[cyow5]

Well guys, it is now official: I will be leaving my job at the end of the summer to be a broke college kid again since I will be going to GWU for my Master's. This post is for a couple of reasons:

A) I'm excited! This will be a great redirection for my career, and my girlfriend is stationed down there for the next few years.

B) Does anyone have (or know someone who has) a standalone basement or whatnot that they are looking to rent out within commuting distance to DC, preferably the Arlington/Alexandria area or thereabouts?

C) Any advice for neighborhoods in those areas to avoid or to focus on? My girlfriend already lives in Springfield, so she is learning the area, but any advice is welcome. I'm also doing a lot of online research, too.

D) Now the sad one... I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep the Elise since she could free up a lot of cash, but they'll only be more expensive when I get back to work. At this point, I am looking at some part time gigs, and the school owes me an answer on funding (at least it isn't a no yet). The Elise has been in the shop since August and I'll be getting her back with a 100% repaint (chrome orange), painting some interior while the spray gun is out, shaving the turn signals, reflectors, and those little eyelashes by the tail lamps, and otherwise professionally fixing everything the previous guy fubar'ed with his shoddy repair. So naturally, I'm going to want to keep her, but I really don't see what other option I have. Anyone looking for a 48,000 mile CO Elise?


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[Silver_Surfer]

Keep the car!

A). Awesome, what service is she in? Get married and live on base

B). No, Sorry. (Fermi might know)

C). I live in Arlington and Alexandria is good for the most part. Both have some less than desirable neighborhoods.

D). Again, KEEP THE CAR!!

Well guys, it is now official: I will be leaving my job at the end of the summer to be a broke college kid again since I will be going to GWU for Master's. This post is for a couple if reasons:

A) I'm excited! This will be a great redirection for my career, and my girlfriend is stationed down there for the next few years.

B) Does anyone have (or know someone who has) a standalone basement or whatnot that they are looking to rent out within commuting distance to DC, preferably the Arlington/Alexandria area or thereabouts?

C) Any advice for neighborhoods in those areas to avoid or to focus on? My girlfriend already lives in Springfield, so she is learning the area, but any advice is welcome. I'm also doing a lot of online research, too.

D) Now the sad one... I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep the Elise since she could free up a lot of cash, but they'll only be more expensive when I get back to work. At this point, I am looking at some part time gigs, and the school owes me an answer on funding (at least it isn't a no yet). The Elise has been in the shop since August and I'll be getting her back with a 100% repaint (chrome orange), painting some interior while the spray gun is out, shaving the turn signals, reflectors, and those little eyelashes by the tail lamps, and otherwise professionally fixing everything the previous guy fubar'ed with his shoddy repair. So naturally, I'm going to want to keep her, but I really don't see what other option I have. Anyone looking for a 48,000 mile CO Elise?


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[cyow5]

Keep the car!



A). Awesome, what service is she in? Get married and live on base



B). No, Sorry. (Fermi might know)



C). I live in Arlington and Alexandria is good for the most part. Both have some less than desirable neighborhoods.



D). Again, KEEP THE CAR!!

I've got enough saved up that I can keep the car for awhile before I decide if I have to bail, so that's the best worst case scenario. Garage parking isn't terribly expensive, so that was a relief. We've got some appointments to look at the park at Arlington ridge and Sullivan place of Friday.

And she's navy (nurse). Hell, courthouse marriage would also give her a pay raise due to cost of living adjustments, and we'd get a tax break, but those aren't exactly the most romantic reasons, haha


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[Silver_Surfer]

I've got enough saved up that I can keep the car for awhile before I decide if I have to bail, so that's the best worst case scenario. Garage parking isn't terribly expensive, so that was a relief. We've got some appointments to look at the park at Arlington ridge and Sullivan place of Friday.

And she's navy (nurse). Hell, courthouse marriage would also give her a pay raise due to cost of living adjustments, and we'd get a tax break, but those aren't exactly the most romantic reasons, haha


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Holy crap, I live right next to the Park apartments, I live in Avalon. If you moved in we would have 3 lotus in the same neighborhood (Almighty) is my next door neighbor and Fermi lives 3miles down the road, so four Lotus within 3 miles would be awesome!

Check out my complex also, Avalon at Arlington Square, I'll split the referral bonus with you

 

[Almighty]

First and foremost, don't sell the car! Now that we got that out of the way, there are plenty of places in the Arlington/Alexandria area to choose from. What you want and most importantly, how much you want to spend will make the decision "easier". Of course, I'm a little biased towards the Avalon at Arlington Square.

 

[cyow5]

Haha, that's awesome. I'll check it out Friday


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[Fermi]

Welcome welcome! How much you would like to spend is definitely the key and also directly relates to garage parking versus the Lotus sitting outdoors.

I live in Old Town Alexandria (North side) - very close to the metro. My wife and I are actually subletting out our spare bedroom/bathroom temporarily (May 1st - September 30th). We have already taken our 2 parking spot allotment though so no dice on fitting a second lotus.:-(

I would recommend living somewhere off of the Orange Line. (Ballston, Court house, etc.) Unfortunately those areas are definitely on the pricey side.

