And a third is realtor.com. They also list properties for rent, not just those for sale.
BlueKangaroo writes:
> As for a nice neighborhood having to be mostly white, I don’t think that nor do
> I think I’ve implied that.
Excuse me. I wasn’t trying to say that you had implied that. I was saying that I’ve known other people who have said that or at least something pretty close to it. It’s a more common attitude than you might think. (When I said "You got to get away from the ‘It’s only a nice neighborhood if it’s nearly all white’ mentality though,’ I was using a generic “you.” I apologize for making it sound like I was talking about you.) You should be a little careful about listening to people who say, “Oh, you can’t live in such-and-such an area. It’s all bad neighborhoods.” Visit the places for yourself. There are an amazing amount of people in the Washington area who dismiss entire counties as being beneath contempt. Every county in the Washington area is well above the national average in average salary. They’re not all as well off as Montgomery, Howard, and Fairfax Counties, which are in the top ten nationwide, but they’re all noticeably better off than most places in the U.S.
The neighborhoods around American University are expensive. Full professors can’t afford houses there. I think you should look somewhere between Silver Spring and Greenbelt.
> Here in NM, it’s perfectly reasonable for grad students to be able to rent a
> house, from what I’ve seen.
In both Austin and Columbus, where I went to grad school, a single grad student expected to live in an apartment (or in one unit of an old house that had been cut up into apartments). Ditto for married grad students unless one of them wasn’t a student and had a good job. Some married grad students were able to afford a house if their spouse had a good job.
> But I think it’s impossible to expect somebody to move away from everything
> that’s familiar and not have some apprehension.
For what it’s worth, I moved away from a childhood on a farm with no apprehension. Heck, I was glad to get away. My only point is that it’s easier to get to like a new environment than you might think.
All of the other locals have given good advice thus far, but none of them have said “WELCOME!”
We (Weirddave and I) live in Baltimore-ish, just about 35-40 miles from DC. We would be happy to extend the hand of welcome to becoming an MAD - Mid-Atlantic Doper.
They’re all right about the humidity, just be prepared! I’m from the prairies, so 100F weather is not a problem - until you throw in 70% humidity. If you don’t get an air-conditioned place, buy window units. Really. You’ll need them.
Traffic is horrible in the DC area. The Metro is very easy to navigate. Most of the monuments and museums and other attractions in the city are free, which is lovely.
You haven’t mentioned which school you’ll be attending. If it’s UMCP, consider looking for a place up in Maryland, where it will be less expensive than DC proper.
As for transporting your art - make sure the canvas is well-wrapped, and set it between your mattress and box-spring. The glass-covered pastel, also wrap well and try to set it so that it’s not in contact with anything else. Preferrably transport it in your car with you.
Good luck! We can’t wait to meet you.
Whoops. I see that you have said which school you’ll be attending. I blame the humidity.
:trots off to turn up the A/C:
Wendell, thanks for clarifying. I’ll make sure to check places out for myself (or more likely, point Mr. Kangaroo at your post and tell HIM to look for himself). And I hope I adjust as well as you did.
And, Ginger, I know that humidity can mess with a person’s head. I expect to be extra insane upon getting my humidity overdose. 
Thanks for the welcome.
No one else will say it, but I will – stay out of southeast D. C, especially east of the Anacostia River. I’m a native Washingtonian – I love D. C. and grew up there, and I know how it’s changed…and that’s the main reason I don’t live there. If you read the Washington Post, you see there are killings every day - mostly drug-related and mostly in the southeast quadrant. Driving and parking is a bitch. Culture – sure, plenty of it, and much of it free, but that’s downtown, in and near the national mall. To get around the city, your best bet (as others have said) is public transportation (good subway system once you learn it). Don’t want to scare you off – you just need to scope out your options. High cost of living in D. C. proper. Depending where your grad school is, you may want to opt for the suburbs. There are decent and relatively inexpensive apartments and houses in nearby Prince George’s County (although the crime tends to spill over from southeast D. C. into some parts of PG.) Montgomery County is more expensive, but close-in Silver Spring isn’t bad, and there is currently revitalization efforts going on there (but traffic is a bitch there, too!) There’s a subway (Metro) station in downtown Silver Spring and further into Montgomery County. Virginia surburbs? forget it - the traffic is evil. Bottom line: avoid southeast D. C., and make sure you’re convenient to Metro. My son lives in D. C. (Logan Circle area), and he sold his car and walks or takes Metro. Myself? Currently live in Beltsville (PG suburb) - not bad but we had a drug bust here recently in our parking lot; the traffic gets to me, and my s.o. and I are moving to Florida in August. (But then, we’re old farts and just want to get the hell out of the rat race!) Good luck.
