Place to live in Purcellville, commute to Herndon (apartment, rental)

[Webbie]

I currently live in Martinsburg WV. I have been offered a job in Herndon. However, to accept, I have to find someplace to live in a safe area with a rental price I can live with, and a commute time that is acceptable. I would be commuting in off-hours, so rush-hour traffic is not an issue.

Where can I find either an apartment or room for rent in Purcellville? I currently have a situation where I rent a room in a home with use of kitchen/laundry, utilities included (not phone) and cable internet. A similar situation would be ideal, but I am flexible.

Please post or contact me directly with any information you may have. Be sure to include price if you have that information available. I am out of town for another week, but if you have phone numbers for potential places, I can call while I'm away.

Thanks for the help!

Webbbbbbbbbbbbie

[ariadel]

I can't believe I'm the first person to ask, but can you give us your price range?

When I first moved into this area I looked at roomates dot com. Payed for a month's subscription, and found a few potential places. I'd say that's a good bet for anywhere - a lot of the people seem to be condo owners who have a room they rent to help with the mortgage.

Depending on what your price is, you may be able to find a simple small room in Herndon itself - but we have no way of knowing, without a price range!

[Webbie]

ariadel,

The price range is hard to pin down without knowing what is included. I KNOW I cannot afford prices I saw for Herndon which was regularly in the $1000/month range. I am trying to get back on my feet after several years of mere survival.

I also know that it is HIGHLY unlikely I will find anything like what I have in my current situation. Everything I listed in my original post I am getting for $500/month.

I moved here a year ago trying to get a government job, but have been uncuccessful. Some things are in storage here. Some are in storage in Indiana. So, a place with a bed and a couple chairs would be nice, but not necessary. What's really necessary is to have kitchen usage, whether as a kitchenette on joint use in the house: stove, frig, ideally a microwave, and hopefully a dishwasher. Laundry would be nice, but I know how to go to a laundromat. I use the Internet a lot, both for communicating with friends and also for occasional selling on ebay.

I hope that gives you a little better picture. Please ask any questions that you need to fill in the blanks. The key for me is to know if I can shoehorn myself in somewhere so I can afford to take this job. It starts low, but has room for fairly quick advancement.

Webbie

[dullnboring]

If you're okay with simply renting out a room as opposed to an entire apartment, as you seem to be, you can find plenty of places on Craig's List for well under $1000/month in Herndon itself. In fact, I would say the average going rate if renting out a room is somewhere around the $650/month range, and you can find quite a few as cheap as $500/month. Every situation is different, but most of these are similar situations to what you have, with your own private room, likely your own bathroom outside of the room, and then shared usage of laundry and kitchen. You can find similar places in Purcellville, but the options are fewer just because Purcellville is smaller and is more of single-family home sort of town where people aren't renting out rooms as opposed to Herndon, and other spots closer in.

[ariadel]

I was searching for a room rental situation twice in the last few years, once about four years ago, once two years ago.

I'd say that utilities being included is a bit rare. When I looked four years ago, about $450mo + utilities seemed the lowest around, and that often included sharing a bathroom. It seemed to hover more around $520 + utilities when I looked two years ago, though I don't recall exactly.

As I said above, I found roommates.com a really useful source, (though sometimes inaccurate - many people forget to close listings when they're no longer available). My estimated figures come from there - you can also get more detailed information about places being offered than I usually found on craiglist or in want adds. My advice is to cast a wide net - email or message a lot of people who you might be interested in living with - but you probably already know that. Being able to deliver references from past roommates/landlords with whom you've shared a similar arrangement may help.

I also would suggest looking in the reston/herndon area itself, though - it is one of the less expensive areas to rent or own, and you may be able to find a good deal. Good luck!