Is nova a good place for a young couple (student & mechanic)? (Richmond: section 8)

[candiceena]

Hi all,

My fiancé and I are going back and forth between Richmond and NoVa. We will be moving in April. I am a student and will be working but probably just Retail or customer service type job. My fiancé is a mechanic and is hoping to find work in a dealership. I want to live somewhere with a nice downtown area with shops and restaurants and hopefully a local food scene. He wants to live in NoVa. I don't understand it and I honestly think we won't be able to afford it. What are everyone's ideas and opinions on a student and a mechanic living in Nova? Also, we may be moving around August 2013 (about a year and a half after we move to Va) for me to go to law school.

[HereinVA]

If you are a student, where would you be going to school? Have you already been accepted at schools in both areas?

[Carlingtonian]

Honestly, I think it'll be tough on one salary unless he's making crazy money. The areas farther away from DC proper will be more affordable--but if you're going to school in DC or Arlington, then you'll want to live close to school.

The DC-area law schools that I remember off hand are Georgetown (NW DC), George Mason (Arlington--Virginia Square), American University (NW DC), Catholic U. (NE DC), and U MD (College Park). All of those are in expensive areas for housing.

I'd suggest you shoot for the best law school you can get into, and if you get in, then worry about where to live. If you're willing to sacrifice on some things (separate bedrooms, steel-and-granite kitchen, among other things), then believe it or not, but you can find affordable apartments here and there, near each of those law schools.

[stpickrell]

I'd actually recommend Fredericksburg for the time being. I agree with Carlingtonian that you should wait for a final decision on where to live when you get accepted into law school. But -- Fredericksburg would be okay for a few months until you can break your lease for commuting to UVA, U of R, and the DC-area law schools. (You're young and there's no kids around I'm assuming. If there are, my advice would change.)

It's relatively affordable, has a decent downtown scene, accessible to Richmond and the I-95 corridor ... your fiance is a mechanic and there's car dealers all up and down I-95 (if he's a Mercedes or some other luxury car mechanic, that might change things.) There's also plenty of retail/customer service places where you can work.

[candiceena]

Thanks for the advice everyone. I am actually a student at Arizona State right now. My major requires certain classes that I have to take online so I just waited until my last year of school and I'm taking all the online classes this year, so we're free to move to VA (where the future DH is from). No kids, either.

I've been looking around at jobs for me and I think we'll be able to comfortably afford $1300 a month on rent. I'm hoping to find a cute garden apartment somewhere in the NOVA area of Arlington, Alexandria, etc? I'd love DC but we just can't afford it (unless we went to Anacostia, lol - I'm all for urban pioneering but the F won't have anything to do with it) so NOVA it is for now.

Can anyone recommend any garden apartment complexes? I estimate together we'll be making a COMBINED income in the low 40s (think 40-42k a year). I've heard a lot about mixed-income places. Are they really horrible? Would we be "looked down upon"? I know that's kind of a loaded question, so my apolgoies, but where I'm from, well, I'm from such a small town (7k population) that I've never had to deal with these types of things.

Anyway, back to the garden apts - any suggestions? We just need a 1 bd/1 ba. Don't need a w/d in the apartment but prefer to have a dishwasher at least. Would prefer to get utilities included? Is that do-able on $1300? Our credit is not fantastic - low 600s. Will we be able to find a place without great credit?

[cdmurphy]

You can use Arlington County's Apartment Search Guide. You would qualify for income-restricted apartments (Arlington has its own program separate from Section 8).

As for specific complexes... back in the late 1990s I lived in a place called Columbia Grove. It's at the far west end of Columbia Pike, on the Arlington County side of Baileys Crossroads. It's not near Metro but there is good bus service up the Pike to the Pentagon station. Columbia Grove has been remodeled since I lived there, but it was fine enough - certainly not "luxury", but my apartment had central air and a dishwasher (which was not the case at the more expensive garden apartment I lived in near the Rosslyn Metro). Each building has its own small laundry room. I never personally felt unsafe, but there was a lot of theft from vehicles on the street outside the apartment lots, and I did religiously use "The Club" on my car. The complex is also conveniently close to lots of shopping/retail options in Baileys Crossroads. It is a very ethnically diverse area; the complex was mostly immigrants (from all over) when I lived there. It was a great option for me when I was just starting out after grad school, single and broke.

