Kempsville Lake Community Association

Horrible for Owners...Great for Renters.. I have owned and lived in Kempsville Lake for the past 6 years and for an owner of property here they treat you like complete crap. In order to do anything to bring up the value of your duplicated home or to try to make it stand out you have to put in an application, and for most requests I would understand why, but in order to re-roof with an accredited company doing the work and upgrading from 3-tab to architectural shingles is such a huge deal around here it's ridiculous. It's not alright to have written agreement that the shingle color will be as close to the original as possible, so it's not like I'm putting purple shingles on my house, they refuse to even take the application without a sample which I do not have and would hate to call the company back out to the house just to get the sample. In short if you want to live here rent so you don't have to put up with the shortcomings and complete rudeness of the front office and let the owner deal with all of that. I can't wait to get out of this area! more

I have been a resident of Kempsville Lake for the past 7 years and counting. I have before lived in Norfolk and came to Va beach to relieve myself and family of the high crime that my family was exposed to in Norfolk. I know crime is everywhere but since I have lived in this neighborhood, I have experienced nothing but kindness and support from my neighbors! I love where I live even though the association doesn't contribute to the lake in our back yard. We as neighbors have contributed together to help keep the lake we have in the backyard presentable, although the association spend thousands on the other lake and not one dime on this one! We are part of Kempsvile Lake but it doesn't seem like it so we deal with it and move on. The neighborhood is great, and like one of the other neighbors stated, owners should check credit and not accept section 8. That is a load of crap because a tenant can have perfect credit, not be on section 8 and have terrible values and teach their children the same thing. It goes both ways, it is not who you are and where you come from but where you are going and if your values go along with it !! Pros: Good residents, bad residents, residents family values Cons: The residents more

I have lived in Kempsville Lakes for 10 years. I admit it has had its ups and downs, but last year our dog was missing and we searched for him and everyone was friendly & helpful. There have been more community events lately and I have felt that there is more a communal sense. Pros: Beautiful Surrondings. more

I have lived in Kempsville Lake for almost 4 years now. The neighborhood is generally quiet, and while I know crime happens here, the fact is that it happens everywhere, and statisticlly speaking, according to the Va Beach PD, it is no where near the highest in the city. The neighborhood watch here goes through times of being very active to not being active at all. The only way this program works is if it is consistent and people participateThey are there to manage the common areas and insure the covenants and restrictions are adhered to. This combined with neighborhood watch, community involvement and police interaction usually insures a neghborhoods success. Do I think the management needs to step up their game? Yes I do. I think that they pay too much attention to trivial things, and not enough to the more important issues that they actually can have an affect on. Why not just send a letter to those that consistently have the issue. They refuse to allow the bigger recycling bins because ?we have such a problem with the trash cans being left out, it would be worse with the bigger recycling cans.? Guess what, people still leave out their 10 small blue bins. Id rather not have to pick up the barage of recyclables out of my yard because the wind blew it around before they came around. Work on some real problems like parking. It is the owners who do not do credit and background checks on their renters, and accept section 8. They also should be making spot checks to insure the renter is takin gcare of the property. All in all, Kempsville lake is a nice neighborhood, with a great location, and for the most part it is very quiet. It is going to become even more popular with the Kempsville Village plans, the new Princess Anne / Witchduck interchange, and towncenter expansion. Eventually the light rail will not be too far away, and the newr condos being built on Bonney will only increase the value of our homes. Don?t complain ? get out and get involved! Pros: Great Location, Yard Size, Floor Plans Cons: Slum Lords abound, Management Focus more

I just read all of the poor reviews of Kempsville Lake and I won?t try to dispute their experiences, but I can offer my own. I have lived here as a young wife (no children) and a frequent dog walker. I walk my dog almost every day around our nearby lake and sometimes around the larger front lake. Many reviewers talk about hoodlums or teens loitering at the lake, and although I too often see large groups of kids, I smile and say hello and guess what--they smile back and compliment my dog. I feel bad for those who have been intimidated by these kids but from my perspective, they have been friendly. I have read the complaints that residents too often feel like they get picked on for the appearance of their homes and can?t enjoy the neighborhood because it is overrun with children; trying their best to enforce the nice appearance of homes IS management?s job, and babysitting ISN?T. I don?t know how you expect management to keep kids off the streets, but to their credit, they have been discussing how to draw kids into community activities lately--activities that they fund, in addition to more family-oriented gatherings. My only disapproval comes from constantly seeing dog feces around the lake. Even when bags are provided, people don?t pick up after their animals (I pick up after mine). That and in the weeks after the recent nor-easter, the lake has had a lot of litter and downed trees that either are not removed, or which are sawn into pieces and just left there. I would like to see that fixed. Otherwise, I will let other residents attest to the crime. We personally have not been the victims of crime, but that doesn?t mean that other residents? experiences aren?t true. I will say that I try not to walk my dog at night but I would probably keep that habit anywhere. I enjoy living at Kempsville Lake and I would recommend it to others. Certainly the homes have great floorplans and much larger yards (in general) than you will see in other communities and I love having lakes to walk my dog around. In my limited experience in-person with management, I think they are caring and are doing their best on the budget they have and the limited influence they have by law. Pros: Great Floorplans, Many Lakes, Community Activities Cons: Lake Litter, Little Post-Disaster Clean-up more