They severely reduced the amount of blue lines and it's always a toss up on actually getting one. My wife currently commutes from our place to GWU and has to time it just right - the blue line at Foggy Bottom is always jam packed as a result.

Price-wise a decent first place to check out is RiverHouse apartments in Pentagon City (it is blue line though) but they have garage parking and have some decent deals.

 

[cyow5]

Thanks for the input, guys. We'd like to keep it around $1500+parking. It seems like park and avalon can do that; fermi, I was planning on getting on the Blue line early (like 7am). Would that help? According to the website, it is a pretty quick ride to GW from those apts, so I really like that. But that's assuming I can actually get on...


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[Silver_Surfer]

Thanks for the input, guys. We'd like to keep it around $1500+parking. It seems like park and avalon can do that; fermi, I was planning on getting on the Blue line early (like 7am). Would that help? According to the website, it is a pretty quick ride to GW from those apts, so I really like that. But that's assuming I can actually get on...


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You would be getting on blue line from either Pentagon City or Pentagon. I ride yellow and sometimes blue from Pentagon (when I jump on the train without looking). I'm usually on the train between 6:45 and 7 and it's not hard to get on, though I'm not sure about your return trip. How long are you going to be in town? We would do an impromptu dinner meet on Friday after you check out the apartments.

 

[Fermi]

7am would definitely be for less people on the train. I believe blue line is transitioning to a train every 15-20 minutes during rush hour - your afternoon/evening commute will most likely be the hairy one.

It's best to download a metro ap onto your phone to tell when the next color train you need is coming - I use DC Metro Transit on Android.

It's also best to check craigslist, zillow, and apartmentratings.com. Unfortunately most things on Craigslist won't pop until a month or so before they are available so that may not work well for you all.

Feel free to PM me directly if you have any other questions...happy to help.

 

[LenMcC]

Welcome to the area and mark your calendar for GYLO at the kohls at fair lakes on May 25. It's an impressive showing of lotus.

 

[adracer]

It's also best to check craigslist, zillow, and apartmentratings.com. Unfortunately most things on Craigslist won't pop until a month or so before they are available so that may not work well for you all.

If you and your girlfriend hadn't already heard about it, we had good luck as well with militarybyowner.com, and my sister rented her place in VA Bch via the same website. It definitely reaches some good folks on both sides of the housing market.

Welcome, and keep the car!

 

[Almighty]

Thanks for the input, guys. We'd like to keep it around $1500+parking. It seems like park and avalon can do that; fermi, I was planning on getting on the Blue line early (like 7am). Would that help? According to the website, it is a pretty quick ride to GW from those apts, so I really like that. But that's assuming I can actually get on...


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I looked into the Park before settling on Avalon and found that it was NOT Lotus friendly. No assigned parking, no guaranteed spot, no covered parking, no secured parking. On their site it says there is garage parking, but maybe I was on a different "block". They have like 4 different areas to the community.

Go Avalon!

 

[CrusaderTBC]

You could opt to storage the Elise and live in DC. H-street, Eastern Market, U street would be good trending areas with a lot of shops and restaurants. There are new units being built out south of Adams Morgan (just northwest of Dupont Circle).

 

[cyow5]

Welcome to the area and mark your calendar for GYLO at the kohls at fair lakes on May 25. It's an impressive showing of lotus.

It's already in the calendar! I won't be moved down by then, but I was planning on being down to see my girlfriend that weekend, and she really wants to go.

And wow, that's some helpful information, everyone. We'll check out that military site and see what's available.

Downtown DC is all but ruled out because it would be much harder for Jess to get to work (Ft Belvoir), and it wouldn't be much quicker for me than Arlington or pentagon areas in general. I'd have to find out where those neighborhoods are exactly though.


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[Silver_Surfer]

Nice meeting you and Jess, see you soon!

 

[cyow5]

Nice meeting you and Jess, see you soon!

Thanks! It was great meeting y'all, too. Not sure if Arlington is an option anymore - they suddenly raised the rent $250/mo this last weekend ?

If anyone in the NoVa area is looking to rent a room or knows of any hidden bargains, let me know!


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[Silver_Surfer]

Thanks! It was great meeting y'all, too. Not sure if Arlington is an option anymore - they suddenly raised the rent $250/mo this last weekend ?

If anyone in the NoVa area is looking to rent a room or knows of any hidden bargains, let me know!


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LAME!! :thwack:

 

[Almighty]

The price of rent fluctuates ALL the time. You just have to catch it at the right time.

 

[cyow5]

The price of rent fluctuates ALL the time. You just have to catch it at the right time.

Yup, we've been watching it like hawks. Jess is going over to the grove today to take a look at a floor plan they have over there. It's funny; Avalon raised their rent by $250, and they've hardly moved any units. I expect the price to fall back closer to where it was, but it won't go all the way back down since it is summer


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