Looking for a 3-4 bedroom house for rent in Georgetown or Tenleytown. Help?

April 25, 2009 5:11 PM

Moving to DC, looking to rent in Tenleytown or Georgetown. But, I'm having a hard time finding good "house" rental listings. Ideally, we're looking for 4 bedrooms (3 plus an office of some sort), close to metro, some kind of yard would be nice. We're looking to keep it under $4k per month. Starting in June and we're here at least 2 years. Any thoughts of where there might be some good listings (besides Craigslist), or if you know of a good one for rent that might fit, let me know. Thanks!
posted by wflanagan to home & garden (14 comments total)

Not amazing, but the Washington Post has a rental search. You can select houses, it's not just apartments.
posted by chiraena at 5:51 PM on April 25

Well, you can't be close to the metro if you want to be in Georgetown. That's a start.
posted by allen.spaulding at 5:52 PM on April 25

"Besides Craigslist" means checking local papers or getting in touch with a realtor.
posted by valkyryn at 5:54 PM on April 25

washington city paper also has listings...
posted by stratastar at 5:59 PM on April 25

Your ideal there may involve desires that are working against each other. Houses will be in Georgetown, but there are no Metro stops, as allen.spaulding notes. You'll have to go across the bridge to Rosslyn, across town to Foggy Bottom or up to Dupont Circle to get the Metro, and none of those will be appealing at rush hour. But the Red Line (which does run through Tenleytown) is more heavily surrounded by apartments for at least several blocks. My advice would be that the Metro ain't moving and you're better off looking in Tenleytown and accepting a longer walk to the station in the morning.

I'm also a bit pessimistic about finding that large a house for under $4k. My old one bedroom apartment in south Arlington - a far cry from Tenleytown - was about $1500 the last I checked. Prices have long since crested and receded a bit, but DC's economic fundamentals are stronger than the places really dragging the housing market down. If price is a big deal, I'd look across the river in Arlington or Alexandria, too. You get on the same Metro there that you do in Tenleytown.
posted by el_lupino at 6:32 PM on April 25 [1 favorite]

I just moved out of a 4-br house in West Arlington; we paid $2500/mo - so what you're looking for is do-able. Might want to try Clarendon/Courthouse - they're close to the Metro, only a few minutes away from the District, and much lower taxes to boot!
posted by downing street memo at 6:53 PM on April 25

4 bedrooms, yard, Tenleytown, near metro, under $4k? It would be easier to find something on the moon.
posted by Electrius at 7:08 PM on April 25

Yeah, that's what we're worried about. Clearly, we're going to be looking at compromise. I think some of the thoughts in here are really good. Thanks. Please keep them coming if you have them...
posted by wflanagan at 7:19 PM on April 25

Definitely check realtor websites - I relied solely on craigslist until I clicked through to a Long & Foster listing, then realized I could search for apartments on their website too. Duh. Found an adorable 2 bedroom house in Arlington for very cheap (didn't work out though) but now the realtor we worked with is searching the database trying to find us compatible places. So it's worth a shot.
posted by kerning at 9:03 PM on April 25

This strikes me as the sort of project where it's likely to be worth finding a realtor to work with, rather than just relying on craigslist etc, since those houses tend to go to older/less tech-savvy/wealthier people.
posted by raf at 10:49 PM on April 25

Tenleytown and Georgetown aren't really that close to one another. Could you be more specific as what it is you'd like to be close to?
posted by bardic at 11:15 PM on April 25

Work is in Georgetown. But, we consider Georgetown to be completely unlikely. However, we were hopeful that we could find some place in Tenleytown as it's very accessible to Georgetown via bus and metro.

So, I guess "easy commute to Georgetown", easily on the bike or walkable, would be ideal.
posted by wflanagan at 5:29 AM on April 26

Have you considered the Glover Park neighborhood? It's very close to Georgetown, it has lots of porch-front row houses with tiny yards, and it has a lot of young families if that's your thing.
posted by ImproviseOrDie at 7:06 AM on April 26

I would check out Glover Park/Burleith or the Wesley Heights neighborhood - I've for sure seen rowhouses for rent in Glover Park for $3500ish. I would contact a real estate agent b/c when I search on Long & Foster, lots of rentals come up.
posted by echo0720 at 2:28 PM on April 26