mid-50

[bostongymjunkie]

I have not done those commutes and can't advise on that. I've lived in both DC and NoVA and, to be honest, I prefer the DC suburbs of MD to both as it's just a different vibe in MD in my opinion. Woodley Park is a nice area however of the places you mentioned I think Cap Hill or the Wharf would be relatively easy commute by car. None of the places mentioned require holing up in your apartment. Plenty around all those places. You seem to be conflicted on what your priorities are for your chosen living situation.

[shaketheground]

Ok, OP here. So I'll probably move in about a month.

Sorry this will be a long post, but after looking at apartment website and reading things about Arlington, some more questions...

1) Have most of the Amazon people moved there, or not yet? Not looking forward to a flood of nerdy 20 and 30 something male computer programmers (perhaps driving rents higher), assuming that is who will be moving there. Or maybe there won't be enough of them ever to be that noticeable, I don't know.
2) I'm ruling out Crystal City/Pentagon City--for the time being, even though it seems closest to L'enfant Plaza, because of its proximity to the Pentagon and Amazon and that it seems to be a bit ugly visually. Does that make sense?
3) I have heard the apartments in Clarendon/Courthouse described as frat houses for people in their 20s and 30s (and I guess the partying that goes on on Clarendon Ave.). Is that an unfair characterization?
4) I saw an article that says women from DC don't want to go to Arlington to date guys. Is there truth to that, and does it maybe apply to the 20s and 30s more than the 40s and 50s?
https://www.arlnow.com/2019/07/25/a-...arlingtonians/
5) Rosslyn seems ok, but I haven't had success finding an available 2 br for less than $4500 there yet. Any ideas for apt. complexes there? And will the vibe be a little different than Clarendon/Courthouse?
6) What about the vibe in Virginia Sq./Ballston? That might be my tentative first choice at the moment.
7) Shirlington 2 brs. seem to cost like $2500 vs. $3500 for the other neighborhoods I mentioned above. Is that because it is not on the metro, because the neighborhood is not nice, or both?
8) Columbia Pike seems even cheaper than Shirlington, but I've heard it isn't very nice. Are there any parts of Columbia Pike that are ok? The standard would be --a place that a middle class or above woman would feel at least ok visiting me at. Also not on the metro.
9) Would Foggy Bottom really be that much worse than Clarendon/Courthouse in terms of people younger than me and partying, etc? It would have the advantage of being on the other side of the river (although I know there are disadvantages to DC vs VA also).

A place on the metro line would be nice to have, but, truthfully, I don't know how much I would take the metro. I can drive to work (in 20 minutes or less I think--except maybe N and NW Arlington--and not sure there's anywhere to rent there) from most places in Arlington. I suppose if someone wanted to visit me and I wasn't on the metro, and they wanted to take the metro, I could pick them up at a metro stop in my car.