So i'm moving to Virginia to take a new job

[venkman]

I will be living very close to DC, which is pretty cool. Anything interesting I should know about the area? Looking around on apartment ratings taught the place is pretty dang expensive!

I'll be working in Alexandira, are there any surrounding neighborhoods a little distance away that wont charge me $1500/mnth in rent?

 

[SunnyD]

Go tell my sister hi for me. She lives up that way.

As far as rent goes, good luck finding anything cheap. You'd be better off buying one of the thousands of foreclosures in that area (cause people can't afford to live there anymore).

 

[Jeeebus]

Originally posted by: venkman
Anything interesting I should know about the area?

Jeeebus will be close. Very close.

 

[her209]

Yeah, good luck with finding something cheap link

 

[SP33Demon]

I live here, welcome to traffic hell. Expect to pay 1100-1600 in rent for a studio to 1BR. I lucked out and rent from a landlord for much cheaper (2BR) but it took me 2 months of searching websites to find it. If you need it right away I'd say 1400-1500 is a good average for a 1BR unless you rent just a room from someone off Craigslist. Cheapest I found a studio for (a year ago) was 1000 + cable from EOS (apt complex) that someone privately owned. Another good bet is to look for renting out a whole basement (look on craigslist), you can get a decent amount of space and don't have to deal with shtty apartment rules/regulations and your rent going up every year.

 

[mwmorph]

It's a good place to live. Great schools, great neighborhoods. Traffic sucks, property values are high but total cost of living isn't bad outside of rent/mortgage.

 

[Gunslinger08]

You could live a little further away from DC and commute. Up to you whether the money is worth it. I live about an hour and 15 minutes from Alexandria and my mortgage on a large house is less than $1500. Maybe you could split the difference and live somewhere like Leesburg or Warrenton.

 

[L1FE]

Rent prices in NOVA can be very expensive. If you're set on living alone and near the city, be ready to drop $1200-$1800 on a decent place to live. Adding a roommate will drop the individual price significantly. There are older/smaller buildings around (I think Bailey's Crossroads, apartment buildings along Columbia Pike, etc) where the rent is also significantly cheaper, but the quality of living and the neighborhoods may not be the best. Fairfax and Reston are cheap and the apartment buildings are nicer/more spacious but your commute would be ridiculous.

 

[dabuddha]

Live in Woodbridge instead Much cheaper and much nicer place to live in But yeah, either way, prepare to be raped by your rent.

 

[JDub02]

sucks to be you.

enjoy your experience in little mexico.

 

[mchammer187]

It is easy to find cheap if you are willing to rent a room in someone's house. If you are looking at an apartment than a 2 BR for under 2500 you should be able to find very close (1-5 miles) to alexandria. If you want to live alone though you pretty much have to suck it up.

I work in Alexandria too and live in Lorton but in a townhouse not an apartment.


I would not live in Leesburg or Warrenton unless you work really weird hours. Traffic gets backed up on 95 just south of Woodbridge every day from about 3:30 to 6:30 or 7 and your commute will easily be an hour going home.

 

[MiniDoom]

Originally posted by: JDub02
sucks to be you.

enjoy your experience in little mexico.

funny... I haven't met too many mexican people here.

 

[acheron]

I'll be working in Alexandira, are there any surrounding neighborhoods a little distance away that wont charge me $1500/mnth in rent?

No.

 

[acheron]

.

 

[acheron]

To make up for the triple post (double/triple posting keeps happening to me but only on AT and sometimes Facebook.. can't figure out if it's a Firefox 3.5 thing? Or something weird with a proxy at work or something? I don't even know) I will try to say something more insightful.

I wouldn't commute from Leesburg to Alexandria. The commuting time just isn't worth it IMO. When I first moved here I lived in Falls Church in a studio apt for about $650/mo (this was in 2004). It wasn't too bad. You can probably find a good deal if you look for awhile.

As mchammer187 said, you can also look into renting a room from someone if you want to do that. My wife did that when she first moved here and had a good deal in Vienna.

 

[jonks]

so, fake virginia.

 

[Cutterhead]

Originally posted by: acheron

I wouldn't commute from Leesburg to Alexandria. The commuting time just isn't worth it IMO. When I first moved here I lived in Falls Church in a studio apt for about $650/mo (this was in 2004). It wasn't too bad. You can probably find a good deal if you look for awhile.

