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I just graduated from undergrad and will be moving to DC in the beginning of July for work. I will be working in McLean, VA, but I'm looking to live in/near DC. One of my friends is also moving to DC, so we will be looking for a 2 bedroom place. I have lived in Michigan for nearly my whole life and have only visited DC a few times, and my roommate is not familiar with the city either. Therefore, I'm hoping some of you can help me out with suggestions for where to live. We would like to live near people of our age (young to mid twenties) and be close to restaurants, nightlife, etc. I would like to be near a metro stop as well so we can easily get around the city, but I will have a car for commuting to work.
Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!
Location: the wrong side of the tracks Richmond, VA
585 posts, read 2,016,336 times
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You left out the most important detail: how much are you willing to spend?
Also, I assume since you'll have a car you need a parking space? That's going to be hard - do you absolutely need the car?
And by Michigan, do you mean the Detroit slums or the UP? It would help to know how comfortable you are with shady characters. You might not have a choice depending on budget.
You left out the most important detail: how much are you willing to spend?
Our budget is around $2000-$3000/month total, sorry about that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by killabunnies
Also, I assume since you'll have a car you need a parking space? That's going to be hard - do you absolutely need the car?
Well I know it's easy getting around DC on public transit, but how hard is it to get from DC to McLean on public transit? Do they have lines running out that far? If it's easy enough to get from where I live to where I work, then I would be fine leaving the car in Michigan at my parents' place to avoid the hassle and costs.
Quote:
Originally Posted by killabunnies
And by Michigan, do you mean the Detroit slums or the UP? It would help to know how comfortable you are with shady characters. You might not have a choice depending on budget.
I grew up in a suburb that borders Detroit and went to a private inner-city high school so I'm familiar with dealing with shady characters, but I'd rather not live in "the hood" or too near those shady characters if possible.
www.wmata.com. Use the trip planner and look at maps under rail and bus. You'd be relying on buses at least part of the way; either rail or bus into Virginia and then bus. You absolutely need to visit the area, and see the place you propose renting, ahead of time. Check the usual ads, maybe Craigslist, contact a property management company (deals with renters), maybe see if the housing offices at local universities (e.g., Marymount in Virginia and American, Georgtown, & George Washington in DC) have apartment rental listings non-students can access.
Consider northern Virginia,; don't wed yourself to DC. What counts most if your day-to-day commute. You can get to DC on evenings and weekends, and for social activities you may hit Arlington (e.g., Ballston, Rosslyn) or Falls Church, etc. as much. It may be easier to get to your particular work location from some affordable areas of Northern Virginia than from DC. If you do end up getting a car, at least it'd be largely a reverse commute from DC, but I do recall crossing the Chain Bridge from DC into McLean occasionally in the morning and finding the traffic heavy (complicated by a couple of roads made one-way during morning and evening rush hours). Enjoy your stay. I worked in DC and commuted from Northwest DC, Rosslyn and Silver Spring. Enjoyed the place.
There are tons of places in DC where you can park on the street easily and for free. For example, Capitol Hill, where I live. The problem with the car is not the parking but that it'll be a pretty hellish commute driving from DC to McLean. This is according to some measures the most traffic-congested area in the country, or at least top five.
The metro does not go out to McLean (at least not yet) so unless you want to be reliant on buses (which I don't recommend, especially in Virginia) you're going to need to drive to work as your most convenient option.
I would agree with Samoi that you should consider living in Northern Virginia just to make your work life less insane. Anywhere in Arlington near a metro stop is the most convenient part of Northern Virginia to get into DC when you want to go there.
Location: the wrong side of the tracks Richmond, VA
585 posts, read 2,016,336 times
Reputation: 794
Quote:
Originally Posted by Samoi137
www.wmata.com. Use thetrip planner. You'd be relying on buses at least part of the way. You absolutely need to visit the area, and see the place you propose renting, ahead of time. Check the usual ads, maybe Craigslist, contact a property management company (deals with rentrs), maybe see if the housing offices at local schools (e.g., American Univ., Georgtown, Marymount) have listings non-students can access.
Consider northern Virginia,; don't wed yourself to DC. What counts most if your day-to-day commute. You can get to DC on evenings and weekends, and for social activities you may hit Arlington, etc. as much. McLean is a well-to-do area that is more easily reachable by public transportation from Arlington, Falls Church, etc., than from DC. If you do end up getting a car, at least it'd be largely a reverse commute.
