This is a sponsored post by Taylor Ryan of Apartment Showcase.

Let’s compare $1,200 monthly rent in Reston vs. other areas in the Washington, DC Metropolitan area.

First, take a look at Colvin Woods in Reston:

This community has a clubhouse, pool, business center, 24 hour emergency maintenance, tennis courts, a fitness center, and more. It’s less than a mile from the Dulles Toll road and prides itself on being pet friendly. This is a perfect place for someone who works in Reston or Tysons Corner.  Colvin Woods advertises a 728-square foot,  one-bedroom apartment for roughly $1,200.

Now let’s compare the above Reston apartment with similarly priced one bedroom one bath apartments around the Washington, DC Metropolitan area:

In Alexandria, not far from Route 1, is another community that comes with a pool, playground, picnic and BBQ area. If you go with a one-bedroom, one-bath apartment, you can expect to pay roughly $1,200, depending on the size of the place (680 – 810 square feet). For those who commute to Ft. Belvoir or Old Town Alexandria and want to snag a deal on a place to live, try The Courts of Mt Vernon. You can rent a 686-square-foot, one- bedroom apartment at The Courts of Mt Vernon for $1,139 monthly.

Maybe DC is your thing? Southwest, DC has seen a massive amounts of construction, remodeling, and restoration of apartment buildings. Located in walkable distance between five Metro stops and Nationals Park, Capitol Park Plaza is ideal for someone who commutes via Metro.

This property is gated, with a swimming pool, fitness center, covered parking, and allows both dogs and cats. You’ll find a 575-square-foot, one bedroom for around $1,200 monthly. This apartment is smaller than the apartments in Reston and Alexandria, but it’s really the location most people find so alluring about Capitol Park Plaza.

Finding affordable places in Northwest can sometimes be a real challenge. We found a community with 425- square-foot efficiency apartments for $1,200 at the The Kenmore. This property is a few blocks from the Friendship Heights Metro and is located near the border of Maryland and the District. Commuters have not only a short commute, but a lively nightlife to look forward to on the weekends at this location. The Kenmore has an on-staff concierge, covered parking, and picnic areas.

There are plenty of affordable places in Maryland. One great property to keep an eye on is Queens Park Plaza in Hyattsville. A short distance from the the West Hayattsville Metro, this property allows commuters of DC or Maryland to find an affordable place close to work. Like the others above, the Queens Park Plaza community is dog friendly and averages out to 725-square-foot, one-bedroom, one-bath for $1,200.

You have many options in the Washington, DC area when you are looking for an apartment community.  Make a list of what is really important to you when deciding on a new community. Price, location, size and amenities should be on your list. Compare all of your options and you will find the perfect place.

This is a sponsored post by Taylor Ryan of Apartment Showcase.

Consumers today are more tech obsessed than ever. “Tech” products improve and change so frequently, it’s now a struggle just to keep up with what’s new.

One of the fastest growing markets in this industry is known as the “Internet of Things,” or “IOT” for short. This type of technology covers all the things around us, including and not limited to: smart environments, wearables, and smart devices that measure us and react to our every move. Like it or not, the areas around us are going to become responsive and engage us more regularly.

For example, cars are becoming smarter. More cars are equipped with a feature that automatically slows down to avoid front end collisions  using advanced sensors and interconnected devices. At this rate, many futurists predict driverless cars will become the standard within 20 years.

What about your apartment in the future? Will the place you live soon be filled with smart products that help you think less and automate more? This new tech craze can bring us closer to living more comfortably or it might do the opposite. Which of these new smart products do we really need? Are we trying to discover solutions for problems we don’t think we have? You be the judge. Below are some of the most interesting and odd products that you might find irresistible in your apartment of the future:

Smart Appliances

Your refrigerator will eventually have the ability to know when products are running low, missing, and expiring. This smart refrigerator may become the standard in the next 20 years, but right now it seems like a rather opulent feature. See more in this YouTube video.

