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My wife is starting her new job close to NIH pretty soon, and I am working at Tysons Corner; we have a 2-yr old. We are both new to the area, and looking for a 2-bedroom apartment either close to her work or mine starting March 1st. Any suggestions on where to rent in order to avoid terrible commute? Thanks!
I'm not sure both of you can really have easy commutes since one of you is crossing a bridge no matter where you live.
Would it make sense for one of you to just suffer the longer commute and live really close to the other's job, so they can tackle kiddo/cooking/errands? My husband and I did that for a while. It worked out better than both of us being frustrated and tired at the end of a commute.
Location: Chapel Hill, NC, formerly NoVA and Phila
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I'd move as close to the beltway as possible on either end. The morning commute from MD to VA is generally worse than from VA to MD, so I'd pick VA as the place to live. Plus it's cheaper here than around Bethesda. I used to live right near the beltway on Route 7 in Falls Church, and worked in Rockville, and found the commute to be pretty doable. Of course with all of the new construction from the Hot Lanes on the beltway, that may not longer be the case. Somewhere right near Tyson's may be good except again for all of that highway construction.
Just a thought - there are hotels right near Tyson's Corner and one on Route 7 in Falls Church. You can try staying in various hotels for a week and see which commute works best.
NIH is relatively near a metro isn't it? I'd live somewhere in Falls Church or McLean or maybe close to the GW Parkway in Arlington. Not sure what your price point is, that will guide you.
Depending on your childcare situation, you might even want to consider DC itself near the Red Line, making sure to live in a good ES zone.
But be warned, you'll be more likely to use a nanny or an at-home daycare closer in, daycare centers are impossible to find in DC/innermost suburbia.
The only problem with living near the metro in VA is that in order to get to NIH, one would have to take the metro east, transfer to the red line at Metro Center and go north, right? That's a pain in at the a**, IMO.
Not sure about apts or 2-br townhomes but try the neighborhoods off of River Road, MD. It's right about in the middle of both places and very accessible to the beltway. Not sure how it looks at rush hour though and how they handle things. Plus this area is really beautiful.
Many thanks for your posts! We will have to be willing to pay a little more to shorten the commute time. I guess renting at Tysons Corner or Bethesda isn't going to be cheap anyway.
a very high rent corridor. A friend has a 2000 sf sfr near NIH and a 10 minute walk to that Metro.
He's been getting about 2000 and will list for 450K this Spring. That would be at the lower end for the areas you are looking in.
Your biggest problem in Maryland is the lack of apartments on the western side of Montgomery County. Bethesda/Potomac are extremely wealthy areas of single family homes. You might find a very small house to rent along the Greentree Road area or parts of Cabin John but the rent would be pretty high.
I just thought of two options for you: one are some apartments on Sangamore Road in Bethesda. http://www.forrent.com/apartment-com...le/1027630.php Not sure how the price works for you and they are fairly old apartments.
And second, a group of condos off Westbard Boulevard behind Giant Food. There might be some in there for rent. Probably a realtor could tell you.
From either of these , you could easily zip down MacArthur Boulevard to the parkway and across the river. Your wife could get in NIH in about 1/2 hour.
On the Virginia side, you have the Tysons area surrounded by more very affluent single family homes.
It's hard to split the commute to those locations and find apartments.
Last edited by LynchburgLover; 01-31-2011 at 06:39 PM..
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