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Help help, how do I Moving to the DC Area
Ballman
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
I got a job offer in Bethesda, MD. The wife and I are trying to figure out living arrangements and we have only a small idea what we're doing. What we know can be summed up as:
1) Rent goes up the closer you get to the metro,
2) ...we should live as near to the metro as possible,
3) Landlords/management companies charge extra for EVERYTHING.,
4) Oh god expensive.
It's just the two of us and a small (10 lb.) dog. We expect to live there for 2-4 years. For those of you that know about the DC area, what areas are good for renting apartments? What management companies and/or landlords are reputable or reasonable to deal with? What do we need to know in general about living in this area? What questions should I be asking that I haven't thought of?
Also, fuck moving in its stupid asshole.
1) Rent goes up the closer you get to the metro,
2) ...we should live as near to the metro as possible,
3) Landlords/management companies charge extra for EVERYTHING.,
4) Oh god expensive.
It's just the two of us and a small (10 lb.) dog. We expect to live there for 2-4 years. For those of you that know about the DC area, what areas are good for renting apartments? What management companies and/or landlords are reputable or reasonable to deal with? What do we need to know in general about living in this area? What questions should I be asking that I haven't thought of?
Also, fuck moving in its stupid asshole.
Ballman on
0
Posts
Bethesda is expensive. It does have a metric fuckton of restaurants and shops. It is super family oriented.
You didn't list what you're willing to pay in rent, whether you need to have walkable metro access or what kind of neighborhood you guys want to live in (close to nightlife, quiet, etc...). That would help a lot.
Also, summer is probably the worst time to move here, unfortunately. The weather during the summers blows.
Quiet vs. a good nightlife: Quiet is probably better, but we don't want to be hermits, either.
Regarding the heat: Eh. I've lived in mid-Missouri all my life and the summer heat is miserable. The heat index is 105 right now. Moving will suck, but it is what it is.
Wheaton has areas that aren't very nice to live in depending on your standards.
If you're willing to pay closer to $2,000, then you can definitely find a one bedroom apartment on the Northwestern end of the red line (Friendship Heights, Tenleytown, UDC, Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, maybe DuPont). These are all about 15 minutes from Bethesda (when the metro is working) and very safe neighborhoods. Each has varying degrees of urban-ness and fun nightlife, descending as you get further out. UDC might be the best of both worlds for you if you want quiet but still want to be close to fun.
Do not live in Wheaton. Sketchy areas and a need for transportation other than the metro. Silver Spring is on the other end of the red line from Bethesda. You don't want to deal with that.
Rigorous Scholarship
Good to know. I'd been told by someone else that Silver Spring would be a good area for young people to live, but I agree about the commute.
Do we have a car. Listen to this guy! We have a car for driving to work, a car for the weekends, a car for long trips, and a car just to look at, because hey, midwest.
...
Yeah, my wife and I both have our own cars, but we have considered leaving one with her parents when we move. The job offered to me is right off of the Bethesda metro. I guess we're open to driving, but we were also hoping to get away from it if possible.
We've been assuming all we can afford is an apartment, but we are open to other ideas.
Fair enough. We were hoping to get away from the suburban thing a bit, but you also have to remember that out here you have to drive 20-30 miles for a change of scenery. Everything's a lot more closely packed around DC, so I gather that it might not matter.
@Gork, I'll check into the other areas you mentioned. We're not going to be rolling in the dough, but maybe we can make it work.
Thanks to everyone for the advice. When looking for apartments, it's been really tough to try to identify which management companies would be better to rent from. Does anyone have any pointers for what to look for, avoid, or any particular places to check out? I figure word-of-mouth will be much more reliable than anonymous online reviews.
Its like..under an hour commute.
Sure, we're open to different options. We've kinda/sorta looked at Arlington, because I know this much -->| | about the area (compared to || for most everywhere else).
A big problem we have is that my wife hasn't gotten a job out there yet and so we don't know how far she'll have to commute. Right now I guess a safe bet is just to make sure that we're not too far out on any of the metro lines so that she doesn't have to ride the train forever. I've also explained to her that I don't mind having a long train commute myself, because I can get work done, read, or play a game on the way. It doesn't help us much, though, since we still don't know where she needs to go.
Burleith:
http://www.burleith.org/
North of Burleith is Glover Park.
http://www.gloverparkdc.com/
They're not exactly on Metro, but you can take a bus (which is perfectly safe in this neighborhood) up to the Metro stations on the Redline and/or take a bus up Wisconsin Avenue to Bethesda. Both areas are quite safe (they're basically Georgetown North). And the beauty of the location is that it's convenient to commute to jobs in Maryland, DC and NoVa. You mentioned that your wife doesn't have a job yet. If you end up living in Rockville and she ends up with a job in DC or NoVa, she could be in for a painful commute if she has to drive to work.
And if you haven't seen it already, this map is very useful:
http://www.wmata.com/rail/maps/map.cfm
And you should consider Arlington in the Ballston to Rosslyn corridor on the orange/blue line. It's an hour tops to Bethesda through Metro Center, and the area is full of apartment-dwelling younger folks. Pleny of bars, restaurants etc. Darkewolfe lives at Rosslyn (iirc) and I used to live by Courthouse Metro.
Rigorous Scholarship
How do you feel about commutes? I really, really hate commutes. If you live in arlington and work a 9-5, your commute is going to be a little under an hour normally, and once or twice a month it'll be two hours because *DC TRAFFIC*. Additionally, if you're west of DC on the orange line, you won't be able to read or play a game as easily, because the train gets tokyo-style packed during rush hour to the point that it's difficult to even read a book through all the Arlington stops.
My office is in Fairfax, and every so often I have to commute to the Maryland side of the river for work-related shenanigans. All I can say is, that drive will always and forever be a crap shoot. 495 is a tricky creature; sometimes the drive goes fine, other times something happens and 495/66 get all jacked up to hell and back, and takes easily over an hour.
That being said, it's really the only option people have available. And commuting from NOVA to Rockville and vice versa isn't TOO terrible; my girlfriend does it every day. Probably takes anywhere from an hour to an hour and a half depending on traffic most days. Two if 495S is backed up to 270. Just avoid Tysons.