Washington, DC and Maryland suburbs

[annieca]

@kayrabbit -

 

I did end up with Franklin Park. Their maintenance people are spot on - really quite impressive! I'm in one of the renovated ones so my kitchen and bathroom are really nice. What I was most impressed with (besides the shuttle/bus/metro service) was just how big the living and dining areas are in the two bedroom apartments.

 

If anyone is curious about Franklin Park or the surrounding Greenbelt area, let me know!

[ohmyohme]

Hey guys!

 

Anyone recently accepted to schools in the DC area starting fall 14? Have any new information on neighborhoods and apartments and such?

 

So excited!

[Thompson]

5 year DC resident here (about to leave for grad school). Three tips for finding relatively cheap rent in a good place to live:

1. Push the neighborhood envelope. People are still afraid to live in areas that are rapidly gentrifying. Bloomingdale, H Street, NoMa, Shaw, SW Waterfront, parts of Anacostia, etc are great places to live and hang out, and rents haven't yet gone crazy. Lots of old buildings which work well for roommates.

2. Take the bus. Pretty much anything that is a 5 minute walk from a metro will be expensive, but buses run all over the place, are cheaper than the metro, and are often overlooked.

3. DC is a very small town. Everything is close to everything. I walk everywhere when the weather is nice.

Feel free to ask here or PM me with any questions. I live this town, and am happy to help.

[soapeater]

Hey folks. 

 

I've been accepted to the University of Maryland College Park for fall 2014. I'm seriously considering attending, if the funding is right.

 

I was born and raised in Alabama and am used to a very low cost of living and virtually no access to public transit. 

 

I'm going for an open house visit on March 28th and besides visiting the school, I'd like to check out the surrounding area for possible places to live.

 

I've looked through this post and read all of the helpful tips but I'd like to have some actual names of apartment complexes or streets that I should visit while in the area. 

 

Thanks in advance for the help. Hopefully i'm not the only one who could benefit from some inside information. 

[flm0003]

So you may be able to find a reasonably priced apartment in a transitioning neighborhood of DC.  Otherwise, your best bets are probably in one of these neighborhoods: College Park, Greenbelt, Adelphi, Berwyn Heights, Riverdale.  None of these neighborhoods are great, but they are a fine place for a college student to crash.  I would recommend a complex, but the ones I've been to aren't worth your time.  I've heard that Greenbelt proper (look for Greenbelt in Google Maps, it's just east of Buddy Attick lake) is the nicest neighborhood in the area, with apartments available from owners of the historic houses there.  Points of advice:

 

Check apartmentratings.com - the reviews there are reasonably accurate. I've used them to make renting decisions before and have left reviews there.

Check Craigslist for apartments in houses (this is the best value, and potentially the most enjoyable experience).

Make sure you're near a ShuttleUM stop.  This would be preferable to the DC Metro Bus.

 

[GreenePony]

I've heard that Greenbelt proper (look for Greenbelt in Google Maps, it's just east of Buddy Attick lake) is the nicest neighborhood in the area, with apartments available from owners of the historic houses there.

My last internship supervisor and the other intern both lived near the Roosevelt Center (downtown Greenbelt) and loved it. They took me to lunch at New Deal Cafe, it's a neat area. It was built as a model town during the depression (thus New Deal) and the houses in the area at built on 3/4 scale. They kept talking about the fantastic community center classes too. I'm not sure what rental prices are like now- my supervisor moved out towards National Harbor for cheaper houses maybe 6-8 years ago (buying, not renting.)

http://www.greenbeltdirectory.com/roosevelt.html

[Intellectual_Lensings]

Hi all my fiancee and I were just accepted to schools in D.C. and are looking for places to stay (visiting this week, probably still searching beyond that). Any recommendations? Safety is a priority (as I think it would be with most people). We have a car, but are happy to take the metro (and would probably prefer to). Any tips would be wonderful. Thanks!

[hj2012]

Are you looking at hotels to stay in for a week, or recommendations for housing areas? Which school(s) will you be attending and what's your budget?

Congrats to you both.

[Intellectual_Lensings]

Sorry for the ambiguity, we're looking for recommendations on housing areas. We already picked out a hotel - we're only staying for a day, though. Limited time.