Here are some links. The Washington City Paper will give you an idea what places are renting for in various areas.
Geographic & Technical Data
NOAA Weather for Washington DC
Government & Politics
DC Home Page
Washington DC, The American Experience
FirstGov - Your First Click to the US Government
Newspapers
The Washington Post
Roll Call (Congressional News & Info)
Washingtonian Magazine
Washington City Paper
The Intowner
(Neighborhood news and information in
Adams Morgan, Mt. Pleasant and Columbia Heights,
Dupont, Scott, Thomas and Logan Circles
Dupont East, U Street, Shaw & Mt Vernon Square)
Arts, Culture & Education
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Ford’s Theater
Arena Stage
Shakespeare Theatre
Studio Theatre
Smithsonian
National Geographic
National Science Foundation
General DC Info & links
DC Pages
The Embassies of Washington DC
Getting Around DC
Metrorail System Map
Eats
Washington Post Restaurant Guide
DC’s Favorite Restaurants (according to A La Carte Delivery Service)
The Great Outdoors
US National Arboretum
National Park Service Guide to Rock Creek Park
Dumbarton Oaks Gardens
Only on the interstates during rush hour. Bottlenecks do pop up on surface streets in certain locations but on the whole it’s not that bad, really. As long as you stay off the interstates.
And most roads named after states, and Constitution, and Independence, and 16th, and… 
Whoops, you’re talking about VA 'burbs.
Uh-oh…my school is bordered on all sides by states…I mean roads…I mean roads named after states. Oh, I’m so flustered!!
Actually, I’m amazed and thankful for all the help and any help that is forthcoming. Basandre told me not to expect very much in the begining as the board can be slow on the weekends, but this has been great.
I lived in the MD suburbs for over 30 years, before my job transferred me last year. If your husband gets a job with one of the tech companies on the 270 corridor try looking for housing in Germantown or above, even up to Comus. You can then go down 270 to the Shady Grove Metro station and get to school. You WILL be traveling with traffic, but finding anything nice in the Rockville/Gaithersburg area is very difficult.
If, on the other hand, he gets a job with one of the Howard County/Northern PG county companies, look in Laurel, Greenbelt, and Bowie areas. This is close enough to UMCP that there are people who are used to renting to grad students. Last year one of my friends was renting a 3 bedroom/2 full baths condo in Laurel for $850 plus utilities. You can make it to the Greenbelt Metro Station without needing to go on the Beltway from any of these places.
When you have a firmer idea of where you are living email me. I still know most of the back ways to get places. Enjoy! Washington is a great place to live.
As someone who not only went to American, but also has lived in just about every part of DC and MD, I suppose I’m pretty qualified to respond here - and I totally second Gingy’s WELCOME!
AU is in a wonderful neighborhood that unfortunately, no one you know will live in. It is distantly possible that you could find a group house somewhere nearby, but if you’re looking for something with just you and hubby and kitties, your best bet is Silver Spring. I lived there and commuted to AU for a year, and found that between the MD Ride-On busses and the Metro (AU runs a shuttle from Tenleytown to the campus) I was able to have a fairly reasonable commute. Don’t discount the bus system, as you are right on Massachusetts Avenue, one of the major routes into downtown by way of Dupont Circle and other places you will end up socializing, shopping and hanging out. IIRC, the 92 bus goes from AU to Union Station - a good central location.
