Name a lifestyle and you can find it within a comfortable commute from the center of Richmond.  From the bustle of urban living to the privacy of country life, from planned communities to established suburbia, from the single life to no-maintenance homes for the baby boomer generation and seniors, Central Virginia is a great place to live.

A few examples of urban neighborhoods are the Historic Fan District, The Museum District, Carytown, Shockoe Bottom, and most recently, Vistas on the James at Brown?s Island and Rockett?s Landing on Route 5 just east of downtown Richmond.  The changes we?ve seen in Oregon Hill and Jackson Ward over the past year are nothing short of amazing.  Manchester, once an independent city located just south of downtown and south of the James River is also slated for renewed development and reclamation.

The revitalization of Richmond began more than 30 years ago when a few intrepid souls began restoring the historic homes in the Fan District and Churchill to their former glory.  Since then, the reclamation of Richmond neighborhoods has continued, sometimes block by block, sometimes all at once.

Over the past few years, we?ve seen a renewed interest in the redevelopment of several downtown areas.  New projects are in the construction phase along the James River in downtown Richmond and east of downtown.  Old, empty buildings are being converted to condominiums, apartments, retail and office space.  Apartment buildings, unused churches and hospitals and multi-family buildings are being converted to condominiums.

The Richmond Times Dispatch has recently published several articles featuring the renewed development and reclamation projects in downtown Richmond.  Read these articles here:

Manchester Tapped

A Bumper Crop of Construction

Lady Byrd Hat Historic Transformation

Skyline gives View of Past and Future

Renewing Old Buildings

If you want to walk to several of your favorite restaurants and clubs, if you yearn to be close to the cultural heart of Richmond, or if you?ve always wanted to live in or close to an historic landmark head downtown!

Outside of the downtown area are several neighborhoods that offer a suburban lifestyle while still maintaining quick access to the city center.  If you want to be close to but not in downtown, consider some of the older but reclaimed neighborhoods of Richmond such as Ginter Park and Bellevue to the north, the near West End and Westhampton to the west, or Old Bon Air, Westover Hills and Bon Air to the south, to name a few.  Each area has its own personality and flavor.

Travel a bit farther out from the city center and you?re in ?suburbia? ? some neighborhoods are still in the Richmond City limits but most are located in the surrounding counties of Henrico, Chesterfield and southeastern Hanover.  Take a drive through the Tuckahoe area in Henrico County to the west of Richmond (commonly known as the West End as opposed to the near West End mentioned above which is closer to the City of Richmond), Stratford Hills in the northwestern section of Chesterfield County, or Lakeside to the north of Richmond in Henrico County.

Go even farther out and you?re still in ?suburbia? but it?s just more recent construction.  Here you?ll begin to find planned communities.  Examples of the first planned communities in the Richmond area are Salisbury in northwestern Chesterfield, Brandermill and Woodlake in southwestern Chesterfield and Raintree in western Henrico.  Examples of new or newer planned communities are Wyndham and Twin Hickory in Glen Allen (northwestern Henrico), Summer Walk and Pebble Creek in Mechanicsville (southeastern Hanover), The Highlands and Chesdin Landing (southern Chesterfield), Hampton Park (southwestern Chesterfield) and Brickshire in New Kent County (east of Richmond).

Dreaming of the privacy and quiet of country life?  Want a home on 2 or more acres in the woods or maybe a farm for your horses? Travel as little as 15 - 20 miles from the city center in almost any direction, and you?re home!  All of the surrounding counties offer a rural lifestyle ? from southern Chesterfield to the Beaverdam area of northwestern Hanover, from Powhatan County to New Kent and Charles City Counties to the east.

There exists a wide variety of maintenance free or low maintenance homes available for purchase throughout the Richmond area:

• Senior apartments and townhomes for lease.
• Single level homes in existing and new neighborhoods (low maintenance).
• No maintenance Ranch communities - with and without a condo association.
• 55+ qualified communities that include no maintenance ranches and townhomes with one level living options.

These communities are targeted towards empty nesters, baby boomers and retirees.  Some of these developments are located within larger planned communities while others stand by themselves.  Go to our Senior Section for more information.

It used to be that a trip from one end of the Greater Richmond Metropolitan Area (GRMA) to the other was considered an all-day trip.  As a matter of fact, traveling from Richmond to Chester in southeastern Chesterfield County was once likened to traveling to another region or state.  But with the construction of major highways, getting around is much easier and quicker. 

Once, Route 1 was the main thoroughfare through Richmond from north to south ? Interstate 95 has taken its place.  Interstate 64 has replaced Route 250 (Broad Street) and Route 6 (Patterson Avenue) to the west and Route 60 (Midlothian Turnpike) and Route 5 to the east.  The Downtown Expressway passes through the city center and connects to Interstates 95 and 64 and the Powhite Parkway (76) heading south into Chesterfield.  Add to these the Chippenham Parkway which extends from southwestern Henrico to southeastern Chesterfield at Interstate 95, Route 288 from Interstate 64 in eastern Goochland to southeastern Chesterfield at Interstate 95, Route 295 that runs north of the Richmond area from Glen Allen in northwestern Henrico to Interstate 64 east of Richmond and the Pocahontas Parkway (Route 895) from Interstate 64 east of Richmond traversing the Varina area in southeastern Henrico County to Interstate 95.

All in all, travel is much easier than it used to be. For example, from central Chesterfield County take 288 north and you?re in Short Pump (northwestern Henrico) in 15 minutes.  I always ask clients that are relocating to Richmond about their desired commute time from their new home to work.  Often they respond (I hear this all the time) that they don?t want to commute more than an hour each way.  An hour each way puts you in Charlottesville or Williamsburg or Fredericksburg, not Richmond!  Most residents in the area don?t travel more than 30 minutes each way ? 40 minutes is considered quite a drive.

What about traffic jams and rush hour traffic?  Sometimes there?s an accident on a highway that backs traffic up for miles.  Often it will take you a few minutes to get through the toll plazas during peak hours.  Most of the time (and I hear this all the time, too) it?s ?Oh my gosh!  I had to wait three clicks of the traffic light to get through!  The traffic here is really becoming unbearable!?.

Life in Central Virginia moves at a more leisurely pace than ?up north? or the west coast.  You seldom see people rushing through the streets.  Hurried behavior is seen only when we hear the ?S? word (SNOW).  Only then is it acceptable to get in a bit of a tizzy.  When it snows, everything grinds to a halt.  Why?  I think it?s because most Richmonders still don?t know how to drive in the snow and are reluctant to admit it, and the ones that do know how avoid driving just to stay out of the way of those that are out there on the roads.

Courtesy is a way of life here.  We slow down to allow other drivers to change lanes in front of us, and get a ?thank you? wave in response.  We hold the door open for others.  We acknowledge passersby even if they are strangers.  To do otherwise would be considered rude.

If you?re moving here from a large urban area, another thing that will impress you is how green it is.  Here, tree lined streets and well tended gardens are the rule, not the exception.  In the surrounding counties, you?ll find vast stretches of forest and woodlands.  Parks of all sizes dot the landscape from Monroe Park at Virginia Commonwealth University to Pocohantas State Park in Chesterfield.  We take our gardens, trees and parks very seriously here in Richmond.  After Hurricane Isabel passed through Richmond, the first thing I did was head straight to Monument Avenue in the Historic Fan District.  I just had to make sure that my favorite tree was still standing ? a magnificent and huge tulip poplar (it was still there).  I met many others in the streets surveying the damage in general and bemoaning the many broken and uprooted trees in particular.