 

She has free tuition and a 10,000$ stipend. I doubt i'll get anything really. I'll likely work while going to school, probably not making much unless I get lucky with a good find. Parents may support us some. She's in Georgetown, I'm waiting to hear from George Washington and have another school nearby.

[hj2012]

Oops! My misunderstanding.

Gtown isn't very accessible by metro, unfortunately, and you probably wouldn't want to drive in every day. I dated a guy who lived in Arlington while he was doing his masters at SFS, and there was a reliable shuttle operated by the university that he took to get to class. If you google Georgetown Shuttle Service I'm sure it'll come up. I'd take a look at the routes and perhaps think of choosing an apartment complex close to one of the shuttle stops that also offers accessibility to GW. Don't discount bus routes in DC, either, as they can be incredibly useful considering the limitations of the metro system. You could likely get an apartment close to GW that also has a bus or shuttle route to Georgetown.

Rent is pretty high in the DC area, but if you can share a one bedroom it'll be much more affordable. Lots of young professionals live in the Dupont Circle area or along the U Street corridor. Lots of great food, cool bars, etc.

[Gov2School]

Sorry for the ambiguity, we're looking for recommendations on housing areas. We already picked out a hotel - we're only staying for a day, though. Limited time.

 

She has free tuition and a 10,000$ stipend. I doubt i'll get anything really. I'll likely work while going to school, probably not making much unless I get lucky with a good find. Parents may support us some. She's in Georgetown, I'm waiting to hear from George Washington and have another school nearby.

 

It's an irony that the places closest to universities in DC are some of the most expensive places to live (i.e. Georgetown and the West End around GW), and also not really the best places to live for graduate students.  Georgetown doesn't offer much in the area of lower-cost restaurants or upper-20s nightlife, and the West End has the same problem.  So don't be afraid to look farther afield.  DC is not a large place, you can get point to point in most places within 30 minutes if you know how to travel.  And, as I think someone else mentioned, don't be chained to metro stations. DC's buses are pretty easy to navigate (especially if you get the NextBus iPhone app).  If you're considering a place, go to the WMATA website and enter it and your university into the trip planner to get a sense of your commute (make sure to select Bus OR Metro as your trip planner option).  In terms of safety, I wouldn't give too much credence to people who say "X neighborhood is dangerous/sketchy", they tend to be people who don't really live there.  DC overall is a pretty safe city, despite it's reputation, and as neighborhoods gentrify, it's not a monolithic thing.  You might love one block and dislike the next, but you have to visit each individually to really know. 

 

The Columbia Heights/Mt Pleasant/U Street/14th Street area is a fun part of town to live in, very hipster, and you can still find some good bargains in areas of Mt Pleasant and Columbia Heights.  U Street/14th Street is getting pretty expensive and Dupont and Logan Circle are two of the most expensive parts of town, but if you share a 1 bedroom you can sometimes find affordability (In DC, cheap is defined as $1000 per month per person or less).  Adams Morgan is also quite nice though also pretty expensive. Petworth, Bloomingdale, and Ledroit Park are also good neighborhoods with more to offer all the time.  A little less established than U Street/14th Street, so you can find some good bargains and since they're not as dense you may be able to find a place with off street parking (ideal if you plan to bring a car). 

 

Capital Hill is lovely, maybe not as "hip" as other neighborhoods, but very beautiful, great parks, good restaurants, access to metro and bus public transportation. It's easy to get to U Street or Dupont from the Hill by bus, plus the H street area is a great up and coming hip neighborhood.   And rents on the Hill seem to be slightly cheaper than in other parts of town. 

 

If the idea of living in a large, new apartment condo building appeals (as in you want a door person/secured entry/in house gym etc), check out Navy Yard or Waterfront.  Navy Yard is all high rise buildings now, most of them are pretty expensive but also pretty nice.  They have roofdecks and some of them have rooftop pools.  The problem with the big new buildings is that rents tend to go up year after year and there can be a lot of hidden fees (including moving fees, fees to pay your rent, amenity fees, etc). 

