Grad Student Apartment Hunting (real estate, apartments, rental)

[jgmanthey]

Hello, first thanks in advance for any information you can give. I am a 23 year old graduate student moving to the DC area in August. I am doing the apartment hunting thing, and am wondering where the places I should ABSOLUTELY avoid living might be? Below I have listed some places that I am looking (mostly due to craigslist), any feedback is welcomed. My requirements are that the area be safe and close to a metro stop, as I would like to use metro as my main form of transportation.

Arlington(Where my school is)
Alexandria
Falls Church
T Street SE
21st St NE
L St NW
Euclid St NW
3rd St SE
Suitland Terrace
Atlantic St
Elmira St
Pennsylvania Ave SE
Edgewood St SE
I have also seen various places arond the Deanwood, Benning, Anacostia, and Silver Springs metro stops


Your thoughts please and thank you!

[PK12]

Following are the places that I think you should absolutely avoid living in:




T Street SE
21st St NE

3rd St SE
Suitland Terrace

Pennsylvania Ave SE
Edgewood St SE

Benning Rd and Anacostia should definitely be avoided as well.


What is your monthly rental budget?

[stateofnature]

Your list isn't very helpful because streets go on for miles. For example, Pennsylvania Ave SE goes through really nice neighborhoods like Capitol Hill, and then not so nice neighborhoods across the Anacostia.

So you need to ask about areas, not streets that go through multiple areas. For example, 2nd st and Pennsylvania Ave SE would be specific. Just naming a miles-long street is not.

But I'll say that the Deanwood, Benning and Anacostia metro stops are not in areas that most people would consider safe. They are very high crime areas.

Pretty much any suburb outside the city itself, like Arlington, Alexandria and Silver Spring, is safe, although some of the suburbs in PG County off the Blue and Orange lines aren't that nice. But most neighborhoods within the city are safe, although to varying degrees. Columbia Heights is good. Petworth and Shaw are good, but maybe too high-crime for some. It really depends on you. Capitol Hill (Capitol South, Eastern Market, Potomac Ave and Union Station stops) is good. Anywhere off the Red Line is fine, although some people might not feel comfortable with the areas around the New York Ave or Rhode Island Ave stops.

It's really the neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River you want to avoid. There are some nice areas there but they tend not to be within walking distance of a metro stop.

[jgmanthey]

If at all possible I would like to keep rent below $1500 a month. I apologize for my list not being terribly helpful, it is hard for me to gauge the "areas" that these places are based solely on the addresses listed on real estate sites. I am not terribly famililar with DC, so this is all very new to me.

[PK12]

1500 and less is definitely doable in the West End of Alexandria - the apartments are going to be safe for the most part but nothing too fancy, and not very accessible to Metro.

Same goes for apartments on the outskirts of the Ballston-Rosslyn corridor of Arlington.