Arlington Rosslyn-Ballston corridor overbuilt?

[TheWatchmen]

Originally Posted by Lilac110

My budget is $1,800-$1,900 a month for a 1BR, definitely not the high end of the rents I'm seeing there.

And here is the spot is where the R-B corridor is not thirsty for tenants, IMO. You are competing against a LOT of people looking for more "affordable" rents in that corridor. If I had had a $2,500 budget per month when living in Arlington - sure - no problem. I would have had a vast pick of places.

BUT, I paid $1800/month for a semi nice-ish but SMALL 1 bedroom in Ballston and then a little over $2000/month for a CRAPPY older 2 bedroom in Rosslyn several years ago, over a span of 2 years. I had to work HARD to find acceptable rentals in my budget, and it took up a considerable amount of my time, a lot of time on craigslist, a lot of calls, a lot of visits. Not to knock your effort or reason for renting, but whew, I'm glad that I am not going through that rat race search for rentals anymore - I did not enjoy that part of renting.

[Lilac110]

Originally Posted by gomason

My favorite neighborhoods are Court House and Virginia Square. You're close enough to douchebagmania in Clarendon that you can bike over in like 2 minutes on weekdays when the douchebags aren't out yet and actually enjoy the neighborhood. At the same time, on the weekends when the dbags are out in full force, you're far enough away that you don't have to deal with their antics too much.

LOL @ "douchebagmania!" Yep. That's what has me only casting a cursory glance at Courthouse and skipping Clarendon entirely. I loved Courthouse when I lived there (Dittmar, go figure!), but the last six months of my time there was nonstop noise from 7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with piledrivers for what is now The Vista on Courthouse, an Equity Residential Property. I worked a regular day job then, so I wasn't around for most of it, but it made getting ready for work in the mornings miserable. I felt bad for the staff there, who had to listen to it all the livelong day.

It is going to come down to Dittmar, Avalon, Meridian, or Equity Residential. I like Dittmar, other than the parking issue Carlington mentioned, as once you've seen one Dittmar interior, you've seen them all. But also, their buildings are the "older" ones with better soundproofing. Meridian has some darling places with enclosed sun rooms that would be perfect for a home office, but yes, I heard the walls are thin.

My sister was in an Avalon property in Maryland and loved it--said she didn't hear a peep from any neighbors, even though there were plenty of them around. Depends on what state and area you're in with them, from what I understand, because I've heard bad things, too.

Originally Posted by TheWatchmen

And here is the spot is where the R-B corridor is not necessarily thirsty for tenants, IMO. You are competing against a LOT of people looking for more "affordable" rents in that corridor. If I had had a $2,500 budget per month when living in Arlington - sure - no problem. I would have had a vast pick of places.

BUT, I paid $1800/month for a semi nice-ish but SMALL 1 bedroom in Ballston and then a little over $2000/month for a CRAPPY older 2 bedroom in Rosslyn several years ago, over a span of 2 years. I had to work HARD to find acceptable rentals in my budget, and it took up a considerable amount of my time.

Depends on what you mean by "small." I'm fine with 700 sq ft if the living/dining is long, though most of the ones I'm seeing are slightly larger than that and are going for $1,850ish. Fortunately I don't need a parking space, as apparently those are another $80-150 a month.

But I love the simplicity of renting in the area. You pay your $300-700 in deposits and move-in fees, and that's it. Where I am now, they have two months of rent as security. My rent is not too much less than what I'm looking for now. Imagine writing a check for over $3,000 and then still having to cough up your first month's rent the day you move in. And need a car. And be 90 minutes away from the city. And having to spend more than $350 a month commuting on the train if you work in said city. Such a racket up here. People say, "OMG, DC is so expensive." At least you get something for your money there!

[Lilac110]

So, I went, I looked, it's not as expensive as I thought.