Odd to read this... I first moved to Falls Church in 2004 also. I was payin $800 for a studio apartment and I thought that was good. I don't think you can get a studio apartment in this area for under 1k any more these days.

My wife and I live and work in Alexandria now. We pay a bit over $1600 for a 1 bedroom apartment but that also includes pet rent (what a joke) and an extra parking space. Unfortunately, you probably won't have much luck finding anything below $1300 or so, unless you are looking to share a house with several other people or live in somene's basement :laugh:

You should keep an eye out for move-in specials though. Many of the apartment complexes in this area have been known to offer 1, 2, or sometimes even 3 free months of rent with a 12 month contract. It's been over 3 years since I moved from Falls Church to Alexandria so I'm not sure how common that still is. But anyway, welcome to the area.

 

[Vette73]

I live in Springfield VA. Just try to stay inside the Metro line.

One of the reasons we bought our house was its right near the Blue Line in springfield.



But yea rent a room as its cheaper and gives more options.

 

[JDub02]

Originally posted by: rdubbz420

Originally posted by: JDub02
sucks to be you.

enjoy your experience in little mexico.

funny... I haven't met too many mexican people here.

my last time to the area was 2007. i was the only one in wal-mart that didn't speak spanish.

 

[VTBigBear]

I live in Vienna.

option 1. live further away.
- CRAZY traffic
- cheaper places (Centreville is selling 2br condos for $150,000)
option 2. live closer
- EXPENSIVE apartments
- no 1-2 hour commutes
- or expect to live in a highly dense hispanic area for cheaper prices

 

[venkman]

looking on Craigslist, It looks like it wont be too bad if I find a roommate. I should be paying less than $1K for a 2B/2B place. I did see some adds on CL for people who already have places and are looking for roommates, but I don't know if I trust random people on CL. Not counting my first dorm, I only lived with a stranger once, and it was perfect. Mainly because he was very quite and pretty much never around. I need to find a guy like that again.

 

[Jeeebus]

Originally posted by: JDub02

Originally posted by: rdubbz420

Originally posted by: JDub02
sucks to be you.

enjoy your experience in little mexico.

funny... I haven't met too many mexican people here.

my last time to the area was 2007. i was the only one in wal-mart that didn't speak spanish.

you do realize there are more Spanish speaking countries than Mexico, right?

AFAIK, and this is largely from my wife the Fairfax high school teacher, most of the Spanish speakers in No. Va. are from Central American countries like El Salvador... hence the MS13 gang problems in the area.

 

[jonks]

Originally posted by: Jeeebus

Originally posted by: JDub02

Originally posted by: rdubbz420

Originally posted by: JDub02
sucks to be you.

enjoy your experience in little mexico.

funny... I haven't met too many mexican people here.

my last time to the area was 2007. i was the only one in wal-mart that didn't speak spanish.

you do realize there are more Spanish speaking countries than Mexico, right?

Cue "Clueless":

"I NOT a Mexican!"

 

[MiniDoom]

Originally posted by: JDub02

Originally posted by: rdubbz420

Originally posted by: JDub02
sucks to be you.

enjoy your experience in little mexico.

funny... I haven't met too many mexican people here.

my last time to the area was 2007. i was the only one in wal-mart that didn't speak spanish.

I did not realize the Spanish language was exclusive to Mexicans. Most Spanish speaking people around here are from El Salvador. Go ahead and call a Salvadorian a Mexican...

 

[Delita]

I've lived in Alexandria for a few years near the blue and yellow metro lines. I work in DC so it my commute is about 50 minutes or so door to door. Rent is expensive as shit but getting a roommate helps out a lot. Usually, the farther you get from a metro line, the cheaper rent will get. A lot of people I know live in Arlington (its a yuppie area), but rent there is pretty expensive. I prefer to have more money in my pocket so I moved a little farther out. I am actually moving in a few weeks. I didn't want to move in with someone I didn't know either and CL I think is way too risky, so I ended up getting a one bedroom (which is never a cost effective option). I've looked at a bunch of different apartment buildings so let me know what your looking for and I might be able to help out.