Recommended Reviews for Washington Apartments

1 check-in

I give this place 4 stars - because yes there are some drawbacks, but I am a huge fan and would definitely recommend this place to others.

I lived here from July 2011-2012. I lived in a second floor, 2 bed on 7th and M St. We paid $1795 plus a $99 deposit, which we got back in full. If we had stayed and signed another 1 year lease, the rent would have increased a flat $75. If we had chosen a month to month agreement (versus another lease) - we would have been charge market rate for the apartment, which would have caused our rent to increase around $100.

I viewed the model - which at the time was the same layout as the apartment available that I wanted. Washington Apartments has several buildings in 3 different locations around Mt Vernon Square. I wanted to be as close to the metro as possible and wanted to be on 7th st. This is probably the noisy location - you have 7th st traffic, which included buses and freight trucks. My apartment was street side (versus parking lot facing) and YES you hear the buses, hooligans on a Friday night, and traffic in the morning, occasionally a protest at the convention center. But this is the trade off for a great location. Either way, since WashApts has 3 different locations - you can really find what you are looking for.

Reserving the apartment was very easy - it cost maybe $40 per person for the credit check, we had to complete some paperwork, and then once we were approved put down a $99 deposit. If we had found another apartment, then we could have very easily walked away from WashApts because we didn't sign the lease until the day of move-in. You can pay rent with check or credit card and I think they set up online payment. I paid by check and dropped it off at the office around the street. I typically loaded up my laundry card at the office at the same time, because you can only load money onto the laundry card at the office.

Move-in day went great - the apartment was freshly painted and carpet cleaned when we moved in.

Living there - ok, a couple things - This is clearly a mixed income/diverse community. You have to accept that. It really pisses me off when prissy white people who have never lived in a city are like - 'this place isn't safe' because there are residents sitting on the stoop of the building. DC is a front porch/stoop sitting city. I never felt unsafe in this building EVER!

Noise in the building - my upstairs neighbor played music loudly and had a kid who jumped on everything. I spoke to her and the management a few times. It never changed. It wasn't unbearable, just annoying. I accept this a living in an apartment. I know other people who live in the WashApts who have had worse experiences with noise, some no issues. I guess its just luck.

Pests - We had a few bugs in the bathroom on the interior wall (ie facing the apartment next to ours) in July when we moved in - they came a sprayed and then no problems. We had a mouse - we saw it, we screamed - we saw a couple poops - we called Dan in management - they put traps up and plugged holes in the walls and under the door to the HVAC with copper batting to keep the mouse out. We had our oven replaced because the mouse pulled the cotton batting down from the oven sides to make a little nest in the rails of the bottom drawer. We didn't have a huge problem with pests because we were clean in our apartment. Of course, its hard to get rid of a mouse if you never clean the crumbs out of your toaster oven - that's not WashApts fault. My tip - definitely check the oven when you move in and if there is mouse poop in the rails of the bottom drawer, ask for a new oven. Check the door to the HVAC, under the kitchen sink, bathroom sink, behind the fridge, and behind the oven - ensure all holes are plugged with copper batting - mice are great at getting into small places. Also, don't let the residents of your building prop open the door to the building for any reason 1) safety and 2) rats from outside want to come inside. Rats are not WashApts fault - DC is infested with rats. Seriously, go to your ANC meeting - DC City government literally has a rat department. Overall on pests - WashApts was extremely responsive to any requests to have pest control work done. And personally - I've lived in old buildings are were disgusting compared to WashApts.

Packages were kind of annoying because the office wouldn't accept packages for you and if you weren't home, you can't get stuff from FedEx or UPS because they don't have keys to the building. This was a problem for me because I couldn't get packages at my office.

The laundry room was great! I specifically wanted to be on the same floor of the laundry - so we chose a 2nd floor apartment. It costs $1.75 per wash or dry and you can use a credit card to load money onto the laundry card.

Other than that - great location, price, dishwasher, huge rooms, walk-in closet, and clean - if you are asking for more - go live in Arlington!

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