Anonymous
Post 05/24/2016 12:39     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
Anonymous wrote:She should live at home initially and make sure the job works out. She should save as much as she can while living at home, and see if she can find a good roommate situation that is ideally $1k or less total.


Good advice
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 21:39     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:My fellow DCUmers, please put yourself back in the mindset of a recent college grad. She wants to live with her friends in Ballston. Go out to happy hours. Go to the Clarendon Ballroom or wherever the kids go nowadays. Meet boys and make poor decisions after the Clarendon Ballroom or wherever the kids go nowadays closes. When you are 23, social life/boys are the priority. Not a short commute to work.

I remember looking at apartments in that area with friends in 2000ish when I was young, and it was $700ish/person for 3 of us, so I assume $1100 for 3 people in 2016 is a normal price. Yes, doing the quick mental math, her rent will be almost 1/2 of her take home pay, after taxes and deductions and retirement, but if she has no student loans or car payment, it is absolutely doable for a 23 year old.

My only advice for her, other than to enjoy being young and living somewhere fun, is to drive to work. I would rather take the GW Parkway to 495 to 270 to Ballston than deal with metro.


OP here. Sorry, just came back to reread everything posted. So location is really not going to change - Rockville is not an option. She's either going to live with our parents or live in Arlington where she knows people (not necessarily at THIS house but this is what she has available now). She has anxiety and she will never survive moving to MD where she knows no one to start a new job, new lifestyle, on her own. This is a completely separate topic for another day.

I'm just curious about the cost. This is actually the cheapest she has found among friends of hers - they're all around $1300/1400. It just feels like a LOT to me but that's because I compare it to the apt DH and I shared post-college that was $700/mo and huge... but that was in 2003.

The commuting issue - just tonight I was talking to her about how she should think about driving. Google says to take GW Pkwy, 495, 270. Not sure how bad GW Pkwy is as we don't live near there.


OP, DH and I are 27 and pay $1100/month in rent for a one bedroom in Old Town Alexandria, there are definitely cheaper apartments to be found.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 21:33     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
OP she needs to suck it up and move to MD. Seriously. She's an adult, she needs to act like one.

In Arlington she can absolutely drive to Rockville. In the AM it won't be so bad, but the evening will be worse. Maybe they will allow an alternate schedule like her arriving around 7:30am, leaving at 4pm. She would have to talk to management, which may make her uncomfortable.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 21:28     Subject: Re:Can my sister afford this apartment?
It isn't a good enough deal for the commute. She needs to live closer to her job. I get she may not want to live in Rockville but there has to be a better option than Clarendon to Rockville. Somewhere that's at least a straight shot in the metro.

Also can she get rid of her car?? I'm assuming that rent in Clarendon doesn't include parking.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 21:22     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
She should live at home initially and make sure the job works out. She should save as much as she can while living at home, and see if she can find a good roommate situation that is ideally $1k or less total.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 20:43     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
When I made $42k, I had a $1100 mortgage and $300 in utilities and it wasn't too bad. So she will probably be ok.

Commuting wise, I used to commute from Ballston to Bethesda. It wasn't terrible but it wasn't great. And with the upcoming metro delays, that could be a long commute.

If her friends like going out in Arlington, Ballston is a good place to live. But she might want to try to find a room in Bethesda if they tend to go out in DC.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 20:42     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
the beltway in the afternoon will be the worst part. I live south of old town and work in Rockville. I do the drive 2 days a week, down from 5 days for the past 5-10 years. how long are your parents willing/able to subsidize her living expenses? I have a younger sister with similar issues and she's in a shit-load of consumer debt because my parents couldn't/wouldn't keep paying her phone, car insurance, health insurance. My sister lived above her means and is now faced with $100K worth of debt at 30 years old and no career. I would advise her to stay at your parent house for now. She might decide she can't handle the commute/ Arlington will be a little better than Aldie, but she has no costs in Aldie.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 20:10     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
Anonymous wrote:Do a trial drive with her this weekend. I would stay at your parents and save money at that point.


