Apartments on the Red Line! Need Help!! (Silver Spring, Bethesda: how much, townhouses)

[zehra216]

I moved to this area about 6 months ago and basically moved into a place really quickly. I currently live in the Bethesda but not near downtown Bethesda and quite a ways from the Metro. I am 25 years old and driving into DC for a social life is getting to be draining (DC driving basically sucks)! I work out in Gaithersburg so even though I would love to live in DC, I know the commute would be insane. Can anyone give me some ideas on where to look for a place? I would LOVE to live in downtown Bethesda but I know it's quite expensive. Please help!!!

[dkf747]

Rockville around these stations: Grosvenor, White Flint, and Rockville. There are plenty of apartmentsnear those stations. Twinbrook, I'm not sure about. I live a short bus ride from Shady Grove. Why can't you ride a bus to Bethesda?

[Marilyn Emery]

How much can you afford? There is alot available in Rockville in a wide price range. There are also townhouses, apartments and single family homes near White Flint and Grosvenor all within walking distance to metro.

[Tuneful]

I've lived in downtown Bethesda and it is expensive. Recently priced some apts. there for $1600 and up, sometimes with utilities on top. There are some less-expensive, more "basic" places on Bradley Blvd that are walkable to the Metro. I lived in one and the bad thing was that the parking lot was small and there would sometimes be NO PLACE (including on the street) to put my car later on in the evening. I was never much into downtown Bethesda "nightlife," such as it is -- restaurants, a few bars, a couple of movieplexes. You'll find North Bethesda (Grosvenor, White Flint, etc.) also expensive... malls of all varieties are the thing, although there is Strathmore for concerts.
Is your work reasonably close to Metro? If so, I would revisit living in DC, on the Red Line. A 30- to 40-minute commute would not be "insane" (at least not around here) and you'd be mostly going against the crowd.

[CHIP72]

I would not overlook locations on the eastern branch of the Red Line (i.e. Takoma Park, Silver Spring, Forest Glen, Wheaton, Glenmont). Some of those locations (Forest Glen, Glenmont) are more sprawl-like and/or residential in nature, but Wheaton, Takoma Park, and especially Silver Spring have stuff you can walk to. These areas tend to be somewhat cheaper than comparable locations along the west branch of the Red Line (i.e. Friendship Heights to Shady Grove) but they also tend to not be as nice either (though IMO Silver Spring and to a lesser degree Takoma Park are pretty good).

[zehra216]

Thanks for the tips! I am open to living in most areas of town just not something too far into the city. I have to drive to work in Gaithersburg! I would love to live on the red line though since my job does require me to travel quite a bit and it would make it easier to get to Union Station as well as DCA. I can take a bus into the Friendship Heights Metro right now but it stops running fairly early so getting back home past 10 pm gets to be a little difficult. It's getting too expensive to use cabs!