Thurs. Afternoon Rental Option – Bachelor Studio by U Street (reader request)

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by Prince Of Petworth April 4, 2013 at 3:00 pm 70 Comments

bachelor_studio

This rental is located at 2013 New Hampshire Ave, NW:

The Apartment-

The apartment is 275 sq. ft. It has a large walk in closet, a kitchenette in the main room with counter tops, cabinets, a microwave, a burner appliance and a refrigerator. It does not have a kitchen sink or stove. The apartment also has freshly refinished hardwood floors and large southern exposure windows overlooking downtown DC. The bathroom is a full bath with a beautiful claw foot tub.

The apartment is perfect for someone who is a global traveler and needs a quiet place to rest between trips. It would also be a wonderful city residence for a part time Washingtonian or a first time apartment for someone who wants to live alone, but still live in the heart of the city.

The Building-

Constructed in 1926, the Hampton Courts has the elegant appeal of early 20th century architecture. The building is equipped with two elevators, a secure intercom entrance, and a laundry room with a card payment system.

The Address-

2013 New Hampshire Ave. NW is a quiet one way street shaded by large oak trees. It is just steps away from the intersection of U St. and 16th St. NW.

This studio is going for $1125 Utilities Included.

Pcat

Isn’t a sink required to get a certificate of occupancy? I would look carefully before I spent $1150 on an apt without a sink or stove.
- Anonymous
  
  It has a kitchen sink. I’ve seen a few listings for “bachelor” studios and they seem like a good deal for someone who doesn’t cook at all (definitely not me but there are a lot of those people out there). This one is, in fact, nicer than most because it’s above-ground and has a full size fridge! The microwave on top of the fridge is a little baffling but can obviously be moved. :)
  - Anonymous
    
    Sorry, I meant it has a bathroom sink. Just not one in the kitchen.
  - em
    
    Doing dishes in the bathroom? No thanks.
    - Anonymous
      
      No different than living in a dorm, really. Probably cheaper than what most of these universities charge for housing. I’m not saying this is an ideal situation but a college student or someone right out of college would probably be willing to put up with it.
Anonymous

That’s absurd. And likely illegal. And still too much.
- Anonymous
  
  I gotta say that I’m surprised by the complaints. While obviously not an apartment for someone who wants to do a lot of cooking, or wants a lot of space, I’d still say it’s an extraordinarily good deal for the right person. If I didn’t own a home and have a live-in partner, I’d apply for it right away. The location is good, the place looks fine, and it’s CHEAP! (despite the comments from those who managed to win the rent control lottery or find a landlord who doesn’t have a good sense of the market).
Anonymous

Terrible deal. I looked at a studio with a real kitchen in this building (about 450 sq ft) last year that was about $1200, not too much more than this.
- Anonymous
  
  Wow, really? That is an insanely good deal. Were utilities included with that one too?
  - Anonymous
    
    Yes I think so. It’s not the fanciest building but it has everything you need. This building and the one on New Hampshire between V and W street across from the church both had really good deals on studios apartments when I was looking. They went fast (I didn’t get an apartment at either building) and I never saw them advertised on Craigslist or anything.
    - zero_sum
      
      Yes, this building is quite affordable. My friend was actually subletting an apartment in this building – a large 2BR, 1BA corner unit for around $1600/month from her relative who was out of the country for a few years. There’s nothing fancy about the place, but it’s clean and has some charming details.
      
      Quite a few of the buildings within a few blocks of here have some good deals like that. They usually are not advertised, as the management company gets plenty of referrals.
      - Anonymous
        
        Wow, I wish I knew about that when I moved to the area in 2005 and was looking for a no-frills studio. I eventually did find one but it was in Virginia.
    - Anonymous
      
      Yeah, I used to live in this building and all utilities are included. It’s a great location, too–really walkable to everything. It’s not a fancy new place but it is a nice place to live. I really liked it. The only thing I didn’t like was my teeny tiny kitchen, but it at least had a full size stove and sink!
      
