you want the total fixer upper, but you’d really be surprised whats out there from only a few years ago. Keep an open mind and see where it takes you. Just my two cents.
You guys just made my morning with the Carmen Sandiego theme song. Sadly, I actually remember all the words from when I watched it everyday as a kindergartner… :)
ps. you could become landlords and rent out your house to us! lol.
I’m a weird one — I love moving. I’m not sure if it’s because I HAVE to move (my husband is an Marine Corps helicopter pilot) or because there’s something really really thrilling about exploring a new town!
We’ve lived in good ole VA before (quantico and manassas) and absolutely LOVED it!!! I don’t blame you guys for ending up right where you started — I would move back to Virginia in a heartbeat. Same area, different area, it all rocks =)
Good luck with your house hunting guys! I’m so excited for you!!!
I wanted to so badly move back up to the Northeast where my family and old friends live, however my job prevents me from moving to where I would like. I work for the Government and my current position and experience I had 3 options. Stay here in Florida or move to New Mexico, North Carolina or Pennsylvania. In the end we stayed here because it wasn’t just my job I had to think about. My Hubby also works for the Government and his job wouldn’t necessarily permit him to work in those 3 places.
So here we are, still stuck in Florida. It’s okay… I know my way around more than anything but I will never *love* it here. Gotta go where the jobs are available :(
hahahaha….ROCKAPELLA!!!! This just brought me straight back to 6th grade!….And now I have the song stuck in my head! I dare not sing it out loud because it could possibly end up being my son’s fave, too!
I’m sure it must be comforting knowing you were right where you belonged, as far as location! Good luck with the hunt!
If I could convince our families to move with us, I’d move to New Zealand in a heartbeat. Alas, I live in the same city I grew up in.
Hey! I live in (Carmen) San Diego by way of New Orleans (thanks Katrina!).
I think you might need a beach house out here. Imagine the possibilities!
my husband and i decided to uproot our family of three and moved to nyack, ny. we quickly realized after about 2 years that it just wasn’t for us. so we moved back to massachusetts where we were born and raised and purchased our first home about a month ago. we’ve always been the type of people who wanted to move somewhere new and start over, but we realized that home is where the heart is. and you can’t beat the fall foliage up here in new england!
As a parent of a school-age child, I would say to use Great Schools with caution. It is NOT always a true reflection of a school or district – some schools that they rate low are actually really great and others that they rate as 9 or 10 can leave a lot to be desired. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of great resources out there for parents. Talking to people in the community – teachers, PTO members, friends, family, etc. – will give you a better idea of the school and communiity. Schools are about people and you cannot quantify that to a number in the way that Great Schools attempts to. Good luck!
Hey Patti,
Thanks for the tip! That site was just a starting point for us, but talking with local friends and family members with kiddos really helped inform our decisions the most!
xo,
s
Dang! As a Fan resident I was sooo hoping you all would make the move to The Fan (local celebrities in my neighborhood- yes please!) but alas you are not. It is a shame as another commenter said that so many parents pull their kids out and send them to private schools which really does segregrate the school system in this area. Looking forward to more house hunting stories!
Since Clara seems to be a natural at singing along, you really should check out this new line of cd’s at http://www.RecessMusic.com My kids love them! They are fun CD’s geared towards educating children about our earth and environment while having fun singing and dancing along.
She’ll love that!
xo,
s
We did this recently, but not with housing, but with cars. We had been talking about getting rid of our Suburban because of the bad gas mileage. Then, my dh was in a car accident that totalled it (thank God he walked away without a scratch). Now we had the choice to replace with whatever we wanted (thanks to insurance money). We looked at all our options, but we came to the conclusion that we needed a Suburban or something close to it to continue all the activities our family of 6 does. We just purchased a Yukon XL (virtually identical to our Suburban), same year and everything as our old vehicle =) Some decisions just feel right!
I was born and raised in the Tampa, Florida area (I am that rarest of creatures…multiple generation native Floridian!) and then went away to college…moved to Los Angeles for seven years…and now live a mile and a half down the street from the house I grew up in! Crazy.
I wouldn’t trade for anything the fact that my parents and both my sisters all live within three miles of me now. As you mentioned, for convenience when it comes to dog-sitting and dropping by…it can’t be beat.
Too bad you guys have a family perimeter, Howard County in MD is AWESOME!
My husband and I picked up and moved from NC to Boston right after we graduated college and got married. My dad was in the Air Force while I was growing up, so I was used to moving every 5 years (we lived in Illinois, Michigan, and Texas twice, even though I was born in NC). We recently relocated back to Raleigh, NC where we went to college. It’s about 2 hours away from “home”, so it will be easy for family to visit once the baby gets here in December, we still have friends in the area, and we could actually afford a house here. We both actually work from home, too, so we didn’t have to worry about commutes and we only looked at houses built before 1990 to eliminate all the ugly new subdivisions.
Moving up there was a little easier, since we didn’t have really any furniture. Even needing a bigger truck to move back, we’ve still had to shell out a lot of cash for things to fill out a 2100 sq ft house when we’re used to 1200 sq ft apartments! Also, both the move up to Boston and back were family jobs; none of this professional movers crap!
carmen sandiego will be in my head. all. day.