[Carlingtonian]

I still think you're jumping the gun. I really think you'll be better off waiting till you know where you'll be going to law school, and then look for apartments. But given the ridiculously high cost of living out here, why not live somewhere more affordable until you have to move here for school? Please don't take that as unwelcoming; it's just that your budget is gonna be tough to live on here, and you'll be making sacrifices you wouldn't have to make in most other parts of the country. And since you can live anywhere you want while you're taking those online classes...

But to answer your question: The cheapest apartments available in the entire DC metro region are probably on Route 1 near Fort Belvoir, but they are a DIVE. And your commute to any of those law schools will be an absolute nightmare.

The cheapest in Arlington are probably somewhere on the western fringe of Lee Highway or Columbia Pike (like the one CDMurphy suggested), or possibly in Falls Church/Seven Corners, where there are some old apartments at Willston Place, between Route 50 and Wilson Boulevard. (If you go that route, be prepared to be the only English speakers in the whole complex.)

The County-subsidized apartments I believe have long waiting lists, so I wouldn't hold out too much hope for one of those.

Alexandria: Somewhere in Landmark, I'd guess.

Or Arlandria, which is going to be redeveloped soon. In the meantime, it's heavily recent immigrants from Central America. It's convenient to a lot of places by car, but it's not close to the Metro. It does have a Salvadoran bakery, though, and there's a very cool (and tiny) concert venue there called the Birchmere. (We've seen Kinky Friedman, David Byrne, and Lisa Gerrard perform there, among others.) I know you're looking to rent, but if you can borrow enough for a 3.5% down payment on an FHA loan to buy a tiny, $200K fixer-upper house there--look at Reed Avenue in particular--you will definitely make your money back in five or 10 years. Also, you'll get to tell people back home, "I live in Arlandria--you know, like in the Foo Fighters song."

You'll definitely get more bang for your buck if you forget living near the Metrorail stations and focus on being near a bus route. The buses here are overall pretty good.

[stpickrell]

You: are going to take online classes and don't have a job set up yet
Your fiance is an auto mechanic, does he have a job currently (and where?)

If not, I really don't see why you'd need to pay much much more to live in Arlington/Alexandria while you decide what law schools to apply to, etc. I'd be looking at Winchester, Warrenton, Leesburg, Front Royal, Fredericksburg, Manassas, etc., as a place to enjoy yourself for a year or two while you guys get your lives on track. All of these towns were once independent on the DC area and still retain their own identity, something you won't find in a <20 year old subdivision, and while the food scene isn't as good as Arlington, it'll certainly be something you can explore over a 1-2 year period. That -- and if you're paying 1/2 or 2/3 the rent you'd be paying in Arlington (for a better neighborhood within that town/city's hierarchy), there's more money for the important things in life -- beer and going out.

Once you're accepted into law school, you can decide where you want to live from there. Then again lease break fees are typically an extra month of rent, which would be cheaper in the edge cities.

If your fiance has a job then I'd of course take that into consideration. I'd hesitate to ask him to leave his job if he doesn't have another lined up.

[candiceena]

Thanks to everyone for the feedback. It's extremely appreciated.

My fiance is from Alexandria, and he is dead-set on moving back to the NOVA area because he feels that overall, his options for getting a job are better because he reasons that it is a more highly-populated area, has more dealerships and businesses (he works on cars now but has diesel experience, so he's talking to some contacts at UPS and FedEx to see about getting set up with an interview to work on their trucks).

I'll be working FT as well. I'm not worried about getting a job - I've never had a problem before, even in this economy, and I've got a strong background in sales so while it's not my favorite type of job, if I have to, I can go back to wireless or car sales.

Personally, I wanted to look in the Richmond area but he was pretty against that. I will definitely look into some of the complexes mentioned as well as the outlying cities that an above poster mentioned. Thanks!