Norfalk, Virginia

[rikki_100113]

Hey all,

So my fiance just told me today that he got his next duty station.....and its Norfolk, Virginia. So I am wondering does anyone live near or around that area that can give me some advice? And we are looking at living off base so any ideas on how to go about finding an apartments? We also have pets so it would have to accompany 2 dogs. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Ahhh I am so excited.

Thanks all

[Lindsay]

Hey! Welcome to Virginia! We just got stationed and moved to Woodbridge, VA. Stationed at Ft. Belvoir. Not too close to Norfolk but at least the same state. I don't really have much info for you yet but i can tell you housing here is kind of pricey. Most decent places run around $1500 a month but BAH is good too. Traffic is crazy but if your from a bigger city you should be ok(I'm not from a city at all... culture shock!!) You can find a lot of great apartments on apartmentguide.com and most listed on that website waive a lot of fees for military personnel and its all off base housing and each apartment list there pet policy as well.. I have a german shepard and they are restricted a lot here in VA because supposedly there aggressive, that site helped me a lot! Anyways, good luck!

[rikki_100113]

Yea he got Norfolk, I have been looking online at apartments and found some things but not really much of anything I liked and of course I am one of those people that have to look at something in order to see if I like it but I looked at BAH and we would get close to $1500 a month if we lived off base and not in privatized housing. And I used to live in Savannah before I moved back to Ohio and I am so used to the traffic down there that up here its a cinch to get anywhere. The main thing I am worried about is finding a house and a job and for our stuff to be moved up there, Currently its in Savannah so I don't know how to go about getting those items moved which we used to live in a 2 bedroom apartment and had to put everything in storage. If anyone else has any ideas or thoughts please let me know it would be greatly appreciated.

[meagan5220]

Welcome to VA. Its a little tricky as far as where to live it sort of depends on what you are wanting. For me personally we chose to live in Hampton, I was willing (and my husband was as well) to deal with a little traffic to live up on the other side of the tunnel and save a little money (its a bit cheaper up here compared to the southside) Apts in va can definitely be breed restrictive so that is a concern. some cities that people live in around here are Chesapeake, Suffolk, Norfolk, and VA beach. I personally would never live in va beach, I cant stand the whole tourist thing. People irritate me lol. Traffic is crazy bad in this area no matter where you live. I would say if you can its best to get up here and search around before decided where you want to live. Rent around here is atrocious. they base everything on BAH so good areas will cost you a good portion of your bah depending on what size you are looking for. As far as BAH goes, in order for him to qualify for BAH as a single sailor he has to be at least an E5 to qualify for BAH and then he would have to have it approved by his command. A lot of people rent a uhaul or a pod to move their stuff. Idk what the cheapest option is because we had the Navy move us.

[rikki_100113]

Yea I have been looking online at some apartments and ugh its so frustrating I am not finding anything I like. And i guess I am having a hard time with it because we lived in Savannah and had a 2bedroom apartment with 1200 square feet and a garage for 940 a month and for a 1 bedroom 800 sqft its like 1000 a month!!! Like WOW.....And yea we expected that it would cost a good portion of it but I want something that I will like and that is updated. IF you don't mind me asking where did you stay at? I need as many ideas as I can get and we plan on getting married on October 1st so we will have to wait for BAH to kick in.

[meagan5220]

I hear you! Its very frustrating! Definitely try to contact the housing office in Norfolk and ask them for the list of RPP properties as well. That is the Rental Partnership Program, they have a lower or no deposit and your rent is an allotment and is taken out half each paycheck. A great program for people starting out in the area. Its definitely a little bit sticker shock here. they know what BAH is and they make sure to get as much of it as possible. -_- We lived in a house in Hampton when we first got here. Rent is considerably cheaper up here, compared to the southside. Some people hate living in Hampton but I like it. If you can figure out how to get down to the tunnel on side streets until the last entrance you will avoid most of the traffic back up and then if your husband can learn how to get into the base the back way he would miss most of the traffic in the am going to the base. People will say Hampton is ghetto or the traffic is horrible but there are bad parts in every city here and good. and the traffic is horrible all over lol. My husband said he would rather live in Hampton and deal with traffic then live in Norfolk and deal with traffic. haha

[rikki_100113]

Yea my fiance left the house hunting up to me and with the BAH is that like, I know he gets paid on the 1st and the 15th of each month but does the BAH come on the 1st? And how do we go about getting set up for BAH and how long does it take to go into effect like once he gets to the base?

