apartment hunting in Northern Virginia - any tips?

Parent Cafe
21

<p>there is more to Ballston than the high rises… I know multiple teachers that live in Ballston in shared houses.</p>

<p>frazzled: a 25 minute commute would be way below average for the DC area. At least, according to the Allstate commercial playing on the local news radio right now, the average DC commute is 53 minutes! (I think… lol) Not saying it isn’t good to aim for that, but she would be doing much better than most. My commute is under 30 mins and I am very happy. And of course as you mentioned, a 20 minute trip at noon can easily be 45+ during rush hour.</p>

<p>Kingstowne is fairly nice and on the newer side… good place to be; I would say it is probably more family oriented. Off Van Dorn the area can be hit or miss… the Landmark mall area is generally considered not to be the greatest. I wouldn’t necessarily say unsafe, but there are definitely some sketchy characters. I lived in this area for about a year. Outside the beltway I believe it is better.</p>

22

<p>Yes, as I said in post #20, in addition to high rises, there are houses in Ballston to be rented but that can be hit or miss. Just need to be careful. The houses will likely not be close to the Metro but that is less of an issue for those with cars that they will need to drive to their place of employment. The house my kid rented was awful. The landlord asks for references but the kids probably need to ask for references from past tenants! Some landlords are better than others. This house was assessed at $600,000 + in Arlington but was very modest and quite frankly, a dump. Be careful wherever you rent.</p>