I agree with this, especially the part about making a trip out here. You guys will probably live a better life in Northern VA and DC is just a quick Metro trip away (plus you're more likely to be able to stick that car somewhere in VA than you are in DC).
At your budget, you have plenty of options but in my mind, it's kind of a miserable existence to see that much of your money flying out the window for rent just to have a DC address - you could probably find something cheaper in a NoVa hood, leaving lots more $$ for weekends and evenings in DC. Chances are you guys can also live a little better for less money.
Also know that when I moved out here from California, my car insurance TRIPLED. I was told by my insurance company that the closer you are to DC, the worse it is (I was in PG County, MD at the time). I managed to find a new company and save a few bucks but it's still way more than I was paying in San Francisco. DC does have Zipcar and the like so if you do need a car for weekend shopping or whatever, you can easily pick one up and do your thing. I realize I'm kind of a hypocrite telling you this since I've kept my car but I also do the reverse commute from DC to near the NSA and don't really have an option, plus by living in the hood I managed to score myself an assigned parking spot, a luxury I couldn't find when I looked at way higher-priced places in NE and NW areas.
I would check out Craigslist to get a good look at what's available and maybe cross post this question in the NoVa forums to see what they say. You guys could always land in VA and make the jump to DC in a year when your lease is up when you have the advantage of knowing the area better and can go visit more places in person - the problem I saw when I was looking to move from the MD suburbs to DC was that a lot of the places listed were too good to be true and turned out to be far exaggerated (e.g. "hardwood floors" = "wood-colored vinyl"). The other problem is that some areas are in transition, some are hideously overpriced, others with bad reputations are surprisingly comfortable but you wouldn't know that unless you actually see them (like my neighborhood which is technically the hoodest of the hood but actually a pretty nice community jam-packed with great amenities most people don't get in this city, much less at my price point).
The commute is the important part. It will suck out your soul. Again, I'm a hypocrite because I could just move closer to my job myself but I have a fantastic apartment and don't want to leave it, plus I have 3 cats and few apt management companies want to rent to a crazy cat lady.
Location: the wrong side of the tracks Richmond, VA
585 posts, read 2,016,336 times
Reputation: 794
Quote:
Originally Posted by cry_havoc
Someone told me Anacostia is up and coming.
Actually if you stopped trolling and knew what you were talking about (trolling is forbidden by the TOS, I remind you, but I'm a troll for a living so I won't snitch on you), you'd realize that there is an incredible opportunity east of the river to capitalize on the inevitable.
Quality units in my hood can be had for under $100k. Unless the federal government collapses in the next five years (seems to have survived this long), you can pretty much guarantee that at some point, savvy real estate developers are going to get the hint and mark this part of town for gentrification.
Personally I hope this area is never up-and-coming, I prefer it as is. Seems to me just glancing at the crime data that there are more random, disturbing crimes taking place in areas of gentrification than the kind of events one can avoid in an area like EOTR simply by not hanging out on the corner at 2 in the morning.
Actually if you stopped trolling and knew what you were talking about (trolling is forbidden by the TOS, I remind you, but I'm a troll for a living so I won't snitch on you), you'd realize that there is an incredible opportunity east of the river to capitalize on the inevitable.
Quality units in my hood can be had for under $100k. Unless the federal government collapses in the next five years (seems to have survived this long), you can pretty much guarantee that at some point, savvy real estate developers are going to get the hint and mark this part of town for gentrification.
Personally I hope this area is never up-and-coming, I prefer it as is. Seems to me just glancing at the crime data that there are more random, disturbing crimes taking place in areas of gentrification than the kind of events one can avoid in an area like EOTR simply by not hanging out on the corner at 2 in the morning.
Any opinions on Arlington? I've spent most of the day on the internet trying to figure out where to live, and a lot of people keep mentioning Arlington, especially the "orange line district." From what I can tell, it seems pretty pricey, but I think I can find a place within our budget. Does anyone know about the nightlife/social scene there? It sounds like it has really exploded recently and is a great place to walk around on the weekend. I like how close it is to the metro so I could go downtown easily. Also, does anyone know how bad/good the commute is from there to McLean? It shows that it's only 20 minutes w/o traffic, but what about on weekdays during rush hour?
Thanks for all the help so far.
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