      I’ve known people who lived in places like this. It’s not for me, but there really are people who don’t cook at all. If you never use a stove, why not rent a cheaper studio without one, I guess? However, this building in general is a great deal, so personally I’d hold out for a place with a full kitchen.
Jason

That’s insane! Even for DC.
- Anonymous
  
  It’s insane for DC, but for U Street? Not really.
jack5

It has no sink, yet a full size fridge?! You could completely add 50% more space to the tiled area there with a dorm size fridge and then you’d have a whole extra 2 feet to stretch your legs in! Who designed this place? The Green Giant?!?
- textdoc
  
  Nah, this is a much better arrangement.
  
  I rarely use my stove (and use my microwave a lot), but I’d have to draw the line at having only a dorm-size fridge. Those are small even for college students living alone, and the tiny freezers usually don’t keep anything frozen.
  - Anonymous
    
    I lived in an apartment for 7 years without a stove or oven (technically, the apartment had a perfectly fine stove, but there was some hoop-jumping required to turn on the gas service because of the location of the meters in our building and some issues the previous tenants had with arrears, so I just got too lazy to deal with it). Looking back on it now, it seems insane (and now that I *do* cook, I wonder how/why I ever went without), but I was in my 20s and hated cooking and was perfectly happy to get by with a microwave and toaster oven. It would have been a little weird to wash dishes in the bathroom, but I agree, I would rather have a full-size (or at least a small-ish full-size) fridge than a dorm-size fridge, if it meant giving up the kitchen sink.
peachykeen

Soo they are going to be like Kramer and just wash their bodies and their food in the same place?
- Anonymous
  
  Maybe they can get the landlord to install a garbage disposal in the shower :D
fvigaud

ridiculous
WalbridgeGuy

The only other way to pay this little is living in a group house and even then it looks to me like it’s getting hard to find a room this cheap. If you’re 22 and in your first barely-paid job, why the hell not?
- Anonymous
  
  If you being barely paid, can you afford to eat out or get take out for every meal (except maybe breakfast cereal)?
  - Anonymous
    
    College kids have managed to eat cheaply with just a microwave and fridge for years. If you have a couple of plug-in appliances you can expand your cooking repertoire even further. Or, if you are well paid but like to eat out you might as well save some money and not have an oven.
    - Anonymous
      
      Most college kids have a meal plan.
      - Anonymous
        
        Only if the college forces them to.
      - Anonymous
        
        Agreed. I couldn’t wait to get off the meal plan when I was in college. Don’t know about DC students, but I went to college in a big city, and after freshman year when hall-stylee living and meal plans were required, almost everyone I knew lived in apartment-style dorms or in off-campus apartments.
Anonymous

I had a similar set up with a sink only in the bathroom when I was in the Peace Corps. But I was, you know, in the Peace Corps. And not paying $1200 per month. I wasn’t even paying $1200 per year.
- Anonymous
  
  Being an RPCV is a great experience but pretty much everything over there is normal. No running water, no electricity, no diversity of food, no rain the list goes on. But living in DC you should know that no one in America wants to live in the average Peace Corps house as a primary residence. This is purely a room to bring the mistress. The fridge is for the champagne.
Anonymous

The good news is that they allow cats.
- Anonymous
  
  Oh wonderful, so you can stand in your cat’s litter box in the middle of the living-room/bedroom. Bleh.
Anonymous

I live a few buildings down in a large studio with a full kitchen and pay $1,275. All utilities included.
- Anonymous
  
  Damn. Do you have any idea how many people would kill for that kind of deal?
  - Anonymous
    
    Yes! I got lucky and was able to snag the apartment from a friend a few years ago (it was less than $1,100 at that point). Gotta love rent control!
    - zero_sum
      
      Exactly. Rental control is applied to all rental buildings built & occupied prior to 1976 and where a person/company owns more than 4 rental units in the residence.
      