 

I don't spend that much time in the "red line" areas (Glover Park, Friendship Heights, NOMA, Rhode Island Ave, etc.), but there are good places there as well. And if you want to check out the Virginia suburbs, Georgetown runs a shuttle bus from the Roslyn metro station to campus (Roslyn is ironically closer to Georgetown than the Foggy Bottom stop in DC).  You could also live in the Maryland suburbs like Takoma Park or Silver Spring and take the Red Line to Dupont and catch the Georgetown shuttle from there.  Keep in mind though, the Red Line is notoriously the least reliable of all the metro lines (it's the oldest and can be problematic).  Again, just check out your commute and try to decide how much time you want to spend getting places.  I'd strongly recommend looking for a place where you can commute by public transportation. Both parking and traffic in DC are terrible.  I've lived here for years and never owned a car, I mostly use metro, bus, Car2Go, or Uber to get around.   

 

One tip: when you visit apartments, ask where people do their grocery shopping.  Finding a good grocery store in DC can be a challenge, and any place that's close to a new or newly renovated grocery will be a bonus.  

Edited March 12, 2014 by Gov2School

[GreenePony]

One tip: when you visit apartments, ask where people do their grocery shopping.  Finding a good grocery store in DC can be a challenge, and any place that's close to a new or newly renovated grocery will be a bonus.  

I would also visit that store or ask people's opinion about it. Some of my cohort live near a DC Harris Teeter that only has produce one day a week (that food desert people talk about? It can be very real)

[ShilpaG]

Hello Everyone !

 

I have enrolled myself in GWU at MISPH in the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Department. I hope I made the right decision with GW where I havn't received any financial assistance yet.Preparing for my I-20 and later visa application in India. I plan to be in DC, by July end and is looking for housing and mates.

 

Feedback is welcome.

[pure titanium]

D will be graduating from GW in May so her place will be available mid June or July 1. She has a GREAT location right in Foggy Bottom behind the hospital and it is a great deal for the area, but it is still pricy by my standards as she is alone in a studio-$1550. Many of the other units in her building go for 1600-2400. Her place is small but good enough for one person or a married couple. It is safe and convenient to GW- 2min, FB Metro stop 2 min, Georgetown shopping -5min, Dupont Circle 8 min, White House-10 min. etc.

 

In DC the best way to find a place is Craigslist. If you see something of interest, you need to move quickly as things are gone in one or two days. You can set it so you can try to find a roommate. Some of the buildings allow renters to divide units with temporary walls that look permanent. It is worth it if you are going to be there a while or if you can find someone that has already done it and is looking for someone to take over one of the units. Then you might get a place in that area for ~900-1k a month. The first year D lived in Chrystal City for 1K along with 2 others. It was far from everyone so I would not rx that. There are places in Arlington just over the river that are also busy young areas, but I am not sure it is much cheaper if at all. 

 

Keep in mind that DC subways charge by how far you go and what time of day it is.

Edited March 25, 2014 by pure titanium

[CatInTheBox]

Hi all,

 

I recently accepted an offer at UMD, and would like to get some tips on where to live. I'll be moving with my fiance, and would like to find a 1 bedroom apartment for somewhere around $1500 per month. (We could potentially even do a studio.) I will likely not have a car, so a location near a metro station or close enough to take the UMD shuttle is a must. I've heard Silver Spring is pretty nice, and there is a metro station right downtown. I was looking at some of the complexes around there. Does anyone have any recommendations for complexes in Silver Spring, or ideas of other areas that would be nice to live in? I'd like a more urban environment, with things to do nearby. Being near a metro station, instead of the UMD shuttle, is also a plus, since my fiance would prefer to avoid driving as well, if possible.

 

Thanks!

[higheredphdapp]

Hi all,

 

I recently accepted an offer at UMD, and would like to get some tips on where to live. I'll be moving with my fiance, and would like to find a 1 bedroom apartment for somewhere around $1500 per month. (We could potentially even do a studio.) I will likely not have a car, so a location near a metro station or close enough to take the UMD shuttle is a must. I've heard Silver Spring is pretty nice, and there is a metro station right downtown. I was looking at some of the complexes around there. Does anyone have any recommendations for complexes in Silver Spring, or ideas of other areas that would be nice to live in? I'd like a more urban environment, with things to do nearby. Being near a metro station, instead of the UMD shuttle, is also a plus, since my fiance would prefer to avoid driving as well, if possible.

