Virginia Gun Owners Forum - VGOF

I see General Discussion is for primarily firearm related talk, so I guess this topic should be put here?

For those of you who have seen my new member post and have welcomed me, thanks for that. I am a NY state resident who will be soon moving to the Roanoke area, that is, my lady and I plan to, but it's not set in stone. Anyone out there who knows the Roanoke area care to comment about that area regarding living conditions, cost of buying a home, etc. I think we may choose between Hollins and Salem, because we do not want to be right in the city, but close to it for doctors, shopping, etc. How about Christiansburg? Is that a good decent place to live? We have gotten some info from City-Data website and have read forums about those places, but maybe we could learn more from comments here from you who know the area first hand? Our main reason for moving to VA is less costly than here and milder weather. Also, I have had it with the restrictive gun laws (being an FFL dealer) and high taxes. Any comments will be appreciated. Thanks.

Welcome to Va (when you get there) from New Castle. I lived in SW County Roanoke for 20 years.

Roanoke (in loose terms) really consists of 4 areas - Roanoke, Salem, Vinton and SW County. When we moved to Roanoke from Carrollton Tx 1990 (20 miles north of Dallas) the best area was SW County. I believe that is still true. It is a little more open than other areas of the 4 areas.

We were located 7 miles from Cave Springs Corners - up Hwy 221 toward Bent Mountain. Hwy 221 is a very well maintained hwy in Roanoke. We had a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, 1800 sq ft drive under garage Ranch style with a full basement on 1.8 acres. The back half of the lot was not used, not cleared and on a pretty steep slope. We paid $115,000 in 1990 and sold for $210,000 in 2011. It was a very nice house, very high demand neighborhood - Carriage Hills. Our place:

http://i.imgur.com/yGCnBBY.jpg

We sold because we no longer needed that much house and build a log home in New Castle, Va about 30 miles from North Roanoke in the Jefferson National Forest.

I'd be glad to provide a good realtor who knows the area if you would like.


This might help too:

http://www.roanokeva.gov/WebMgmt/ywbase ... Name/$home

Thanks wittmeba for that info. Strange, when I was researching on city-data I found Salem, Hollins, Cave Springs, but not SW county. Is that an area, or the name of a community? I also heard that Christiansburg is a decent place, other than the fact that it is near the ammo storage/manufacturing place that is a secondary (low yield) nuclear target. I think it's located SW of Blacksburg? I think when the lady and I finally mosey on down there to scout around before our move, we will focus on Salem/Hollins/Christiansburg and the area you mentioned. Any other input would be appreciated.

It is an area, not a community. I don't know if it is a 'legal' named area but that is what it is referred too by most. Cave Springs is in SW County.

Christiansburg, Blacksburg and Radford (University towns) are about 30 miles SW on Hwy 81 from Roanoke area.

I really don't know what to share with you about the area. It is a great place to live. People are friendly, traffic is usually very light. We are about 250 miles from DC, 150 from Bristol if you like NASCAR, 50 miles from Martinsville, 200 from Charlotte, NC.

Virginia Beach is OK but we like Myrtle better but is a longer drive.

Raleigh, NC, Greensboro have an Outlet Mall if your lady likes to shop. about 100 miles south.

Good on gun reciprocity except East - Maryland and DC. Any other direction is friendly.

Lots of beautiful Golf Courses if that floats your boat.

Most key thought -- if you are moving from NY, I suspect you will love Va.

http://i.imgur.com/BouWVta.jpg