Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
You will be lucky if you can get a room in a group house or shared apartment in a pretty good area for $750. Shares that are relatively reasonable in price and convenient to a Metro station are in especially high demand. It is not unknown to luck out with a deal on a basement, but we're talking people pounding around over your head at all hours, coming into your space to use the shared washer/dryer, etc., and located probably near a bus line, not the Metro.
You can survive without a car, especially in DC. Lots of people do. I did for some years, and then when I moved to Bethesda, MD, mainly got one, mostly to make it easier to haul things like groceries around and to get out on weekends.
thats souunds fne. but like me i am moving to dc after thanksgviving and i do drive so i have a hell of a commute because i work in annapolis. so good luck the metro goes every where
Location: Uniquely Individual Villages of the Megalopolis
646 posts, read 804,577 times
Reputation: 36
Quote:
Originally Posted by saganista
It is much easier to get by without a car in the District than in Virginia. In the District, it is hard, but it can be done, and in fact it is done by a great many people. About one in three DC households does not own a car. In town, you are more likely to have nearby mom-and-pop type support and convenient access to mass transit. At that though, everything still has to break right, and that isn't really likely to happen at $750 per month, unless you're planning on having a couple of roommates.
I used to do it in Va living along the Arlington corridor of stops, lived at Courthouse area, 1 stop to Rosslyn which is a major connection stop, and into DC, or to Ballston the other way. Arlington is quite dense and there is a lot going on in Clarendon these days (another stop), that was the original downtown for North Arlington, then there is South Arlington access from the Pentagon station, Crystal City, etc and easy access to Reagan Airport.
It can be done and it was okay too with cabs and mucho busses in the area to the Pentagon and up and down Columbia Pike.
However, for 750 now for an apartment near one of those stops no way, but there is good other transport to the metro from within Arlington County and Alexandria.
The Cherrydale section of Arlington off Lee Hwy is easy walking to a bus to the station and lots of homes, duplexes,etc. But to live near at least Clarendon, Rosslyn, Courthouse, Marymount, Ballston etc is ideal, and if you do get a car it's easier to have a place to keep it around there.
I had best of both worlds that way after living about a year without a car trying it out. But I'm a car person.
I had a one bedroom in Adams Morgan (just off of 18th Street) for 700 up until a year ago...it was a bit of a walk to the metro, over the bridge, but it wasn't bad. I found an ad for it in the city paper. So yes, you can find apartments at that price, if you catch them in time. Rent is ridiculous in DC, but if you give yourself time to look around, you can find something.
I'll be moving into the district in the next few weeks, currently out in the burbs of Silver Spring, and I would like to get rid of my car ASAP after moving in.
I was curious if any of you had any suggestions for getting rid of a car in DC? I know of Craigslist and the WashingtonPost, but just how safe is it to sell things like cars that way? Anyone ever sold a car to a dealership?
With some careful considerations into where you live and a willingness to make a few concessions here and there, living a car-less life in DC seems like the only way to go. Hopefully I'm not mistaken
Now finding something for $750, that's a REAL challenge.
if you're used to getting by with public transportation it will probably be easier to NOT own a car, unless you live out in one of the many suburbs. Although, I commute on the metro 5 days a week (about an hour total each day) and I just get tired of it beyond that. For social things and recreation I use my car, unless I know parking will really suck. Like pretty much any place in the US outside NYC, you probably will find you are missing out on things without the freedom of movement a car gives you.
I'm surprised nobody mentioned a bicycle. When I lived in DC, in a few different parts of the city, it was always in affordable places that were a long walk or a short bike ride from a subway. Using bicycle transportation extends your personal range considerably, and if you learn the system you can take the bike ON the subway at some times. Even after I got a car, walk+bike+subway remained the best transportation for me within the city.
Location: Uniquely Individual Villages of the Megalopolis
646 posts, read 804,577 times
Reputation: 36
Quote:
Originally Posted by talktobrent
if you're used to getting by with public transportation it will probably be easier to NOT own a car, unless you live out in one of the many suburbs. Although, I commute on the metro 5 days a week (about an hour total each day) and I just get tired of it beyond that. For social things and recreation I use my car, unless I know parking will really suck. Like pretty much any place in the US outside NYC, you probably will find you are missing out on things without the freedom of movement a car gives you.
That's even true in NYC where I currently reside but not for much longer.
NYC one can live for a long time quite well without one, but public transportation and its independabilities and other problems leaves much to be desired, plus there are but so many stops in any system you actually care to use. As I said I currently live in NYC, but still have a car. It all depends, it's better just to rent one when needed, but still that's nothing like having one read-to-go, then there is the problem of where to keep it. There's a lot of cultural orientation outside the city, Long Island, Atlantic City, etc.
That's why cities in this country don't grow much, suburbs do.
Dc Operates Like Other Northeastern Cities With Metro Areas,a Great Number Of Its Residents Use The Metro Rather Than Drive A Car.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.