Wow! What a deceiving place Kempsville Lakes is! I am a 24 year old female, who currently lives with her parents in Kempsville Lakes. My parents own our town house and we have been here since I was 1. It is incredible the changes (for the worse) that the neighborhood has taken. I do not recommend anyone renting or buying here. There is so much crime that happens here that isn't publicized. For the first time in who knows how long crime activity was actually reported on the News this morning that took place here 2 nights ago. There was a DRIVE-BY! A drive-by, people! This happened on Marlwood Way which is one street over from where we live. Apparently there was an altercation at the BP across from Farm Fresh on Baxter Rd. and someone followed a resident of Kempsville Lakes home and shot at several different town houses late 01/27/09. Not to mention on Kenley Rd. a couple of weeks ago a man's home was broken into and the homeowner was shot. Aside from all of that, people's cars are stolen here on the regular. DO NOT start your cars in the morning to warm them up and leave them unattended. Pros: Lake, Pool, Playground Cons: Insane amount of crime!!!! more

Let's open up here and give a little useful incite as to what type of neighborhood Kempsville Lakes really is. My family and I have been residents of this neighborhood for 3 yrs. In the 3yrs since we've become residents of this neighborhood, I've seen quite a bit of crime. I'm just going to list a few crime activities that have occurred on my street alone: 1). An innocent man beaten with a baseball bat by 3 ruthless individuals. 2). One victim's truck was broken into with his cellphone, his change console, and other items taken. 3). Another victim having a $400.00 bike stolen: ATTACHED TO HIS VEHICLE. 4). Just less that a week ago, a women had her vehicle stolen directly out of her driveway prior to leaving for work. Like most drivers, she was just simply warming her car up prior to beginning her day. Pros: Delightfull pool, lake, and playground Cons: WAY TOO MUCH CRIME ACTIVITY!!!!!!!!! more

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 more

People when is your common sense going to kick in? Please tell me how you expect a single manager & small staff for this community to control unruly kids. If the kids are unruly & the parents are not making efforts to raise productive children, just how do you expect the community staff to do the parents? job for them? I have lived in the community for 12 years & yes, I have also seen a change in the community, but it has nothing to do with the manager. A manager?s job is to cause the care & maintenance of the common areas, such as pool, playground, & tennis court. Common areas do not include the individual homes in the community or the streets which are city owned. Now, let?s talk about what a manager?s job is not! Managers cannot be responsible for controlling children or their equally unruly parents! Fancy this though for a moment...if the police can?t do anything, how can the manager? If you have problems, call the police like everyone else does! The residents expect management to hold their hands & fix all of the problems so the way I see it, management isn't the problem, the whining residents are. Why do people choose to live in homeowner?s association? Part of the reason I believe is, to preserve the community, but the other reason, is so residents have someone to call & complain to when things aren?t going their way. Your common sense should tell you to put your trashcan away, keep the weeds out of your cracks, & mow the lawn. We can't blame the community manager for our failure to raise respectable children! Instead, maybe the community should come together & try & put an end to the number of rentals in the community. Maybe if there were fewer owners just trying to turn a buck & collect a rent check, we could restore Kempsville Lake. Just do this?before placing blame on Management, ask yourself, what you have done to improve the community? There is one manager, but there are 1200 homes with residents that have done little to help! more