[Anti M]

Once you are married, he applies for BAH (by "apply", I mean he makes sure the paperwork process has begun).  BAH comes in two parts, half on the first and half on the 15th, or the business day before.  He will not be eligible for BAH until he is an E-5 or married.  

I'm assuming you're getting married soon?  

[rikki_100113]

Ahh so yes we plan on getting married on October 1st he is to graduate from A school on 9/27 and he should be home fairly shortly after that but when we get married we are going to an Air Force base near us to get all of my stuff and military ID. When we are there since its not where he is going to be stationed at can he put me on his page 2 and start the paperwork for BAH or does he have to wait to go to the base in Norfolk?

[meagan5220]

I think you can go to the local AF base and get stuff going. I know you can at least get your ID taken care of. :)

[Melissa]

Living is tricky. Depends on what base he's going to be on , how far you want to live from his work. How big of an apartment. Or house. Good luck I lived there two years and hated it, husband leaves there in 3 months. So glad he's finly getting out of there

[rikki_100113]

Why did you happen to hate it? Just curious

[Fur&FeathersDVM]

My husband has been stationed in Norfolk for four years. We are actually leaving next month, and I can honestly say we will miss it here very much! I wasn't here with him for most of that time (I was in Ohio at vet school), but since my graduation in May I have lived here.  My husband lived off base so I spent all of my breaks from school here as well.  There are lots of great areas to live in, as well as lots to do. Where you will want to live will depend on what type of commute your fiance wants for work, what you want to be close to, how big of a house/apartment you want, etc.  There is a very nice area of Norfolk called Ghent. The places there are a little pricey, but there are lots of fantastic restaurants here, little shops, and it's very pet friendly. We always see tons of people out and about with their dogs, and many establishments here are pet friendly. Larchmont in Norfolk is nice as well.  Both of these places will allow your fiance to avoid getting on the highway to get to any of the bases in Norfolk (there are several) and therefore shorten his commute time.  To us, it was worth paying more to live in an area of Norfolk that is safe and has things to do, as well as have a short commute time for my husband.  Chesapeake and Virginia beach both have areas that are more suburban and rural in their feel, and you can get a place with a reasonable commute time to the base.  While there is a touristy section of VA Beach (along the oceanfront), there is also quite a bit of farmland there as well as housing developments! I work in Virginia Beach and have never had a problem with the people there (although I do not work near the touristy part :) ). I don't know much about living in the other surrounding cities, as all of my friends live in Norfolk, Chesapeake, or VA Beach, but it looks like you have already gotten some helpful tips about other places to live :) There are places that are affordable in the area, it just takes a bit of digging.  BAH is extremely fair in this area. You can always contact a realtor in the area and ask to see rental properties in your price range. Most realtors do not charge someone looking for a rental (they are paid by the person renting out the property) so that can be a great free resource to find places. Also, your fiance can register for ahrn.com, which is a website that helps connect military families with places to live based on duty station.  You can always consider base housing too, as long as your dogs aren't a restricted breed.

A sidenote about the traffic- yes it is a little crazy here but truly it's not much worse than any other metropolitan area that I've lived in. You get used to when rush hour is and I suggest keeping a GPS in your car to reroute yourself while you are still learning the area, because the highways get very backed up in rush hour.  The heaviest traffic is usually headed in whichever way most of the base traffic is headed (the highway leading into base is backed up in the mornings, the highway heading out is backed up in the afternoon/evening) so you can plan accordingly.

Good luck with your move! I hope you both will be very happy here!!