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We are moving from Madrid in Spain (Europe) to Washington DC due to my husband's job. We are lloking forward to move but we know nothing about the city. Nowadays we live 10 milles away from Madrid (Which would be your Washington DC). We love living here as we do not have the traffic, the crowds, the pollution... we live right opposite a big park. What I see from my window is pines, a church and a school. We live in a village of 60.000 inhabitants. Our flat is the last floor int he building and we have a terrace of aprox 20m2 (200 ft2). Our house is more or less 150 m2 (1600 ft2) and the rent could be about 1500$ (the house is ours, so now we don't pay anything for rent). We live in a housing development with swimming pool and a lot of grass perfect for the children to play. We have two children aged 6 and 4.
With all this description, could you please give me some advice on where is the best place to look for a flat? How much could it be to rent a flat? Are there good schools or only private schools are good? Every single piece of advice will be welcome!!!!
Hi. Welcome to DC!!! I went to Spain earlier this year and LOVED it. Anyways, if you have kids and are thinking of paying around $1500, your best bet would probably living around the Orange Line corridor in Arlington. Arlington is a suburb of DC just west of the river with about 70,000 residents. It probably has much better schools and is a little bit more affordable than DC proper. If you live in DC it will be very hard to find a family home for that much that isn't in a bad area. And don't even think about using DC public schools. Yes, they are making improvements but it will be years before they are on the same level of those in the suburbs. If you want a more suburban lifestyle as you mentioned with no traffic, pollution or crowds then you might want to look much further than DC and into Fairfax, Loundon or even Montogomery counties.
Also, to get a better understanding of what you are looking for, we need to know how many rooms you will need, if you will have a car, and where you plan on working at. Traffic in the DC area can be awful if you plan on traveling during rush hour.
Hi and welcome to DC! The first thing to realize is that anywhere you will go it will just be very very different from Spain/Madrid. The main disadvantages of the area are the price (mainly of housing) and the traffic. You cannot get away from the traffic (especially if you have to traverse any number of counties for your commute which I don't recommend) unless you find a place that's very close to where you have to work that also has everything else you need on a day-to-day basis. Some of the advantages of the area are that you will find people from all over the world and many other transplants, likely including from Madrid I'm sure, and thus easing possible homesickness, and lots and lots of entertainment/things to do, you can find excellent public schools, parks, free museums...
Although there would be many options, I'd recommend Arlington also (Official Site of Arlington County Virginia : General Information : Arlington, Virginia) , specifically around Clarendon - or broader: the area from Rosslyn to Ballston - you have the option of driving or taking the Metro -orange line- to DC - if you are in Rosslyn you can easily walk to DC (Georgetown), it's a bit less expensive than DC itself, and if you have young kids Arlington is perfect since there are TONS of parks, and very good public schools, there are a lot of people with young kids here. You have restaurants, bars, Farmer's Market's, shopping - (oh and you can definitely see soccer/football matches in the bars/restaurants - although the atmosphere won't be the same as in Europe...) You can run errands within Arlington without traffic any time if you avoid the major through-routes. Many people also do not have a car at all here.
With that being said, I think you'd be looking more at a rent of $2000 and (way!) more ... it's unusual to find any apartments that are more than 2 bedrooms, so if you are looking for sth larger it would be better to rent a townhouse, or a house.
Another area you may like is Del Ray, Alexandria - concentrated around Mt Vernon Avenue (boundary to the north Glebe Rd and to the South Braddock Rd).
A LOT of people with young kids live there. (Del Ray Citizens Association, Inc. A residential community in Alexandria, Virginia) Even though it's just a few crossstreets it has a 'small town feel' to it, I believe it's a little less pricey than Arlington, but I don't know much about the schools there.
Well these are just opinions... ask away if you have more questions.
Arlington will cost well beyond $1500 to rent--1 bedroom apartments on the metro line are closer to $2k, and to get a TH will be more like $2500 (even if it's beyond walking distance to the metro). If you find cheaper than that, the schools will be lesser in comparison.
I would also recommend Fairfax county. Falls Church, Fairfax, West Springfield, Burke, etc. You should be able to find great schools (FFX county schools are top notch), and rent 3-4 bedrooms for $2000-2500 if you're okay with a townhouse or older home. The commute to the city will be an hour plus each way though.
Where exactly is your husband's job? Traffic in DC is awful--it may make more sense to live in Maryland over Virginia depending where the office is.
A HUGE element to where you live is going to be where your husbands job is and how much of a commute he is willing to put up with.
For instance: if his job is in DC proper and you get a place in Reston - he's eithier going to have to have 6 hour work days or you'll have to raise the kids yourself.
A HUGE element to where you live is going to be where your husbands job is and how much of a commute he is willing to put up with.
For instance: if his job is in DC proper and you get a place in Reston - he's eithier going to have to have 6 hour work days or you'll have to raise the kids yourself.
Exactly... not sure how people can recommend anything with not enough details... could be the guy will have a job at Bethesda, where it would be great to get a house in Rockville.... or maybe IRS.... which is a distance....
Enhara,
Welcome to Washington. I think you'll find that life in the Washington area is very different from life in Madrid. Much of your experience will depend on where your husband works and how much you can budget for an apartment or house. Housing costs in Madrid are very reasonable by European standards. I think you will likely have to pay more in the Washington area. Salaries in the DC area are much higher than average in the US, and rents in the DC area are high and usually get more expensive as you get closer to the city or closer to good public transportation, particularly the Metro train system. Schools in the DC area are of widely varying quality and homes in the best school districts are usually more expensive than homes in lesser school districts. Public schools in parts of Northern Virginia and Montgomery county, Maryland are often high quality and quite cosmopolitan.
Although housing costs are relatively high in Washington, I think you may be pleasantly surprised that other aspects of the cost of living compare favorably with Spain. For example, gasoline in the US is around 3 dollars per gallon, about half of the cost in Spain. Taxes and fees in the US are generally lower than those in Europe (state sales tax is usually much lower than VAT) but you will have to pay for services that might be free. For example, you'll probably need health insurance in the US unless your Spanish coverage will pay for treatment in the US.
I agree with the recommendations that you find a short-term rental and become familiar with the area before making a final decision. You might ask your employer and colleagues for recommendations as well.
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