I will be moving to DC soon for work. Any Clutchfans living there now or in the past have any advice on areas to focus on or avoid for living? I'm hoping to live in the city and find maybe a 1BR for ~1000 or less. It will be hard, if not impossible, but I feel like if you catch the right deal on Craigslist and can navigate all the scams and whatnot, it's doable. Otherwise, I may have to settle for VA/Arlington or something. What are some good resources? I feel like online apartment finders haven't been very helpful so far (at least nothing turns up in my price range), Craigslist obviously has an abundance of postings, but gotta deal with the scams... Not sure if I want to hire a realtor. Any advice appreciated!
Haha. As soon as they go on sale, I plan to buy tickets for the Rockets game when they come to town. Get to see my Rockets and John Wall. In light of that thread on arena food, will stay away from the concessions as Verizon didn't score very well at all...
I'm actually in DC this summer for an internship. I"m not totally familar with all areas in DC. I'm staying around the Dupont Circle area, I know atleast that neighborhood is very nice.
Crystal City is a nice place to live. Check out Tysons Corner area for all your shopping needs. For food, the Adams Morgan area has the original Jumbo Slice and Main Avenue has all the seafood, Crystal City has Kabob Palace which is excellent.
I've been here for 5 years and probably will leave next year. U street is up and coming, but there's still crime. Waterfront is still kind of ghetto, but there are enclaves of decent stuff. Georgetown is great if you are rich and have a car. Rent here is just ridiculous in general...closer to the metro, even more ridiculous. Anything NW DC is crazy expensive. Bethesda, MD and even Rockville, MD might have enough Houston type suburb combo metro flavor that would make your transition easier. Settling for Arlington/Crystal City Metro Virginia is not settling at all...it's a nice metro, and still expensive. Honestly, I think your price range is impossible, unless you're renting a room at someone's place, or you're willing to live in the ghetto or in a shack, or in the suburbs (25+ miles out of the city). Avoid Anacostia...anything SE DC unless it's right by the capitol. Washingtonpost.com is okay to use any mls database that has rentals is okay, like LongAndFoster.com
This. There's no way you get your own place for ~1000 anywhere near DC and not be in the ghetto. You can certainly get a room for rent around that price. If you have a car, you can get your own place out a little further like Alexandria or Centreville, but I warn you getting to work in the DC metro area is the worse, unless you leave really early 5am or they allow you to come in late after 9am.
Oh, I do mean for rent. Not buy. I know it's a congested area, but surely the public transportation makes things a little easier? I will have a car though.
This pretty much sums it up. My first apartment in DC was in Fairfax. It was 1/2 mile walk to the Vienna/Fairfax metro stop, which is the last stop on the Orange Line in Virginia. That cost $1000 almost ten years ago. It was a pretty good, above average apartment. About a 30 minute metro ride into DC. I currently live in a 1BR and pay almost $2000 in Bethesda. Northwest DC and Arlington prices are about the same as Bethesda. Unless you're really use to living in an urban setting, you are probably not going to like any urban locations other than these three. You could look at studio apartments, but five years ago they were even running for about $1280 near the metro in Arlington. As someone mentioned, for $1000 your only option getting a room from someone who already owns/rents a place. If you absolutely want your own place you're going to have to seriously adjust your price range or location. The nicer Suburbs of DC (Rockville, Fairfax) still can run $1300 to $1400 for a nice 1BR, but I think you could probably find something respectable between $1000-$1100. I too wanted to live in DC when I first moved here, but I quickly realized I was going to have to put that on hold. Good luck! I'll try to help answer any other questions you may have.
I think this is totally fine with me. Are there any particular disadvantages to this arrangement? By "already owns/rents a place", do you mean they live in the place, and are just renting out a room in the house/apartment? Or they own the place, do not necessarily live there, and renting it out? If you check out Craigslist, there are scattered postings for 1BRs under $1000. As always with CL, some are scams (as I have discovered myself already) but some seem perfectly legit. You'll be just living in someone's basement-turned-room, although there seem to be some 1 BR apartments. I'm not very familiar with the CL process, but I'm intrigued. Any info on that would be helpful too. Thanks DCKid, you mind if i e-mail you through the board?