 

Thanks!

Getting a one-bedroom int he district near a metro for $1500 is almost impossible. You could try Petworth, but you should be ready for a somewhat gritty experience if you stray too far from the metro. You can certainly get a studio for 1500 in columbia heights, shaw, or near mt vernon square; you might even be able to get a somewhat shabby junior one bedroom. If you're looking for an urban living environment that won't require a car, shaw and mt vernon square might be your best bet. These areas are close to all the busy entertainment areas of the city, and very easy to get downtown. This is actually where I live currently and I used to walk to my office downtown, and now I have a fairly easy commute on the metro out to my new office in virginia. Silver spring can be a bit sterile and suburban, if you want urban you should definitely move into the district. You could also check out bloomingdale and ledroit park (these are small neighborhoods just north of shaw).

[tinkerbell]

On 4/10/2014 at 3:27 PM, CatInTheBox said:

Hi all,

 

I recently accepted an offer at UMD, and would like to get some tips on where to live. I'll be moving with my fiance, and would like to find a 1 bedroom apartment for somewhere around $1500 per month. (We could potentially even do a studio.) I will likely not have a car, so a location near a metro station or close enough to take the UMD shuttle is a must. I've heard Silver Spring is pretty nice, and there is a metro station right downtown. I was looking at some of the complexes around there. Does anyone have any recommendations for complexes in Silver Spring, or ideas of other areas that would be nice to live in? I'd like a more urban environment, with things to do nearby. Being near a metro station, instead of the UMD shuttle, is also a plus, since my fiance would prefer to avoid driving as well, if possible.

 

Thanks!

 

University Club at College Park is a good option, and its1 Bdr option seems to work with your budget. I asked a friend of mine to go for a tour visit on my behalf and he was pretty impressed with the amenities and building. The photos he sent me looked pretty much the same that those of their website.

 

Good luck!

 

 

[ecm07e]

I would say look in Northern Virginia near the Metro stops. I currently live in NW (Van Ness Metro Stop) and my studio was 1490 unfurnished and not including electricity and cable. I pay 1690 for a 1BA/1BR unfurnished and not including cable.

 

[Tatty]

Cool guide was in the Washington Post for interns but it has some good tips for students.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/going-out-guide/wp/2014/06/05/the-interns-guide-to-summer-in-washington/

[dragontoes]

I went to graduate school in UMD-CP and still work in the area.  I lived at grad hills while I was at school because I didn't have a car and because at the time I was working two jobs on campus and needed a short commute.  We had several break-ins in grad hills while I was there, as well as muggings. If you don't have a car, the shuttle and metro system are stellar and you will do just fine, but I used to try and get myself home before midnight because ... see previous sentence. I had the honor of being there for the one-homicide-a-day streak. 

 

Yes it is less safe than other neighborhoods in the area, but name one urban(ish) university town that is 'safe'.  The nature of housing around universities tends to run on the cheap end, which tends to attract residents of lower socio-economic and transient backgrounds.  Lower household earnings are correlated with (not causal of) higher crime rates.

 

My tongue in cheek advice would be that, in general, the closer you are to Langley Park, the earlier you should try to get home.  Hyattsville has recently undergone a rejuvenation of sorts and is actually quite nice (in a transposed yuppy townhouses sort of way).  

 

All of that being said, as soon as I got a car, I moved to Silver Spring and absolutely love it here.  My reasons are as follows:

- No more college students

- Nicer amenities in apartments with landlords being more responsive because it's not a college town where they can find 50 other people to replace you in a heartbeat

- Fantastic downtown area

- Always in the opposite flow on traffic on the beltway

- Free shuttle to campus

- New library and new transit center under construction

- Red line trains run every 2-4 minutes going into the DC in the morning (you have to go into DC to switch over to the green line into CP)

- Residents tend to be young and many of them go to UMD so finding roommates in the same boat as you shouldn't be a problem

- 16th st buses drop you 1 block away from the white house (straight shot down)

