What $750 Rents You in the DC Area

• May 23, 2012
• 11 Comments

by Shilpi Paul

This week in What X Rents You, UrbanTurf looks in the $750 to $800 a month range to see what the DC area rental market has to offer. As many UrbanTurf readers already know, finding an apartment all to yourself in this range in the region is virtually impossible. Here’s what we found.

A Master Bedroom in Brightwood

The first option we found is a bedroom in a group house. The house is on the northern fringe of Petworth near Brightwood, and looks to be newly renovated and sunny. The listing has four bedrooms, a washer/dryer in the basement, a cable hookup, and is fairly close to Rock Creek Park. The posting provided plenty of photos, so we feel confident that it’s not a scam, a distinct possibility for many other options in this price range.

• Full Listing: 5421 7th Street NW (map)
• Rent: $750 a month
• Bedrooms: One
• Bathrooms: One (shared)

An Efficiency East of the River

This listing has a few appealing features rare at this price: privacy and proximity to Metro. The efficiency is a block from the Benning Road Metro on the Blue Line and has a galley kitchen, stacked washer/dryer and big windows in the main room. There’s not too much going on in the neighborhood, although Ray’s the Steaks at East River is just a couple blocks away. In order to be eligible to rent this unit, you must make above $35,000 a year or currently be paying at least $775 a month in rent.

• Full Listing: 4228 Benning Road NE (map)
• Rent: $775 a month
• Bedrooms: Studio
• Bathrooms: One

Privacy in the Suburbs

If you enjoy the quiet of the suburbs, there is an apartment in a Burtonsville single-family home just west of Laurel with your name on it. The house is close to Columbia Pike and, according to the listing, the one-bedroom unit has a separate entrance, a washer/dryer and a small kitchen. Utilities (water, electricity, AC/heat, internet, cable, trash pick-up) are estimated to run about $100/month, and smokers and those with pets need not apply.

• Full Listing: Hollyhock Way, Burtonsville, MD (map)
• Rent: $795 a month
• Bedrooms: One
• Bathrooms: One

This article originally published at http://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/what_750_rents_you_in_dc/5570

11 Comments

1. Mike said at 1:58 pm on Wednesday May 23, 2012:
   this may be the saddest article Urban Turf has ever posted.

1. Drag said at 2:07 pm on Wednesday May 23, 2012:
   Thanks for looking into such a low price. Really puts into perspective how expensive it is to rent in this city!

1. Ryan said at 2:38 pm on Wednesday May 23, 2012:
   I once rented a room in a beautiful house in Mount Pleasant for $750. It was great. The only downside: the room was in the attic. To access it, you had to walk up the steepest set of stairs I've ever seen, then get on your hands and knees and crawl through a short hallway. But it wasn't all bad -- I mean, you could stand straight up without hitting your head in almost all parts of the room. I hate this city.

1. Anonymous said at 4:42 pm on Wednesday May 23, 2012:
   What is this? I just did a Craigslist search for apartments in D.C., in the $500 to 900 range, and it returned ... (drum roll, please) ... 620 listings! For Arlington, 27 listings! True, many of these postings are duplicates. Nevertheless, it clearly illustrates there is affordable housing out there for the taking.

1. Tom said at 4:56 pm on Wednesday May 23, 2012:
   @Anonymous, Are you searching for an apartment for that price? Because I am, and the number of duplicates is about 1 in 3. What’s more is that scammers prey on people looking for rents this low. About 10 of the listings I emailed that looked halfway decent proved to be scams. You may have found 620 listings, but far fewer are actually legit.

1. Anonymous said at 5:13 pm on Wednesday May 23, 2012:
   ^^^ Yes, I did a general search, with "entire post" selected, under housing/apartments for D.C. I narrowed the search by specifying units between $500 and 900. And, yes, there are a lot of duplicates and fraudulent postings. But I also found many seemingly legitimate ads. For instance, for Arlington: $750 / 1br - 625ft² - 1br - One Bedroom Apartment in 305 10th St S (Arlington, VA) http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/3029744935.html $750 / 300ft² - Efficiency for Rent (Arlington,Va) (map) http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/3014145777.html $895 / 1br - 700ft² - Apartment Available June 15 (Alexandria/Annandale) (map) http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/nva/apa/3026708531.html The last's one in Annandale, but hey, under $900!

1. Tom said at 5:29 pm on Wednesday May 23, 2012:
   Thanks! Annandale is too far and I am suspect when photos aren't included with listings but I will look into these.

1. Anonymous said at 5:49 pm on Wednesday May 23, 2012:
   One last note. Looking once again through the Craigslist postings for housing/apartments, it is apparent there are a large number of fraudulent scam ads, many more than I initially thought. As an example, I referenced in the above post a one bedroom apt. at 305 S. 10th St. in Arlington. But a search using Google Maps proves this address to be highly questionable as residential housing. On a more positive turn, here's some Craigslist listings in D.C. that "appear" legitimate: The first is a unit offered by UIP Leasing (Urban Investment Partners), so it's totally legit. $840 Wonderful effciency available! Call today! (Brightwood Park) http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/apa/3009210799.html $868 Efficiency Available 6/15/12 http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/apa/3016915700.html $800 / 1br - 600ft² - 1 bedroom apartment (galludet/trinidad) (map) http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/doc/apa/3032806975.html What I'm trying to show is that there "are" apartments in D.C. and the inner suburbs that are very reasonable in price. They may not be located in the more sought after parts of the city, but moderately-priced units are definitely available.

1. nelliebly said at 10:32 pm on Wednesday May 23, 2012:
   Sorry -- Annandale is too far but Burtonsville isn't? Too far from what? Baltimore? C'mon. Otherwise, great piece!

1. SL said at 4:21 pm on Thursday May 24, 2012:
   You can do way better than this - I agree, sad post! First of all, for a BR in a group house I'm a landlord of one only 4 blocks from the Petworth metro and all BRs are $725/mo or less. One block from the Farmer's Market & Yes Organic Market and the new restaurants...so no need to be on the fringe - I think what I charge is pretty typical. Across the street from my rental house is a small apartment building where the 1BR units, (not studios!) are $795/month. It's not the most swank building, but it's well maintained and clean and the units have been recently renovated.

1. ZA said at 4:23 pm on Friday May 25, 2012:
   DC is so expensive - its ridiculous. There are a few places that fall under $750 a month here within Washington, DC: http://www.apartmentshowcase.com/search/district-of-columbia/washington/priced500-750 Or, between $750 and $1,000 a month: http://www.apartmentshowcase.com/search/district-of-columbia/washington/priced750-1000