      That’s pretty much all of the rental buildings in the U Street/16th Street area. There’s plenty of good deals to be had in this area and they typically won’t pop up on CL or PoP’ville.
  - 15thstnw
    
    My building is at the other end of Meridian Hill Park and has studios for about $1200. When I moved into the building in Dec ’09, studios were just under $1K. As zero_zum said, rent control keeps a lot of these places from having crazy rent.
    - 15thstnw
      
      And I didn’t find my apartment on CL, and my building rarely advertises on it. Sometimes best way to get a good deal on rent is to pound the pavement and stop by buildings that have signs up in front.
Anonymous

Unless you were someone who hardly ever lived here, you would have to be a real idiot to apply to live here at this price. Lord knows this planet is full of idiots, though.
- Anonymous
  
  Even if you didn’t spend much time at home it sounds like you can get a studio with a full kitchen for the same price at this location (I’m surprised but apparently they’re pretty common) so this is still a bad deal.
Anonymous

…or this is a prime spot for adultery on the cheap
- Anonymous
  
  I’d get it, furnish it, and rent it out to vacationers on airbnb.
  - zero_sum
    
    The neighbors would rat you out to the landlord rather quickly.
    - dupontred
      
      Yeah, the very aware building manager would not put up with that.
- Mary Kate
  
  Pete Campbell, is that you?
Anonymous

Is it legal to have a residential unit with no stove? That is just a horrible lack of any effort. Ick!
dupontred

This is my building. I moved into one of these apartments in 1996 for $365. I’m in a 2-bedroom now.

All utilities included.

No kitchen sink. Washed dishes in the sink, when needed. Dried dishes on the radiator next to sink. No biggies. I had a microwave and a hotpot. I was young, and I managed. Didn’t do a whole lot of dishes with out an oven/stove.

Obviously, it’s gone up a lot, but still: you can get your own place for $1125, utilities included. For a lot of 20-somethings, having your own place is way more than important than to bake.

It’s a good building, well-run, clean and safe.

In an ideal world, is this a good deal? Probably not. In this neighborhood, and much of DC, where one bedrooms can cost $2000? Sure.
victoria

Wow -that’s $25.00 more then I’ve been charging for a 500 square foot, true 1 bdrm. with full kitchen, 1 block to CH metro. Tenant is moving out this summer – guess I’m raising the rent!
Anonymous

you only have room for 0.5-1 guests in this place. so anything you need to cook you can do in a toaster oven.
- Anonymous
  
  With a toaster oven and a hot plate you could cook most things. I think the hardest part would be the sink situation. The bathroom sink doesn’t look very big and would probably be getting clogged all the time with food.
  - AMDCer
    
    Or just go to Costco and buy a jumbo pack of paper plates…
  - thebear
    
    Most likely, the kind of person renting this would just be crashing there for a night or 2 at a time. Takeout food or basic heat-and-serve with disposable utensils. Bathroom sink appears to be standard DC size so you can wash a mug, small bowl, and silverware in it. They certainly would not be having the family over for Thanksgiving dinner.
Anonymous

As someone who has rented three apartments in the U street area recently (all on a budget!), I can tell you that this is a decent deal. It’s true, there are some illusive proper studios in the 1200s floating around. But really, with utilities included, this is reasonable. No stove would be a deal-breaker for me but if it isn’t for you, go for it. If you want to live without roommates and want to be in this area this is as cheap a place as you will ever find.
thebear

While probably not suitable for most of us, it is a good deal for someone who is in town on a regular basis but doesn’t need/want a full-fledged apartment. Infinitely cheaper than a hotel. A friend of mine owns a house on Corcoran St that he rents-out a small studio (about the size of this but with a properly appointed kitchenette) for $3200 a month, $1500 a week, or $400 per night.