- Big real estate boom just before the bubble burst means you can now rent homes that were supposed to sell as luxury condos for relatively cheap

- I have parking and don't have to worry about street parking

 

Downsides to silver spring:

- The apartments tend to have higher income requirement thresholds, so if you are 2-3 students with no/bad credit and GA/TAships, you may not get approved

- Our apartment's waiting list was 3 months (I think that was because we moved in just before fall semester started)

- A bit pricier

- Foot traffic around the discovery building can be rage inducing during rush hour

- Red line on the weekends consistently SUCKS

- Georgia Avenue traffic

- Speed cameras

- Not a lot of late night attractions (I know of two bars)

 

Hope this helps!

[RCtheSS]

I recently relocated from Florida to Hyattsville, MD for work in DC. There are some newer apartment complexes that are right along MD 410: Post Park, Mosaic, 3350 at Alterra. The communities are a mix of young professionals, families, and seniors. A 2 bed/2bath goes between $1650 - $2100 between these three communities. Also, the PG Plaza metro station is a short walk from each of these places and is one stop away from College Park.

[gubidal092]

I used this thread as a reference before moving to DC two years ago (ack! that long ago?), and was kind of dismayed at how short it is compared to the other city guides. I can only really speak to my experience as a Georgetown grad student, so take my experience/advice for what it is. 

 

The base price of anything you can rent it around $1000. For a room and a (shared) bathroom. That is not to say that you cannot find things cheaper, but if you want a room of your own anywhere feasibly commutable to GU, that's generally around what you'll pay (by commutable, I mean under an hour commute via public transport. There is no parking for grad students at GU). The average price for renting a parking spot (from someone's driveway or a parking garage) is about $150/month. You are likely better off without a car. 

 

My first year I lived in Glover Park, a neighborhood essentially equidistant from American University and Georgetown. It is a beautiful and great place to be (especially for families, I think), and I enjoyed it, but it was less expensive to be in Arlington, VA (though not much less). It is easier to find apartments with parking spaces in Arlington, I find. It is also closer to several highways). Arlington is very popular for grad students and the shuttle is convenient. (It is also close to the metro.) 

 

As far as public transport goes, DC has plenty, but for my own comfort I decided to live only in places easily walkable to my campus (no more than 40 min walk) and ideally where I also have the option of taking my university's free public transport (busses). There do not appear to be any ways of getting a discount on public transport in DC (metro or busses). Even the monthly passes are EXPENSIVE. (student passes are only for students in high school or younger). 

 

I might add more to this later, but figured I would start by posting this.

[elijahbaley]

So, how about sports facilities? Does the university or the city have facilities for sports for recreational purposes? I have recently started playing tennis and would love to continue when I join UMCP in Fall'15.

[elijahbaley]

Most of the posts on these threads here seem to focus only on house rents. Can some people write about how much other expenses contribute to the cost of living? And what approximately is the average monthly expenditure. I will be attending UMCP from August 2015 and have been offered a stipend of about $30k before taxes for the first year. Everyone seems to be saying that Maryland is expensive. Considering this I want to know whether the stipend would be sufficient and whether I can may be start a small savings plan on this?

[thissiteispoison]

So, how about sports facilities? Does the university or the city have facilities for sports for recreational purposes? I have recently started playing tennis and would love to continue when I join UMCP in Fall'15.

 

There are tennis courts outdoors on the university premise. There is also a tennis club. Anyone can join the club. They probably compete.

 

For sports, Maryland is a great place to go. The only thing they really need that they don't have is an indoor track (unless you count the 1/10th of a mile one in the gym). The gym is beautiful, the auxiliary gym is still pretty sweet, the pool is amazing, and there are tennis courts and fields all over campus. I was an NCAA athlete at Maryland and the facilities were sweet (granted, some of what I had access to was only available to athletes, but most of what I just mentioned is open to all students). 

 

DC is expensive, but College Park itself is really cheap. Like you can get a really good $5 meal if you know where to look. Rent is a little overpriced for the area but way better than most major cities. You can definitely get by on $30K/year in College Park; my sister got by on that much in DC, and DC is like twice as expensive as College Park.