What city neighborhood for rental?

[Anonymous]

Moving to the area and could use some advice on good neighborhoods to rent in within the city, with easy Metro access to jobs near Farragut Station and the Pentagon.

We’re interested in a row house or townhouse with 3-4 bedrooms for under $5K/month. Capitol Hill? Downtown/Verizon Center? Waterfront?

How far in advance should we (can we) apartment hunt before our move date? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

do you have kids? how old are they? do you want to send them to public school? How important is the average performance/racial and economic diversity of the school to you?

Also, do you have pets? what sort of things do you do for fun (baseball? basketball/hockey? movies? restaurants? parks? museums? hang out at home?)? Would you rather live in a home built very recently, in the 20th century, or before that?

In terms of when to look, I imagine that Craigslist starts posting things a month or two in advance and realtors will have stuff sooner.

[Anonymous]

Not sure if you're open to NOVA but Fairlington has townhomes well within your budget. It is VERY family friendly, they have several pools, they were the original homes built for the builders of the Pentagon. You can take an express bus to the Pentagon so while it's not Metro friendly it's very commuter friendly- the bus goes straight to the pentagon on the HOV. It's right by Shirlington which has restaurants, a grocery store, cute little area. Around Fairlington there are several other areas that would fit your bill.

[Anonymous]

why would you pay 5k to rent. Sounds stupid as fuck I would buy for that price.

[Anonymous]

not everyone wants to buy right away. People come on temporary assignments, want to learn about the area, may be applying to charter schools then moving near the one they get into, etc.

You should be able to afford a nice townhouse in any of the areas you mentioned for under $5k a month, except there aren't many townhouses downtown or near the Verizon Center (if you do look, search for Mt. Vernon Square and Shaw, a little north and east). I'd guess a realtor or an MLS website have more places than are listed on craigslist in that price/size range. Although I just looked and found http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/apa/3836733323.html which looks nice. There are probably houses in Petworth, too.

[Anonymous]

OP has $5K per month, she doesn't have to live in Petworth.

[Anonymous]

Somewhere on the blue line. Capitol Hill near Eastern Market or the Capitol South metro would be nice locations and definitely within your price range (I would say 3BR rentals in this neighborhood are about $3500, but can range higher).

For Capitol Hill, I think most of the rentals on CL are available for lease the month prior to move in and usually not much before that. John C. Formant has some Capitol Hill rentals on their website also.

[Anonymous]

U Street neighborhood is a fun area with great restaurants. You didn't mention school-aged children, and most of us go charter or private. Yellow line straight shot to the Pentagon, and walk or metro to Farragut.

[Anonymous]

Thanks all. No kids (yet) or pets, so schools/dog parks are not anything we need to consider in a neighborhood. We'd like to stay within the city so we're close to our jobs, nightlife and the like. We'll be renting as we'll be on a temporary 2-year assignment. Hopefully it will be extended and we can stay in the city, but for now it will be financially safer to rent.

I'm a little concerned about the short rental window, if inventory doesn't typically come on the rental market until one or two months in advance. We'd like to locate a rental specialist to help coordinate showings, as we'll be trying to see units in one or two recon trips from the west coast, and likely finalizing things from afar. Welcome any suggestions on that front, as well.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all. No kids (yet) or pets, so schools/dog parks are not anything we need to consider in a neighborhood. We'd like to stay within the city so we're close to our jobs, nightlife and the like. We'll be renting as we'll be on a temporary 2-year assignment. Hopefully it will be extended and we can stay in the city, but for now it will be financially safer to rent.

I'm a little concerned about the short rental window, if inventory doesn't typically come on the rental market until one or two months in advance. We'd like to locate a rental specialist to help coordinate showings, as we'll be trying to see units in one or two recon trips from the west coast, and likely finalizing things from afar. Welcome any suggestions on that front, as well.

Thank you.

If you're looking to be close to nightlife, you're probably more interested in living in parts of NW DC (Dupont Circle, Columbia Heights, Logan Circle), but these will not necessarily be convenient in terms of locating both of you on a Metro line to get to work. I am the poster who recommended parts of Capitol Hill, but the hill is really more family-centered. H Street does have nightlife, but it's not super-close to the parts of the hill that are close to the two blue line stations.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks all. No kids (yet) or pets, so schools/dog parks are not anything we need to consider in a neighborhood. We'd like to stay within the city so we're close to our jobs, nightlife and the like. We'll be renting as we'll be on a temporary 2-year assignment. Hopefully it will be extended and we can stay in the city, but for now it will be financially safer to rent.

I'm a little concerned about the short rental window, if inventory doesn't typically come on the rental market until one or two months in advance. We'd like to locate a rental specialist to help coordinate showings, as we'll be trying to see units in one or two recon trips from the west coast, and likely finalizing things from afar. Welcome any suggestions on that front, as well.

Thank you.

If you're looking to be close to nightlife, you're probably more interested in living in parts of NW DC (Dupont Circle, Columbia Heights, Logan Circle), but these will not necessarily be convenient in terms of locating both of you on a Metro line to get to work. I am the poster who recommended parts of Capitol Hill, but the hill is really more family-centered. H Street does have nightlife, but it's not super-close to the parts of the hill that are close to the two blue line stations.

Try West End, Foggy bottom metro stop, if you want easy metro rides without connections to your both jobs. You can walk to Dupont and Gtown easily and river trails and even downtown or Logan, it's a small city, totally walkable, plus there are cabs.

[Anonymous]

U Street, Columbia Heights, or Logan Circle (try to stay closer to U Street metro). Yellow line stops at U Street and Columbia Heights during rush hour and goes right from to the Pentagon. You can take the 14th or 16th street bus down to K Street (Farragut), or walk.

[Anonymous]

I would rent at 2500 and save the rest, 5k on rent is a waste and idiotic

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would rent at 2500 and save the rest, 5k on rent is a waste and idiotic

Yes, hill recommender here again. I assumed OP had kids since s/he was looking for 3-4 bedrooms. I really do not understand the need for a huge house in the city with no kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would rent at 2500 and save the rest, 5k on rent is a waste and idiotic

Yes, hill recommender here again. I assumed OP had kids since s/he was looking for 3-4 bedrooms. I really do not understand the need for a huge house in the city with no kids.

It is not uncommon for individuals who have family abroad to host them for a month at a time and want some private space for them.

Or maybe they need a home office

Either way - it is their choice. Let them spend their money the way the want to