And, this is Versailles compared to some of the places I came across in Manhattan back in the 1970s and 1980s that were going for rents that (in those days’ dollars) would be more than this. One of the most outlandish ones I saw had a countertop with sink hinged to the bathtub (that was in the kitchen). Flip up the counter and you had a bath. Oh, and the toilet was a WC in the hall, shared with another apartment. Convenient, pleasant Greenwich Village location. Big window but not much light because it was on the back of the building and the other buildings around it blocked the sun. About the size of my bedroom here (10’x12′). Had a loft bed. In 1986 they wanted $890 for it.
Anonymous

if this is what 275 sqft goes for these days, I’m glad I’m out of the game… this is terrifying…
Logan_Lady

I rent from the same property company that owns this *Bachelor Studio* but in a different bldg. off Logan Circle. I have about 415sf and a full kitchen and I pay $1,236 but I’ve been here more than a decade. It’s gotten to be too much. I’m moving out to the burbs later this year where I can get a small 1BR with a garbage disposal and dishwasher. For $1,236 I should in the very least have a garbage disposal.
- Anonymous
  
  Its funny what different people require. I hate garbage disposals and would rather not have one.
  - Anonymous
    
    what is to hate about them? i can see not using one, by why hate?
    - Anonymous
      
      I’d rather not have decomposing food waste just sitting there, and if it’s not a good quality disposal it’s another thing that is constantly malfunctioning and needing to be repaired. I’m also grossed out by it being connected to the dishwasher.
      - Anonymous
        
        if you use it, then you don’t have decomposing food, it goes down the drain.
        just like sometimes happens when you are washing dishes, only it is even less likely to clog the drain.
    - Anonymous
      
      They scare me. I’m always worried that something small and metal (like a measuring spoon) slipped down and will kick back and hit me if I turn it on, or that it’s somehow going to get turned on when I’m not expecting it.
thomsenite

I could only do this as a crash pad if I say worked in DC half time. Kitchen is non-negotiable for my home.
Anonymous

I live in this building now, but in a 2br. Like others have said, the building is nothing fancy, but it’s a great place to live and you can’t beat the location. The management hasn’t caused me any headaches. My only complaint is that the laundry room is only open from 7 am to 9 pm, which is aggravating and irrational. But seriously, that’s my only complaint.
Anonymous

Being 30 and having a live-in partner and two dogs, I definitely could not imagine living in this small of a space now. My 22-year-old self would have LOVED it though. No roommates? Oh man, that would have been grand.
Anonymous

I cannot believe there are people saying this is a good deal. WTF is wrong with this city?

Given that the occupant can’t cook anything, he/she will be spending like another $1000/month going out to eat for *every single meal.* Who does this? Moreover, why is there a full-size refrigerator?
DupontDweller

I live in a similar type studio with “no kitchen”, and I really enjoy it. My building has some fun charms, hardwood floors, clawfoot tub, original woodwork from the 1930’s. Its not a fancy building but seems to work, and much rather prefer it than living in some stale apartment in the suburbs or living with 6 other people in a group house.
As far as not having a kitchen, thats an easy fix. A toaster oven, and two burner countertop range (both can be bought from Target) and PRESTO! instant kitchen.
Im not sure what the love affair is about with having huge apartments are in this country? How much space do you REALLY need if you get rid of all your crap that just wastes space. I rather enjoy a micro-apartment :)
- Caroline
  
  I agree. Back when I didn’t have a girlfriend and dogs and way too much stuff I would have seriously considered an apartment like this. I LOVE to cook but I’d much rather have the good location and the natural light than live in a basement with a full size oven.
raymo-in-ledroit

I strongly suspect many of the anonymous posting here are from the person with the unit for rent. They are too quick to defend each complaint of some aspect as a feature, like a pushy saleperson.
- manimal
  
  i don’t know. seems like a decent enough deal to me if you are able to live that way. in my 20’s i could easily have lived without a full kitchen. and lots of 20somethings make enough money to cover that rent.
  
  i didn’t but i’ve made dumb choices in life.
Bananers

I guess “diversity” in this neighborhood is going to start to be measured by peoples’ investment portfolios.
- Anonymous
  
  as opposed to what? it’s like like it’s been all that “diverse” before.

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