I would say for that price they would most likely live there, and just have an extra room available for you to stay in. In other words, I doubt it would include your own kitchen and living room, but who knows...maybe you'll find a really good deal. I suppose one disadvantage could be the common areas (living room, kitchen) would be controlled by the primary owner, in which case you would hope you get along with them. Unfortunately, I've never done apartment hunting through Craigslist, so I can't help you out much there. But yeah, you can email me through the board.
You'll be renting in an occupied townhouse for that price. That's okay...especially if you find a good land lord and nice house in a nice neighborhood. It's a long shot. Most of those CL ads are for the ghetto. The best you can hope for is a basement for rent that has it's own entrance...so it's sort of like your own apartment. Probably the best plan would be to come here for a week and stay at an extended stay first. Then join a bunch of churches or community associations. Then check their on-site board postings or classifieds. Those people would most likely be upstanding and willing to go cheaper than the market. CL is mostly crap...not saying that you can't find a diamond in the rough. I think Alexandria is probably the best bang for your buck now...generally not ghetto and generally not too old and generally not too expensive and has metro stops to get to the city and still suburban enough to kind of feel like Houston at times. My grammar sucks.
Where is Work? How much can you afford and would you mind commuting? I live in MD and the going rate for a serviceable 1 room is $1250. The more premium 1BR approx can go as high as $1800. Have you consider renting a room in a house. The rate seems to be better but there would be no privacy. Redracer
$1250-$1800 for a 1 bedroom in Maryland?! Jesus, I had no idea it was that expensive there. I pay $1100 for a really nice 1BR in a prime real estate area of the Wicker Park neighborhood of Chicago.
Any impressions on Arlington or Maryland? Not necessarily looking for the suburban feel. In fact, I'm looking to get away from it. Grew up in suburbia and ready to branch out. Or branch in? Will be taking a look at Pentagon City/Crystal City though. Thanks for the info... you mind if i e-mail you through the board? Work will be around the White House/Federal Triangle area (not sure what you call that area yet). Not sure what I can afford at this point. $1500 might be the absolute max, but like I said earlier, ~1000 would prob be ideal. I have definitely considered the room-in-house situation, but would like a private entrance (basically a separate room). Don't think I want a situation with, say, a married couple, but would be open with just meeting some people my age and have a roommate(s).
Alexandria isn't Houston suburbs...it's still the city..just a combo of sorts. I'm mentioning it to you because it fits your price range and isn't the ghetto. Arlington is nice and so is Pentagon City. I think both are way out of your price range of $1000. $1500 will get you nice 1 bedrooms in Arlington...not Pentagon City. Reason is Pentagon City is small and all Upscale, whereas Arlington is combo of upscale and some ghetto and some suburbs...it's just a bigger area with more selection. If you're looking for urban life and don't mind roommates and still want nice new things: U Street Dupont Capital Area Cleveland Park...anywhere on the Red Line NW DC Downtown Bethesda Pentagon City Crystal City Arlington close to downtown Alexandria parts Silver Spring downtown...it's ghetto, but has a nice facade and decent bang for your buck especially if you stay in the safe downtown rebuilt area nice condo tower Do you want to live in a high rise? DC doesn't have them. DC urban life is like row houses and crap. The ghetto has crappy ones, the expensive places have nicer ones...and some mid-rises. High-rises are in VA: Crystal City, Pentagon City, Arlington, Alexandria and some in MD: mostly Rockville south... Edit: I forgot to add Rosslyn, VA...for highrise/urban living...it's all the same corridor (Rosslyn, Crystal City, Arlington, Pentagon City...it's all around the Airport and west of the river from Georgetown...Alexandria is south of the airport)...all of this is metro accessible Email me whenever if you want. People get paid twice as much here for the same job in most any other place in the US. Thank the federal government for that (not a slam on Obama...it's always been like that here). So real estate is stupidly high.