Dittmar has apartments in the $1715-$1850 range in Virginia Square with their usual specials (2 months free on a 14-month lease), plus $85 for utilities (minus cable). The caveat is that the left hand doesn't know what the right one is doing with them. I have a bird. I made that VERY clear in my initial email to them over a week ago. Two of the places told me it was okay. Two others said Dittmar didn't allow pets of any kind. One wasn't sure. I used to live in another Dittmar property a few years ago, and it was okay.

And I'm so glad I wrote directly to the property manager on the one I was interested in this morning, before I applied, because it turns out nope, no pets. At all. (Which is stupid, IMHO because a bird the size of a robin doesn't make much noise, pee on the floor, or leave huge piles of poop in the elevator, but whatever, their loss.)

Anyway, Avalon has places in the $1800-1900 range, too, and they are totally pet friendly. You're on your own with utilities, though. But some of their buildings have HUGE bedrooms and their 1BR apartments are generally a decent size, at least 725 sq. ft. They are also pretty decent places--good closet space, nice countertops, fireplaces, balconies, some have bay windows. I didn't look at any granite/stainless places, but they were still nice. That's all I had time for yesterday, as I looked at a lot of apartments.

So this is just to let passers-by know it is definitely possible to get a decent place for under $2,000. Just walking around, I can see why, too: Yep. Way overbuilt. Vacancies everywhere. They really stuck buildings on every available plot of land, didn't they? I did my usual walk from Courthouse to the Rosslyn Metro and it blew my mind how much they packed into what used to be glorified median strips between Clarendon and Wilson Blvds. That's a little bit too urban for me, and those are probably a lot more expensive, but for people who might be moving from too far away to fly in to look around, there are a lot of options for different budgets along the Orange/Silver lines from Rosslyn to Ballston. You just have to plod through the process if you don't use a real estate agent.

[gomason]

Originally Posted by Lilac110

So this is just to let passers-by know it is definitely possible to get a decent place for under $2,000. Just walking around, I can see why, too: Yep. Way overbuilt. Vacancies everywhere. They really stuck buildings on every available plot of land, didn't they? I did my usual walk from Courthouse to the Rosslyn Metro and it blew my mind how much they packed into what used to be glorified median strips between Clarendon and Wilson Blvds. That's a little bit too urban for me, and those are probably a lot more expensive, but for people who might be moving from too far away to fly in to look around, there are a lot of options for different budgets along the Orange/Silver lines from Rosslyn to Ballston. You just have to plod through the process if you don't use a real estate agent.

Yes, it is crazy how many buildings that are going up. There are close to 10 sites of major development along the corridor that have recently finished/under construction/about to start construction. Vacancy might be high now, but they will slowly fill up over the long term. It's only a matter of time before it's nothing but mid-rises and high-rises along Wilson Boulevard/Fairfax Drive from Rosslyn to Ballston.

[Lilac110]

Originally Posted by gomason

Yes, it is crazy how many buildings that are going up. There are close to 10 sites of major development along the corridor that have recently finished/under construction/about to start construction. Vacancy might be high now, but they will slowly fill up over the long term. It's only a matter of time before it's nothing but mid-rises and high-rises along Wilson Boulevard/Fairfax Drive from Rosslyn to Ballston.

The folks who own the Rhodeside Grill must be hauling in the dough. I remember back in the late 80s, early 90s, when there was precious little in that area, and there was never anyone in there, at least in the evenings. It might have had another name back then. It was one of those places you went past and thought, "I wonder what's in there. Will have to check it out," and then never did because you forgot about it and never had any reason to be on that particular corner at that particular time. It started to pick up in the late 90s, and I finally went in there with my father in 2000 for a bite one night when he was in town. I remember him saying, "Oh, so is this your local corner place to get a beer?" and me saying, "Actually, in all my years in the area, this is the first time I've been in here!" How they lasted long enough to make it to the boom, I'll never know. Maybe they did a good lunch business.

Summers, kitty-corner from the Wendy's, was the same way. They had a good lunch crowd, but the place would be dead in the evenings unless there was a really important Redskins game on. It was good for blind dates though: You knew you wouldn't run into anyone who knew you there!