How does one recommend finding roommates in DC? I will be moving this coming summer, and although it may be somewhat early to start looking for roommates, im just curious what you all did. From what i was told, DC is pretty expensive so i hear roommates are the best solution
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Most people I know who weren't moving in with friends from undergrad used craigslist. Not sure where you're coming in from, but it's obviously tougher to do this if you don't have anywhere temporarily to stay before you sign for a place. I imagine you'll want to meet the people you live with before you sign. Some people I know have gotten a short-term place on craiglist for a few weeks while they looked, and then signed for a year.
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I'm moving from upstate NY to DC this summer, no idea what I am doing for housing yet. May try to find someone from my school or something, but too far in the future to worry about it. Congrats on the offers guys, looking forward to partying in DC.
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we have a house in college park. I'm pretty sure that my roommates won't be living here this summer. We're 2 blocks from the green line 15 minutes to china town.
Craigslist is definitely the best way to get a feeling for the rental market. It's also the best way to find roommates if you don't have a network of friends living here. If you have the time to scope some places out and meet potential roommates then do not worry about craigslist - this is assuming your first impressions are accurate. DC, has about the same cost of living as chicago, expensive, but not new york expensive.
The most important thing to remember is to live within very close walking distance of a metro stop. Dupont Circle or Capitol Hill/Union Station are probably the best places to live if you're in your twenties, with capitol hill/eastern market being a pretty good deal for your money. Foggy bottom is also pretty good, especially if you work in the central part of the city and want a short walk to work. I don't recommend Georgetown as it doesn't have a metro stop (and because a bunch of idiots live there). Adams Morgan is a good place to go on weekends, but too far a walk to metro to actually live there. Also, living in arlington is decent and they have pretty good happy hours at certain places - you should consider arlington if you will work in rosslyn.
Hope you find this information useful.
Moving to D.C.? Welcome to hell.
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I would advise living in McLean/Vienna/Falls Church (all part of the Tysons Corner area) if you're working in McLean. It's a super easy drive from Tysons (McLean) to Arlington at night when you want to go out. No reason to pay a ridiculous rent premium to be able to walk to the same bar 365 days a year.
If money isn't an object, the single coolest place to live for a 20-something in the DC area is Clarendon (a part of North Arlington). But you're talking about outrageous rent in Clarendon, for the most part. Unless you work on Capitol Hill, I wouldn't live there. No reason to, unless you have several friends who work on Capitol Hill and/or are connected to the scene. It's even more transient there than the DC region as a whole.
All in all, I'd say there is no reason to live in the District if you work in Virginia. Why would you pay the outrageous income and sales taxes to live in DC when you can easily metro down to NW Washington at any time? Also, keep in mind that McLean, VA is absolutely choked with traffic right now. Lights, construction, enormous numbers of jobs = horrendous traffic. Depending on the exact location in McLean, your commute could increase from anywhere to 10-30 minutes just because you have to be on a certain road to get to your office.
I've lived in Tysons Corner now for almost 26 years (I'm almost 26). I can tell you that the secret is to live in or around the City of Falls Church and use the residential roads to drive to work (in McLean) and avoid Route 7 like the plague. This is what I do and I have an 8 minute commute and pay $600/month to live in a fairly nice area. City of Falls Church is very nice, somewhat affordable, adjacent to the West Falls Church Metro, and has easy driving access to virtually anywhere in the region, including Arlington (you can be in Ballston in 12 minutes).
I second VT4 ever...do not live in the District. Not only will your commute suck, you're going to get taxed up the ass.
I'm not quite as familiar with the VA market, but if you're going to need a car anyway, there are plenty of cheaper buildings that aren't as Metro-convenient, and plenty of houses as well where you can live quite cheaply. You can always take a cab into DC on the weekends if you're going out.
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Not a ton of row houses in Arlington. Mostly outrageously expensive apartments OR group houses with modest rent and exorbitant utility costs (because of dated utilities). Old Town Alexandria is definitely nice, but your rent will by high and you'll have a commute during rush hour of easily 45 minutes in the morning and easily 1 hour plus at night. That would be a very unfortunate decision, especially when you can drive to Alexandria anytime you want.
Not sure I agree with you about your assessment of McLean. There's not a more central location in the entire DC area than McLean. Easy access to 2 metro stops (Dunn Loring and West Falls Church) and to Tysons Corner Mall, easy access to 495, 66, Route 7 and the Dulles Toll Road which puts you within 25 minutes of every place that matters--Bethesda, MD, Arlington, Va, Reston Town Center, Dulles Town Center, Georgetown, Fairfax, etc. Living in Reston? Ridiculous drive anywhere. Living in Arlington? Ridiculous drive most places (like Bethesda, Dulles Town Center, Fairfax, etc.). Living in Bethesda? Ridiculous drive to Arlington or Reston. Living in Georgetown? Choked with traffic 24/7.
PLEASE don't make the mistake of thinking Google maps is going to tell you the amount of time your commute will take from Ballston to McLean. My co-worker does this commute that Google says should take about 15 minutes. Nope. Try 40 minutes. It's starting to wear on him big time.
I think you'll find out soon enough how much the atrocious traffic impacts your overall quality of life. It's beyond outrageous and getting exponentially worse. I STRONGLY advise that you take this into consideration when making a decision about where to live.
How often are you going to be home? If you're consulting and on the road M-Th, then it matters a bit less how close you are to work...that said, spending time stuck in traffic is no one's idea of a good time.
Not sure how traffic flows work in McLean but if you can find a way to commute in the opposite direction of the flows, you'll thank yourself. For example, going from VA to MD in the morning is much much better than going from MD to VA.
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Yeah, the Tysons Corner metro will be finished around 2013 or 2014. The place where you'll be working will be CHOKED with traffic at rush hour. No idea what your hours are, but expect it to take 15-30 minutes to just get out of Tysons between 4 and 7 pm. Pray that you'll be working past 7:30 pm every night.
But it sounds like most of your work will be at client sites. If that's the case, then F it. Live wherever you want unless you have a long-term client (my sister-in-law, for example, has 1 long-term client--the defense department--that her firm will keep pretty much forever. That's her permanent assignment). No point in chasing your office if your office is going to be constantly moving. Then yeah, I'd recommend Arlington and Clarendon if you can afford it.
I live in the Arlington area (Clarendon), which is where all of the recent college grads seem to congregate. This area also has the highest concentration of 20's something girls. I recommend Clarendon, it has the most restaurants and bars and is the nicest area in Arlington.
You can get to McLean very quickly using the metro (Orange Line), and then taking a bus from West Falls Church Metro. My roommate works in Tyson's and does that every day. Driving probably isn't too bad either.
LOL. A bus in Northern Virginia? Yeah, it must be your roommate and a bunch of migrant workers.
Haha. Not quite, he doesn't have a car and works for one of the large consulting firms in Tyson's. I'm sure his commute is really shitty, and expensive.
You couldn't get me to take a bus in the district with a gun.
LOL
Thisdude are you working for the advisory company?
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