Affordable housing near College Park/Silver Spring (Washington: apartments, rent)

[conservativeliberal]

Hello Everyone,

I am a recent college grad moving to College Park for work.

1. I am looking for studio/1br apartments on a tight budget of $1000.
2. I have a car which I can use to commute everyday to work, but would prefer to limit it to 30-40 mins.
3. I'd prefer to live in a neighborhood with young professionals like me.
4. Preferably with decent nightlife.
5. I did consider staying in College Park but the place seems a little boring and the rents here don't seem to justify the location.

I have been searching for apartments in Silver Spring but cant find anything within my budget.

Can anyone provide suggestions on where should I look for apartments?

[HurricaneDC]

You're not gonna find a studio or 1br that meets all of those requirements for $1k. Your commute preference is helpful, 40 minutes gives you a fair amount of area to choose from. Dunno about whether you'll be around young professionals. You won't be near decent nightlife.

College Park is a bit boring if you're not a college student but it does have some bars. At $1000 you're either gonna have to live in: the hood, the boonies, or a group house.

I'd suggest Trulia for searching for apartments.

[WASHINGTON BULLETS]

None of the rents in this entire area justify the location anymore and that includes the trendiest parts of DC.

[HumbleSeaGoat]

Might want to look at some income-restricted housing.

[stateofnature]

Originally Posted by WASHINGTON BULLETS

None of the rents in this entire area justify the location anymore and that includes the trendiest parts of DC.

What is this standard that makes a rent "justified" or not? The rents are high because people are willing to pay that much. "Justification" has nothing to do with it. If people weren't willing to pay that much to live in DC, then the rents would fall.

[WASHINGTON BULLETS]

Originally Posted by conservativeliberal

I did consider staying in College Park but the place seems a little boring and the rents here don't seem to justify the location.

He brought up the justification part and I was agreeing with him. I just expanded the area and included the entire metro area instead.

[HurricaneDC]

Rent in CP is high because UMD can't house everybody on campus, plus a lot of people like living off campus anyway. Most students don't wanna commute either if they can help it, so they end up looking for housing in CP. There's high demand and rather flat supply so the landlords can charge whatever the hell they want.