My ex-hubby was from Albuquerque, so I have a pretty good idea about the transition you’re facing. Not sure where in NM you’re from, but the thing that really “culture shocked” me was how slooooowwwwllllyyyyy everyone walks, talks and just generally lives in the SW. You will find DC VERY much faster than you are used to in just about every way. The other thing is how green it is here! I moved down from a farm in Northern VT, and expected to have a big, looming concrete jungle to deal with. In reality, most of the city is Federal land and maintained as such - tons of trees, gardens, fountains and monuments. In addition, we have serious height restrictions for buildings, so you won’t really have the claustrophobia a tall city can produce.
Last point - about SouthEast DC: It’s not that bad! I have lived in SE for about 5 years now, and there are very nice parts, notably Eastern Market. It really wouldn’t be too convenient for you to live on Capitol Hill, but I would hate for you to write off a whole quadrant of the city. As with any place, you need to be careful and keep your wits about you, but Sunday brunch in Eastern Market, or a Friday night Silent Drill Team performance at the 8th Street Barracks shouldn’t be ruled out just by address.
Feel free to email me as well! I love this city, my son goes to school here, I work here, and most of my social life is actually in town. I would be happy to answer any and all questions…though I left AU in 1993 and I can’t believe how much it has changed up there.
Hope your move goes well, and welcome to the area!
The only trouble with going into the city via Greenbelt is the length of the commute. The WMATA site will tell you how long it takes to get from one station to the other.
Oh, and here’s some vital info you’ll need if you do take Metro, which you almost certainly will: To park in their parking lots, you must have a SmarTrip card, which behaves sort of like a credit card for the Metro system. (That is, you put money on it, and then you just hold it up to the transponder as you go through the turnstile or exit the parking lot, and the money is deducted from the card. The card cannot be exchanged for money.) These cards can be purchased at the stations themselves (or at least some of them; see the WMATA site for specifics).
Ugh, meant to say something about Eastern Market!
Everyone should go at least once. It’s a fun place, great atmosphere, and they have quite a variety of goods for sale. Plus, there’s a Metro station right there.
Learn “Hail to the Redskins!”
That will put you in good with just about everyone.
If you’re going to American, I’d imagine you’d be better off trying to find a place in Northwest somewhere, and I second the recommendation to take a close look at the listings in the City Paper for places that are affordable on a grad student’s stipend.
In an effort to be helpful, here are two links to Capitol Hill realtors that generally have excellent offerings for apartments. Capitol Hill wouldn’t be the most convient place to live if you’re going to go to Upper NW every day, but if you can’t find anything else you like, maybe these sites will be useful.
www.johncformant.com – all of today’s one bedroom listings are in an excellent area.
www.yarthmouthm.com – there’s a lot of good offerings here, as well.
A couple other things: taxes here are rather high. I believe the DC income tax is about 9 percent; the corresponding rates in VA and MD are much lower. Same with sales taxes. Registering a car can be rather expensive (roughly 4% of blue book value) and it’s a pain in the keister to get it inspected. If you end up living in DC, watch out for vicious metermaids, red light cameras, and they’re starting to use automated speeding ticket things on certain thoroughfares.
If you have the money and you end up living in a crowded area in DC, you might want to look to rent a parking spot for your car, if you choose to keep one. A spot in the DuPont area would run somewhere between $125 to $200 a month, but could easily save you hours – yes, I mean hours – each week in circling your neighborhood looking for an open spot. Parking is not as big of a problem in areas like Tenleytown, Cleveland Park, Woodley Park, Capitol Hill, or most suburbs.
A native Washingtonian checking in here, too. Born in the city in 1974 and I’ve been here ever since.
I’m very familiar with your beautiful homestate – I’ve got close family in Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Los Alamos, and Artesia and we’ve visited many, many times. Love it, actually if I’d relent, my husband would have had us moved there 4 years ago. But in that regard, I’ll note that the humidity is something else. And I say that passionately because lately here it’s been ungodly. Last summer we spent a happy afternoon walking around downtown Albuquerque when it was 95 degrees with no clouds in sight. We barely broke a sweat and our energy stayed high all day long. When it dropped below 85 it almost felt COOL outside because of how dry it was. Today in D.C., it’s chokingly humid, which takes a toll on your energy level and your mood (yeah, makes you crabby). You just want to curl up in the air conditioning and watch DVDs all day.
