My husband and I decided to rent in Virginia Beach before buying to see if we liked the area first. We have rented for one year in Kempsville Lakes and we really like our townhome, our neighbors and our section of the street. Everyone right here is pretty friendly and quiet. However, we are glad we did not buy here. We have three children who I usually rode to and from school all year because of the kids on the bus. I have read the other comments on this site, and it's true...there are ALOT of unsupervised children in this neighborhood. I'm not sure what the management could do differently though. The only time I walk around the lake is first thing in the morning to avoid the teen scene that likes to hang out around the lake every single afternoon. I've driven into the neighborhood at night when there would be twenty to forty teens just hanging out at the end of Kenley Ave. Don't know what could be done, though. I will say, however, that we DO use the pool and I've never had any problems. When I was a teenager, pool lifeguards spent more time goofing off and flirting than watching the swimmers. These lifeguards are young, but they always seem to have an eye on what's going on in the pool and all seem very friendly. Most importantly....they are actually watching the swimmers. All in all, I'm glad we rented here, but we will not be buying here. Sometimes at night there are even teens just walking up and down the street ""looking"" at people's homes. My neighbor stopped a young man recently going from one car to another trying to open them late at night. I will say that on Halloween, there were plenty of police out patrolling the area and that there are often police out here just checking things out. I keep a close eye on my own children. Our rent has been $1200 out here, but it was worth it to know we rented instead of having a mortgage here we can't get out of. We're buying elsewhere. It's okay, but not a place I want my kids to grow up in.
Pros: Close to everything, pool, park for children
Cons: ALOT of teens hanging out at night, vandalism, many unsupervised children daily
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