Let’s say you’re pressed for time and you want to know the exact moment that your clothes in the laundry are done. In a world where you need to be as efficient as possible and everything is connected, you can expect to get a notification on your phone from your laundry units. See more in this YouTube video.

Smart Food/Drink
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This is a sponsored post by Taylor Ryan of Apartment Showcase. Rental Trends runs alternating Thursdays on Reston Now.

Moving can be expensive, time consuming, and stressful. Here are some tips to save you from the pitfalls and hassles of moving! For additional tips on moving and finding apartments, stop by the Apartment Showcase blog.

Boxes

Boxes are meant to be free — Have you seen how much brand new cardboard boxes go for these days? U-Haul sells moving “kits” for no cheaper than $68.74. That’s madness! Considering you’re almost certainly going to toss the boxes out after you move, the act of buying those boxes is literally the equivalent to throwing your money away. You may not believe it, but other people fell for buying new boxes. Now they have lightly used boxes that they don’t want to throw away (because they spent money on them), but need the boxes to go away. This may be why craigslist was created. On any given day, you can find an assortment of boxes on the “free” section of craigslist. Find a listing near you and snag yourself enough boxes to get the job done. Always grab more than you think you need.

Packing

Keep similar things together — If you’re packing up the kitchen, make it easier on your future self and only pack kitchen supplies in that box and label it. Labeling will help save you trips and keep you organized. The only exception to this rule is below.

Packing supplies — If you’re thinking about buying packing paper for your plates/dishes; don’t. Newspaper does the exact same job. For larger objects that are bit more delicate, use blankets, towels, and clothing to soften the blow. A small note on tape, there isn’t much of a difference between what they sell at the dollar store to what is sold at the Penske truck rental center, except for the price.

Transporting

Renting a truck — Schedule your move in advance. Not only do you want to make sure the Apartment Community knows what day you’ll be moving in, but you need to make sure you have a truck reserved if you need one. You can’t expect to reserve a moving truck the day before your stuff has to be out of your old place. It might make for a funny story later, but it only serves as an agonizingly stressful speed bump in the moving process. Sometimes there are specials and coupon codes online that can save you $20+ on your truck. Do a quick google search for, “Moving truck coupon code” or something similar to it and you’ll find some deals. And just like a rental car, make sure you put gas back in the tank before you return the truck.

Rental truck insurance — A quick google search of “Should I buy insurance on my moving truck” will confuse and worry you. Do you know for certain that your personal auto policy will cover that truck? What are the exceptions in their policy? Before you fork over the extra $25-$50 that might not even cover you in case of an accident, place a quick call to your insurance agent and find what their policy is on moving trucks. You pay them every month to answer your questions.

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This is a sponsored post by Taylor Ryan of Apartment Showcase.

Looking for a new apartment? Keep these tips in mind to save time and money.

1. Set Your Budget

Renting an apartment should be thought of as a major financial decision. Granted it’s only for a year at a time, rent can be the largest monthly payment you will regularly make. On average, you should only spend between 20 percent and 30 percent of your monthly income on rent. For many of us, it’s a much higher percentage.

Rent isn’t cheap in Reston or in the Washington, DC metropolitan area. Face it, you’re going to have to make a decision that you might be stuck with for at least a year. Let’s make sure you’re making the right choice.

First, decide on a budget. What is the price that you can live with while feasibly managing other bills, expenses, and costs that go along with living in this area? Use one of the many online monthly budget calculators like, The Budget Calculator and find out how much you can afford to spend on rent.

Once you have set a dollar figure that you can part ways with monthly, do a search based on that price. Websites like ApartmentShowcase.com do a great job of letting people search listings by rent price. See an example here on our site.

