I have several friends who are hunting for new homes and houses in D.C. Picking a neighborhood is tricky, especially in a rapidly developing city like Washington. Not many of my friends have kids, so schools aren't really an issue. Instead, it's the usual single-professional litany: crime and coffee shops, kitchens and subway stops. In the suburbs, the old maxim was:"Start at your office. Then drive till you can afford it." In the city, it's: "Start at your favorite bar. Then walk till you can afford it."
Of course, in DC, you need to do a leetle crime stats mapping to make sure you don't accidentally walk into a turf war between drug dealers. Or worse, between agricultural lobbyists.
An attractive piece of silver lining in the economic murk is that it should be politically possible to cut out the most wasteful of the permanent burden of agricultural subsidies in favour of temporary useful fiscal stimulus. The agricultural lobbyists would then have much less to fight over.
With the new administration coming into town, wouldn't it be prudent to move sooner rather than later before all the supply is sucked up by the eager-beavers?
Megan,
I was a grad student in DC for a few years (05-08) and thought the Petworth neighborhood was really impressive. Anywhere from ~8 blocks north of the Columbia Heights metro to around the Petworth metro had a ton of rowhouses and some new condo/apt buildings that are just as nice and a whole lot cheaper than similar ones a few blocks south, low-ish crime (the neighborhood is mostly families) and some sweet bars opening up (been to the Red Derby yet? It definitely blew past Wonderland and anywhere on U street as my favorite bar in DC).
Actually, that's not a bad way to think about it--except that when you're in NYC and your favorite bar's in the Village, you end up swimming at some point instead of walking.
My sister lives in Petworth, and I think it's a great neighborhood, but for various reasons my future roommate and I are pretty set on the Bloomingdale/Shaw corridor. Ledroit would be ideal, but there's not much on the market there.
My wife and I have lived in Bloomingdale for 6 years now and love it. Welcome to the neighborhood.
There's a lot of really cool stuff going on here.
Just stay away from the area bounded by 2nd, 4th, W, and V Streets.
Diversity,
Are you mad? Agri-subsidies started during the depression. I'd look for them to expand not contract.
Think outside the box: Anacostia. Lots of nice old houses that wouldn't need much work to be really nice.
About 15 years ago a (very white and suburban) couple I know bought a rowhouse near U St Metro. They were the first wave of gentrifiers in their neighborhood. Made a bundle when they sold and moved to San Diego.
If I were buying, I might consider it, but for rental, it's not worth pioneering. Thanks for the welcome, Jake--my roommate already lives there, and has blocked out a fairly large no go zone. Go Big Bear!
Are you folks trying to get Megan mugged? Anacostia? C'mon.
Well, it ain't like Petworth's all that, where mugging is concerned. I got jumped by four guys in broad daylight on New Hampshire this spring, and the cabby who saw it wouldn't even come to my aid. Took my equity and ran.
Before I moved out of the city, I had developed the impression that we were having a major crime wave this summer; certainly there was a lot of stuff going on in Petworth this summer.
I moved to Baltimore. The Wire jokes notwithstanding, real estate values have plummeted over the last two years, and the inner suburbs are beautiful; there are even some usable public schools, if you look in the right spot. Not an issue for you now, I'm sure, but it wasn't for me when we bought in Petworth, either. Things happen, and five years later, well.....there's an additional $20K a year in "public school avoidance tax" that you get to pay just for being a resident of the district. It's probably not something you're planning on, but it is one of those things that can change very, very quickly.
Penn Quarter, plethora of bars/restaurants/museums/verizon center, etc etc