I will also be transferring to DC this summer, as the Navy needs me in Bethesda more than they need me in San Diego. The closest I have found to Piggington is http://www.bubblemeter.blogspot.com. It’s nowhere near as informative or active as Piggington, which is why I still come here, but its focus is the DC area. I would LOVE to find a searchable database for the DC area MLS as good as SDLookup, but so far I havn’t found it. Homesdatabase, cited in the previous post is not as user friendly.
I’m currently looking in the northern suburbs, especially Rockville, Silver Spring and Gaithersburg, as their commute to the Naval Medical Center looks reasonable and possibly bikeable, weather permitting. Definitely some nice homes there on big pieces of property. Since I’m looking to be there at least 3 years, and I don’t think I can rent what I’m looking for at the same monthly payment, I’m almost certainly buying. Even if it loses a little value, the rent/own equation makes a lot more sense there. Add to the fact that I’ve already had a rental pulled out from under me, I’m ready to have a bit more control.
Good luck on whatever you decide, maybe we’ll run into each other at the Smithsonian!
