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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
please help ... where to live?
i've posted similar questions before, but this has been driving us crazy! dh works in arlington, va nearby the honda dealership. i will be moving out there in dec with newborn twins and a 5 y.o. (starting kdgtn next yr). i'm a clinical psychologist and former asst prof. we are hoping to rent a 3bdrm home for under 2k. i'm starting the job search now, and i'm applying as far out as baltimore, md.
where should we live???
Re: please help ... where to live?
By "home" do you mean SFH or townhouse or apartment...?
I'll PM you about the neighborhood I live in (SFHs), it's in Springfield, VA and you may be able to rent for $2K here. Wouldn't be a bad commute to Arlington.
i live in the district so i don't have any good VA/MD advice but given the traffic in this area, i would probably live as close to DH's job as your budget allows.
good luck with your search!
ditto...maybe you need to find a good realtor? we have a couple great ones who post here.
thanks ladies! the big problem is that i dont have a job yet so we wont know where my commute will be. i got some really good places from my last post (at least i thought so), but then dh looked at them and mapped it out or talked to folks he works with, and thought that the commute to his job would be terrible. some of those places included falls church (i think), reston, sterling, etc. we're just at a loss and i'm feeling like we need to find a place by october ...
i've been leaning toward "find a place as close as possible to his job" but i wasnt sure if that was a good idea since it is so expensive in arlington. i've also tried to encourage him to use craigslist, but he doesnt trust it ...
we're selling our home here in ohio, so i think we will look into a realtor for that area. perhaps even ask our current realtor for a referral or put another thread on here.
What is the max commute that he is willing to tolerate? Traffic is a major issue around here, and the closer you live to DC, the more expensive it is. You can start looking at Arlington and see what your options are. Maybe you'll find something. If not, you can expand your radius outward from there.
How are you planning to look for a place? Are you going to fly out here for a few days and look at apartments/houses?
ETA: I just went to craigslist and did a search for 3+ bedrooms under $2k in Arlington. Maybe this will give you a place to start, at least for ideas. http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/search/apa?query=arlington&srchType=A&minAsk=&maxAsk=2000&bedrooms=3
Some of these listings don't actually appear to be in Arlington though.
craigslist was our primary means of apartment hunting when we moved here in 2010. i'd encourage him to get over his issues with craigslist as it will (hopefully) make the apartment search A LOT easier. are there sketchy listings, yes. do you quickly catch on to weeding them out, yes.
getting a realtor would not be a bad idea either. we moved here from nyc where finding an apartment without a realtor is extremely difficult but i think with your needs and budget, it could be a worthwhile investment.
Agree with pps (and the advice given the last two times you've asked for recommendations) - you're just not going to find a 3-bedroom house in Arlington for under $2K (if you do, I would be a little concerned about the condition it's in). To give you an example, the townhouses in my development in Ballston (about a mile from the metro) have 2-3 bedrooms and rent for close to $3K a month.
I would look for a short-term lease somewhere in VA and if you end up only being able to find work in MD, try to find something perhaps in the district. I would do some web-based searches starting from the address of your husband's work, with a certain radius, and see what comes up. If you find homes that are of interest, we'd be happy to give feedback on the neighborhood and commute.
I don't mean to sound snarky, but I think that's the only additional advice we can offer at this point. You either live close to where you work and pay high rent, or you get a nicer place further away and suffer with the commute. It sucks, but that is life in the DC area.
Baby248 - ETA 1/10/13
This is really helpful. Thanks for the follow up. Commuting around here is difficult, but it's also a fact of life.
I'm not sure quite how to say this, but I think your husband is being a little unrealistic - either the budget or the commute will have to give. Reston and Sterling will be a bit of a commute, but Fall Church would be great.
Falls Church to Arlington near the Honda dealership is a pretty awesome commute for around here. One of you might be mis-remembering the city name, or if not you need to reconsider FC.
Moving here from OH takes a real adjustment to your expectations about housing costs and commuting time. Honestly, if my DH was dragging his feet on using a resource like CL that seems to be a great way to find rentals around here and being unwilling to commit to a long commute in order to stay on a tight budget, I'd tell him to find an alternative himself. Ditto BirdGirl - either the budget or the commute will have to give.
Another option is to find a place that works for his commute, fits your budget, and is in an area you want to live in. Then for your job, limit yourself to where you'll take a job. It's not like we all move when one half of the couple gets a new job, it's that we don't even consider jobs that are outside of our commuting comfort. Our drive time limit (for a good day) is about 30 minutes. I'll take the metro for up to 45 mins, but prefer not to transfer. We pay for that priveldge. But, it limits us to where we can work. If my dream job came up, say, in Silver Spring, I probably wouldn't consider it.
I live in Alexandria and from this home we have worked in Reston, McLean, Falls Church, Alexandria, Arlington, downtown DC, Bethesda, and Bolling AFB. We live in a TH with 3 bedrooms and if we rented it out we'd charge around $2700. (And we're not in an expensive part of town.)
I would suggest figuring out what kind of commute your husband will tolerate, and what kind of area you want to live in. We can give some ideas, andyou can look at online rentals to see how much houses there go for. Then you'll just have to decide which criteria you're willing to budge on.
thank you, ladies! i really dont mean to waste your time. it's all new for me esp b/c i'm not familiar with good websites used to find rentals. okay, the next thread from me will include locations/neighborhoods asking for your feedback.
to answer a few questions ... i'm 7 months pg now and wont be traveling to see the place, so i'm looking over the internet at pics and dh is mostly handling the move (finding a place & coordinating the move). i've been to dc several times with last visit in july and experienced the tightness & traffic. it's not ideal, but we both want to be closer to our families.
oh, he's wanting no more than a 25 min commute. right now, he has that while living w family in dc --when there's not a lot of traffic. i realize he's the only one working right now, but i probably need to help him re-adjust this.
i'll push him harder to try craig's list and/or go for a realtor. he is definitely stubborn ... but we're both trying to be practical with childcare since we'll both be working full-time jobs (hopefully) and will need to have easy access to the kids & home.
i appreciate all of your patience and advice!
I PM'd you info about my neighborhood. If you end up living over this way, let me know and I can make some daycare recs too. 7 months pregnant - with twins! - is not an ideal time to be planning a move, I totally understand. We moved when I was pregnant with my first - she was born one week after we were in our new house. I felt like I was going insane.
The ladies on this board give great advice. Look at Craigs List and hang in there!
Falls Church to Arlington by the Honda dealership is a great commute. Depending on where you live in Falls Church and time you are working, it will definitely be under 25 minutes. I highly recommend looking there.
I live in artslvrs neighborhood and I just looked at Crigslist and there is one house listed in your price range. I can drive by if you would like an opinion on the exterior - it's only 3 blocks from my house. I think your DHs commute would be more like 35 minutes from here. That said, it would be all back roads and its the lights not the traffic that would slow him down.
Just as a point of reference - I live 8 miles from my office, and my commute is anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour. A 25 minute commute in this area is a DREAM. It's not that it can't be done, it's just that it costs $$$$. That said, if you have options in Falls Church, it sounds like you're on the right path! Artlvr suggestion that is 35 mins on back roads would also be great!
I live in artslvrs neighborhood and I just looked at Crigslist and there is one house listed in your price range. I can drive by if you would like an opinion on the exterior - it's only 3 blocks from my house. I think your DHs commute would be more like 35 minutes from here. That said, it would be all back roads and its the lights not the traffic that would slow him down.
thank you sooo much! yes, please check it out and just let me know. if you could send me the address, i'll get my dh to check it out too!! thank you so much!
off to check pm's.