RELOCATING From TX to DC (Washington: real estate, apartments, for rent)

[TXCouple]

I'll be relocating for a job near the Pentagon. Househould income is approximately 93,000 base. Looking for a nice neighborhood within a 20 mile radius from the Pentagon area. Also renting an apt and and looking at a price range of 1200-1400. Any advise or links would be appreciated.

-TXCouple

[ceejamon]

Hello, fellow Southerner! Prepare to have all your preconceptions shattered. Rents are EXPENSIVE here, and a person could easily pay 1800 for a 1 bedroom around the DC area. But we'll get to that later.

For starters, you want to rethink distance from work and think about time to commute. 20 miles could take an hour or more to drive depending on where you're talking about around here. Beltway traffic can be a nightmare. If you want to keep your commute to a minimum, you'll obviously want to stay in Virginia or DC. You also may want to consider taking the metro to avoid traffic. The DC area metro is MUCH cleaner than the NYC metro if that's all you've been on.

For us to better help you, tell us more about what you're looking for. 1 Bedroom for 1 person? Married with a bunch of kids? Apartment? Townhome? In the meantime, I'll copy and paste some resources I've posted in others threads that may prove to be helpful. The obvious places to start looking are Arlington, Pentagon City, and Crystal City. The community here will be able to help you narrow it down/expand based on more info from you.

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A few ideas/resources for you to consider, especially for DC proper:

1) Craigslist is a great resource for apartments in and around DC, but it's overwhelming if you don't know where you want to live. Start the process by determining the AREAS you like, then look for apartments in those areas. The search function and price limitations on the site are your friends, but only once you have your bearings.

2) SpotCrime allows you to plot different types of crime on a map so you can see what areas are safe and which are shady. You'll see some very clear trends in DC. I focus mainly on shootings, burglarly, and robbery. Assault is most commonly against people the assailant knows. Theft can happen anywhere.

3) Once you've got some areas in mind, HotPads plots out apartments from various sources on a map. The Google Real Estate Search tool on Google Maps (click My Maps) is decent, too.

4) Google Maps is a FANTASTIC resource for looking into areas. If you're interested in living in DC and want to use the Metro, click on "My Maps" to get the DCist Metro Map overlay. Then, use walking directions or the distance measurement tool to see how far an address is from a metro. 1/3 mile (1760 feet) is the ideal range I'd look for if possible. It's a short walk, and is quite manageable even in bad weather.

5) Use Google Street View to check out the neighborhood around a building to make sure it's a well-kept area. I'd pass on a nice building across the street from a boarded up one. Also, look at the parked cars. Clean, newer model cars tend to speak well for an area. You don't have to look for Lexus logos, but a trend of run-down beat-up cars may belong to residents that don't take care of their stuff and probably won't respect YOUR stuff. (Nothing to do with race or class-warfare. Just a fact of life. I'm lower-middle class, of a darker persuasion, and drive a Ford.)

6) ApartmentRatings.com helps you find buildings that LOOK nice and may have nice "model/demo apartments" but have serious management, pest, or other problems. See what former/current residents have said. It's not a site to find your apartment on, but rather it's a site to check on a building that you might be interested in.

7) Look into what's near an address using Google Maps. It's nice to have a grocery store, dry cleaners, pharmacy, etc nearby. It's even better to have it within an easy walking distance. DC is one of the most walkable cities in America - take advantage of it!

Hope this helps, and happy hunting!

[TXCouple]

Good advise! For additional specifics; Married, no kids or pets. Most likely we'll be renting an apt. until we get more familiarized with the DC/VA area.

[AndrewMarks]

1400 won't go far around here from what I've found.

[ceejamon]

1400 will get you a 1 bedroom, although it will take some hunting to find one in a nicer area for that price. I'd suggest looking into Arlington around Pentagon City and Crystal City. Traffic into the Pentagon area can be a nightmare. You may find it best to just live close to work until you get your bearings and figure out what scene best fits you.

Hopefully somebody else can chime in about your options farther out into NOVA. I'm more familiar with DC/MA personally.

[TXCouple]

Thanks for the information...

[sweetpotater58]

Somewhere near a metro stop in Northern Virginia-then hop the subway to the Pentagon.

[TXCouple]

Looking at various locations, it appears that I need to be more in the 1600 -1700 ballpark for rent. Also, from what I'm getting is Metro really a highly recommended means for commuting in and around the area? Is traffic really that bad? I've lived in L.A before, would that be a fair comparison?

[ceejamon]

I've never been to LA, so I can't compare. I can say that traffic can be highly annoying and often unpredictable around here. Metro is often comparable time-wise depending on how far your start/end points are from a metro stop. Some locations aren't nearly as feasible, of course. For me, reading a book on the metro beats sitting in traffic any day.

[South Jersey Styx]

Originally Posted by TXCouple

Looking at various locations, it appears that I need to be more in the 1600 -1700 ballpark for rent. Also, from what I'm getting is Metro really a highly recommended means for commuting in and around the area? Is traffic really that bad? I've lived in L.A before, would that be a fair comparison?

Washington, DC traffic is ranked one of the worst in the country, #3 or #4 after Los Angeles and Atlanta.

Use the metro if possible. It's clean and safe; no graffiti or bums bothering you like some cities. Sitting in traffic will get on your nerves and slowly eat at you the longer you stay. Plus people can't drive in the area; you'll see a major difference than driving in Texas where I was impressed with not only the maintenance and cleanliness of your roads, but how courteous your drivers are.