I have read all the reviews on Kempsville Lake and I can say yes that there are a lot of ""children/young adults"" that are out of control and the parents are allowing the streets to raise them, but who are we to blame the management staff when I believe there is only three members on the staff and the streets are owned by the City of Virginia Beach. We as homeowers/residents of Kempsville Lake need to take our neighborhood back and the more we call the police the more patrols we will get and clear out the unwanted people in the community. How can we blame our association management staff for doing their jobs? Read the POA docs you got when you purchased your home, they are doing what they are supposed to be doing to keep the neighborhood a desirable place to live and keep our property values up. They do not work 24/7 and are not required to be security for our community. People complain about all the problems, but there is only a handful of us who have gone door to door to try to start the Neighborhood Watch program and the rest are too busy or not interested, so if we do not take interest in our own neighborhood how can be expect it to be a nice, quiet place to live? Its easier to blame someone else, but it is time that we come together as a community and get our ""nice"" neighborhood back. We all need to watch out for our neighbors and our neighborhood. If you see something is not right pick up the phone and call the police. Put our tax dollars to work. We need to pull together to clean up our neighborhood. Stop fighting against one another and come together and before we judge someone else we need to walk a mile in there shoes. If there wasn't a management staff to complain to who would we complain to? All I can say is we need to pull together as a community and take back our neighborhood. Pros: Great location, Great home value appreciation Cons: The amount of children not being supervised more

I have lived in Kempsville Lake for about six years now. I have to agree with the comments below. The neighborhood has become quite disturbing because of the hoodlums hanging everywhere. One of my roomates was held up right off of Weller Blvd. by hoodlums with a gun. I have to say I believe it lies with the management. I have been complaining about them for a couple years now, and they are still there. Too busy fining people for leaving out trash cans, mold on siding, etc. We need to take our neighborhood back. It is a convenient place to live, the homes are really nice and roomy, but who wants to live in fear? Where are their parents? It's time to speak with them, and if they don't live there, they need to go. more

I have lived in kempsville Lake for almost a year now as a renter. Renters are not thought too highly of in this neighborhood. Not all renters are bad but the stereotypes are terrible in this community. We pay $200.00 a year in community fees and we are not allowed at the community meetings and have no voice in the community because we don't own that $200.00 is for pool privilages! Whoopee, I wouldn't use their pool if you paid me. I don't let my 10 year old son go out without supervison, the older punks in the neighborhood pick on the younger ones. The loud music from the cars flying up and down the streets is terrible, vandalism is rampat, it is on the border of beng a hood to be honest. It is NOT cheap to live there either. All the community cares about is if I have grass growing in the cracks of my driveway or if I have weeds in my flowerbed. If my gutter is straight. There is a man who actually walks around the neighborhhod and writes this stuff up to mail out to you. How about fixing the REAL problems like the kids who cause problems and the punk adults who act like punk kids. Sure tell me to move if I don't like it, well as a taxpayer and a law abiding citizen I shouldn't have to! Just be aware of your surroundings before you commit to this area (Virginia Beach and Kempsville Lake) in general! Pros: nice homes Cons: punk kids, vandalism, crime more

Two years ago we thought we were making a good investment by buying our first home here. Now it seems the neighborhood has been overtaken by young punks that troll the streets looking for the next house to break into. It is a huge problem, and it does not appear that management is taking a proactive approach to making things safer. They seem more concerned with little things like mold on vinyl siding or a leaky gutter. Our ""neighborhood watch"" is made up of concerned citizens who have to spend their spare time looking out for suspicious people instead of enjoying their homes. Kempsville Lakes walks a very fine line between a respectable Virginia Beach neighborhood and a slum. It is in a very desirable part of the city, so I agree there is a lot of potential, but that won't matter if the tide doesn't start to change. more

The area is central and shows great potential. However I agree with the last review. It seems the Association is more agressive towards fining families for leaving their trash can on the curb following trash day, and other little things like painting your trim than they are concerned with safety. It seems that hoodlems run the association, you cant walk the lake without seeing 10-20 of them hanging around the lake and the last time my wife walked around it she had a fake gun pointed at her and they acted like they were shooting at her(atleast we hope it was fake). Also were does our association fees go to? They say they resurfaced the walking path around the lake(that you cant peacefully walk around anymore) Also they fixed the pool were once again few people go because they hoodlems find their way there in the summer with no supervision when they should be made to have an adult present. I am glad that I am leaving. Pros: location Cons: hoodlems loitering around the lake more

I have lived in KempsLakes for many years and it's gone down hill since the newest manager took over in the community office. Due to poor planning the neighborhood pool was opened a month late and most problems that arise throughout the neighborhood are neglected. Seems she's too busy to actually do her job. As someone who plans to move from the area, I know by advising people not to move here I could be shooting myself in the foot. But as I see it, if nothing is said, nothing will change. It's time for some house cleaning in the office at Kempsville Lakes in Virginia Beach. Pros: Near town center, this neighborhood has potential! Cons: The assocication need better leadership. more