2. Know what time of year rent is the least expensive:

Did you know that rent prices fluctuate during the year depending on demand? There are multiple schools of thought on the best time of year to get a deal on an apartment. During the Summer and early Fall, you will have far more options but prices are higher. According to lifehacker.com, the sweet spot is October through December and then again from February through March. Many people aren’t willing to move during  cold months or during the holidays.
3. View more than one place:

Just because finding your next place is stressful, it doesn’t mean you should just go with the first place you saw because you want to be done with it. You need to see multiple places in order to compare experiences. Visits are an important way to gain insight into what’s important to you (distance to the metro, cleanliness, friendliness of staff, noise, neighbors, etc.) Despite what you’ve read online, seeing is believing. Read More

This is a sponsored post by Taylor Ryan of Apartment Showcase. Rental Trends runs alternating Thursdays on Reston Now.

People are drawn to Reston for all kinds of reasons. Many like it for its beauty; others like it because it’s the right mix of suburbia. Some enjoy the community, and others like it’s convenience for work. Reston also offers a colorful range of indoor and outdoor activities. Let’s break down some great things to do in Reston.

Things to do:

Reston has a number of hidden gems that you need to take a day to experience. Grab a few friends or the family and stop over at The Water Mine at Lake Fairfax Park. This place is a great time for young and old. It’s a well-kept (cleanliness is important in water parks) medium-sized water park with a lazy river, water slides, obstacle courses, and more.

After the water park, play some Frisbee golf at Lake Fairfax. If that’s not your thing, maybe you’re into fishing? They stock the lake every year to allow anyone to come by and spend some time reeling in a bass, trout, sunfish, etc. You will also find picnic areas with grills and a skate park.

Of course I’m going to mention the Reston Zoo. This place has a petting barn (you’re never too old to pet a baby goat), grazing area, and a reptile. The price is right, currently $12.95 for an adult ticket and $9.95 for children under 12.

Maybe you want to get away from it all and grab a coffee and curl up with a book. Take a quick trip out to Lake Anne. It’s almost never crowded during the week and it includes a cozy used book store, a few restaurants, RA boat rentals, stand up paddleboarding, a handful of shops, and a farmers market on Saturdays.

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This is a sponsored post by Taylor Ryan of Apartment Showcase.

We all enjoy getting a deal and saving some money. Apartment shopping can be stressful and time consuming. There a few things you can do in order to save yourself some time, money, and headaches.

Timing: This is simply a supply-and-demand scenario. If there are far fewer people renting during the winter months, then you’ve got a much higher chance of getting a better deal. When apartments sit vacant, the management company loses money.

A property is much more likely to be hard pressed for new renters between Thanksgiving and the first of the year. Less people are looking to move during this time frame, so the chances that the apartment community is offering a rent reduction is greater.

Set up an appointment and show up like you’re ready to move in that day: My grandpa used to go on cruises for nearly 80 percent off many years ago because he would often show up to the dock with a suitcase in hand on the day of a cruise departure. He was friendly, courteous, and pointed out that empty rooms meant lost opportunities to make money.

After you do your homework, set an appointment to view an apartment two weeks prior to the end of the month. Bring a recent credit report, two forms of identification, a letter from previous landlord(s) as to your competency. If you’re really playing ball, bring two blank checks for a security deposit and application form. Avoid being pushy; rent if they’re willing to take a deposit that day.

Off the beaten path: Sometimes apartment communities don’t do a great job advertising their dire need for people to fill their vacancies. Sometimes properties are run in an “old-school” fashion and many will rely on signs/ foot traffic to do all the advertising for them. Maybe you’re out running errands and spot an apartment community that seems like it could be worth exploring. There’s no harm in going in and getting some information from the leasing office, concierge, or looking up the property online to set an appointment to view the place later.

You’re often more likely to get a direct and quick answer for pricing and availability questions in person rather than over the phone.

Search online properly: Many rental properties advertise deals through websites like ApartmentShowcase.com. You can save a month’s worth of rent often by locating these deals, but be sure to let the leasing agent know where you found the community when you make your final decision to rent the apartment.

Get real reviews: Ask current residents if they like the community you are considering. Beware that while Internet reviews may get you the dirt you’re looking for, 62 percent people who write reviews are angry and venting about one particular occurrence and not the overall experience. Just make sure you “read between the lines.”