A trial drive on the weekends is going to be very very different than rush hour. If the choices are south riding and arlington, absolutely arlington. But I would look in Bethesda.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 20:01     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
Do a trial drive with her this weekend. I would stay at your parents and save money at that point.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 19:59     Subject: Re:Can my sister afford this apartment?
Anonymous wrote:How much longer is it from your parents house?

There will always be another apartment.



Problem is, she starts her new job in two weeks. Parents live past South Riding (just mentioned SR because people seem to know where that is) - actually in Aldie, so 38 miles from said job, or nearly an hour with no traffic.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 19:53     Subject: Re:Can my sister afford this apartment?
How much longer is it from your parents house?

There will always be another apartment.

Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 19:50     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
Anonymous wrote:My fellow DCUmers, please put yourself back in the mindset of a recent college grad. She wants to live with her friends in Ballston. Go out to happy hours. Go to the Clarendon Ballroom or wherever the kids go nowadays. Meet boys and make poor decisions after the Clarendon Ballroom or wherever the kids go nowadays closes. When you are 23, social life/boys are the priority. Not a short commute to work.

I remember looking at apartments in that area with friends in 2000ish when I was young, and it was $700ish/person for 3 of us, so I assume $1100 for 3 people in 2016 is a normal price. Yes, doing the quick mental math, her rent will be almost 1/2 of her take home pay, after taxes and deductions and retirement, but if she has no student loans or car payment, it is absolutely doable for a 23 year old.

My only advice for her, other than to enjoy being young and living somewhere fun, is to drive to work. I would rather take the GW Parkway to 495 to 270 to Ballston than deal with metro.


OP here. Sorry, just came back to reread everything posted. So location is really not going to change - Rockville is not an option. She's either going to live with our parents or live in Arlington where she knows people (not necessarily at THIS house but this is what she has available now). She has anxiety and she will never survive moving to MD where she knows no one to start a new job, new lifestyle, on her own. This is a completely separate topic for another day.

I'm just curious about the cost. This is actually the cheapest she has found among friends of hers - they're all around $1300/1400. It just feels like a LOT to me but that's because I compare it to the apt DH and I shared post-college that was $700/mo and huge... but that was in 2003.

The commuting issue - just tonight I was talking to her about how she should think about driving. Google says to take GW Pkwy, 495, 270. Not sure how bad GW Pkwy is as we don't live near there.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 17:31     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
No, it will be another $200/month for metro. Tell her to move to a share in Rockville. Time to put on the big girl panties.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 17:12     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
Anonymous wrote:My fellow DCUmers, please put yourself back in the mindset of a recent college grad. She wants to live with her friends in Ballston. Go out to happy hours. Go to the Clarendon Ballroom or wherever the kids go nowadays. Meet boys and make poor decisions after the Clarendon Ballroom or wherever the kids go nowadays closes. When you are 23, social life/boys are the priority. Not a short commute to work.

I remember looking at apartments in that area with friends in 2000ish when I was young, and it was $700ish/person for 3 of us, so I assume $1100 for 3 people in 2016 is a normal price. Yes, doing the quick mental math, her rent will be almost 1/2 of her take home pay, after taxes and deductions and retirement, but if she has no student loans or car payment, it is absolutely doable for a 23 year old.

My only advice for her, other than to enjoy being young and living somewhere fun, is to drive to work. I would rather take the GW Parkway to 495 to 270 to Ballston than deal with metro.


There are plenty of places to go out in Rockville. She can make new friends. I did this type of commute when I was out of grad school (lived in DC and worked in Sterling, VA). I drove and paid for tolls. It was soul sucking and I was missing out on happy hours anyway because of my long commute. I didn't start saving for my retirement until 30+ because I thought I was too "poor". In reality, I was not too poor, just spending way too much money to live in an expensive city and racking up consumer debt instead of saving. My peers at 30-35 are buying homes and starting families and I'm wishing I would have not spent so much foolish $ because I thought I "needed" to live in DC. I get what you are saying, but if I were the older sister, I would encourage her to look for housing closer to work, or at the very least, keep living with mom and dad for a while to see if the job actually works out.
Anonymous
Post 05/23/2016 17:06     Subject: Can my sister afford this apartment?
Her sanity can't afford that commute, especially not at that price. No way.