Home prices are outrageous, and appreciating by the minute. Our townhouse (4 bedrooms/4 bathrooms/3 finished levels, etc.) cost us $150,000 5 years ago. Today we could get $325,000 easily if not more. For a TOWNHOUSE.
As a rabid Redskins fans, I’ll tell you there are 2 kinds of Redskins fans in D.C. Those who live and breathe the Skins, and who think that Joe Gibbs returning to coach is the Second Coming. Then there are those who root for the Skins when they are winning, and when we hit a bad streak they declare that “the Skins suck” and go root for the Packers or the Chiefs or God Forbid the Dallas Cowboys. Don’t be one of those fans. We’ll happily welcome you in the sacred group of Skins devotees, but only if you stay that way.
And all D.C. sports teams suck right now. As in REALLY REALLY suck. Our baseball team (well, it’s the Baltimore Orioles, but our home team in a way) are in LAST PLACE, the Wizards completely stink, the Capitals stink, and the football season hasn’t started but last year the Redskins couldn’t do squat.
It’s true what someone else wrote about culture shock, it will be if you’re never been here. D.C. is a strange mix of the old and new. On every other block there are “beautiful people” clubs and restaurants, amazing places to see art and concerts. Then there is the memory of DC being a southern enough town where people of my dad’s age (54) remember “white” and “colored” water fountains even though DC public schools were integrated in 1954 . Some neighborhoods still haven’t recovered economically even though there are great strides to make it so (such as the Anacostia waterfront project). You’ll likely find a happy medium between these two extremes, just give yourself time to find it. And welcome to our city, we’re happy to have you here!
I would hereby like to temper my previous post with a “welcome, Bluekangaroo – you will love this city!” I know I sounded like an old curmudgeon, and I’m not really; as I said, just tired of the rat race and ready for a subdued life and slower pace away from traffic, crime, discourtesy, etc., etc. I love D. C. – for the reasons already posted; it’s a beautiful city. I love the low skyline (you can have the “Big Apple” and skyscrapers), and the many parks and trees everywhere; the history, the monuments, the FREE museums; theaters… D. C. has it all. There are so many positives to living in or near D. C., and I’m afraid I focused on the negatives (which you will find in most any city). And, let’s not forget, even though D. C. residents have no voting representative in Congress, there is a cachet to living in the capital of the USA! (But, you can’t call yourself a Washingtonian if you live in the 'burbs!)
So, welcome, enjoy, be a courteous driver, use only a hands-free cell phone (new law in D.C.), keep your cool, and you’ll end up loving the city too.
I’m a bit puzzled by the reference in the OP to airtight canisters. Canisters for what? Food? I suppose if you live in an apartment that has bug issues, you might want something airtight.
Like everyone else said, the humidity sucks but you’ll adapt. Regarding places to live/work: think very carefully about this. I’ve seen lots of people (mostly new co-workers) move to DC without taking this into consideration and ending up with some heinous commute, even though it doesn’t look that far on the map. When either one of you gets a job, check into whether it offers pre-tax commuter options, which can save you money on Metro and parking.
There’s a commuting/traffic column in the Washington Post called Dr. Gridlock, which should give you a handle on common routes/roads in the area: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/metro/columns/drgridlock/
Re: Southeast DC. Most of the area around Capitol Hill, where the four quadrants touch, is pretty decent. It’s when you get deeper into Southeast (especially east of the river) that things get bad. Parts of Northeast can be hairy too (especially the part referred to as Trinidad/Gallaudet in real estate listings).
Southwest is an area not a lot of people think about, but there are some nice, slightly less expensive options there.
I live in Columbia Heights, which is just north of the U Street-Cardozo area and east of Adams Morgan. Real estate prices for some buildings are through the roof (over half a million for rowhouses) but there are still some affordable (mid $700 +) apartments in the area.
Have fun! DC is a great place to live…I don’t think I’d survive anywhere else.