Brandon’s DC Internship Housing Guide 🏘️

Hello! If you’ve reached this page, you’re looking for help on finding housing in the DC area for an internship (likely a three-month sublet from Mayish to Augish). While many people tend to first look at universities for housing — I would recommend against it. Housing at American, GW, Georgetown, Howard will set you back at a minimum $1600ish per month—which could almost get you a studio!

But if you’re looking to save a bit on housing, DC is lowkey abundant with summer housing sublets! There are a ton of 4, 5, and 6+ bedroom houses in DC where you can sublet a room easily for under $1,200 in almost all neighborhoods and even potentially under $1,000 in the right neighborhoods (e.g. Petworth, Columbia Heights). You just gotta know where to look, how to do your due diligence to spot scams, and make sure you’re prepared before/during move-in!

As a note, while many Facebook groups allow you to make “introducing myself profiles” where you explain your neighborhood/budget needs (kinda like finding your 1st college roommate), I don’t recommend this unless you’re deadset on living/finding housing with someone else (e.g. looking for a 2 bedroom apartment) and need to find a roommate.

If you’re cool with just finding housing alone (e.g. one room open in a multiple room town/rowhouse), just go straight into messaging landlords. Most folks with housing listings don’t bother going through all those profiles anyway to suggest their sublet to you!

Now, onto the four steps to secure housing in DC for your internship ⬇️

Step 1: Find Good Listings, Indicate Interest, and Schedule a Tour!

Facebook (for some reason) remains the best way to find housing in DC IMO. You’ll want to look for sublets and month-to-month leases (and verify with the landlord that 3 months would be okay). Any 12 month leases or longer term leases won’t work for a summer internship lease.

My #1 advice is to get on Facebook and join some or all of these groups:

Name of FB Group	Link	Notes
DC Summer Sublets	https://www.facebook.com/groups/767937806569846/	More focused on DC Summer sublets (per the title)
Washington DC Area Room and Roommate Finder (MODERATED AND SPAM FREE)	https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1XPfCMzgPz/?mibextid=wwXIfr	Can confirm it’s moderated and has less spam <3
DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland Housing, Sublets, and Roommates	https://www.facebook.com/groups/arlingtonfairfaxrentals/	More northern Virginia & Maryland housing!
Apartments for rent in DC area	https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18JCqJqZfz/?mibextid=wwXIfr	May also include some more longer term leases
Washington DC - Housing, Rooms, Apartments, Sublets, Roommates	https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1Q5TT2pJQP/?mibextid=wwXIfr	A bit more spam/scam posts than others ngl but good variety
DC, Northern Virginia, and Maryland Housing, Sublets, and Roommates	https://www.facebook.com/share/g/19sw5RpWpv/?mibextid=wwXIfr	More “looking for roommates” posts, but still good housing options
Washington DC Housing, Rooms, Roommates, Sublets, Roomster	https://www.facebook.com/groups/520585891680032/	Generally good moderation, a bit less active than the other groups
DC Intern Housing	https://www.facebook.com/groups/dcinternhousing/	Haven’t personally used this group but interesting title

You can join also join GroupMes like the (more Georgetown centered) Roommate and Housing Bonanza, the dozens of other DC housing groups on FB, and/or use Craigslist. FurnishedFinder.com seems to have good reviews too, though I haven’t used it.

There are also other websites out there including Zillow.com, Apartments.com, Redfin.com, and DCHousingSearch.org to see other apartments listed for rent (these will generally not have as many subletting options in my experience).

After you’ve found a listing you like, you can message the person advertising the place and indicate your interest in the place & that you’d be interested in scheduling a tour!

Step 2: Do your Due Diligence and Check for Scams!

Keep your eye out for stock photo-like apartments or too-good-to-be true listings. If they’re advertising housing in Foggy Bottom/DuPont/Georgetown (aka the richest parts of NW DC) for an insanely low price (e.g. $1,200 for a full apartment! or <$1,000 for a single room in this area), chances are it’s probably a fake listing.
The more details, the better. Try to respond to listings that include neighborhood, amentieis, rent cost, duration of the contract, and bio about the housing. The more details, the less likely it’s made up. Check the FB profile of the person posting to see if they’ve got other activity (e.g. previous housing listings in other FB groups)…or if it’s clear that they’re a bot.
Figure out your own preferences! If you’re new to DC, might be good if you live somewhere that’s just one bus line or on the same Metro line away from your workplace, so that your commute isn’t too bad (though you def should sign up for Capital Bikeshare anyway!). You should also check out if there are grocery stores nearby (Lidl + Trader Joe’s are top notch) in addition to other amenities like local gyms, cheaper restaurants, bars, etc.
Always ask for a virtual (or in-person) tour! If you’re in DC already, check out the place in-person with a tour from the landlord. If they are anti-tour, ghost the landlord because it’s probably a scam <3
Clear up any and all dealbreakers as early as you can. Figure out when general quiet hours are and what remote/hybrid work would look like in the house. Ask about things like drinking/drugs/overnight guests, safety, cleanliness, etc. Make sure the vibes of the house you’re joining. Also, you generally shouldn’t be expected to pay a bunch of fees upfront, so keep an eye out for that.

Step 3: Review your lease in detail before you sign & pay your deposit!

Once the landlord decides you’re a good fit, you’ll usually send over a lease agreement and pay a security deposit. Make sure you read through the deposit in detail regarding things like maintenance, deadlines for rent, early landlord termination, pet policy, utilities, and tenant responsibilities.