I found Belle Haven and rented a studio apartment under a time crunch. I probably wouldn't have picked this complex except I had just moved to the DC area from Houston 24 hours previously and discovered the original apartment I had rented was a dive (I had found my original complex on apartments.com and made the mistake of not visiting it beforehand).

Belle Haven had a unit just opening and rushed it into service to help me out of my jam. The staff does seem geniunely nice, and this is an example of their quality service.

The unit itself wasn't in bad condition and seemed clean, private and somewhat cheap for the DC area. Huntington subway station is quite close to the apartments and was an added bonus at the time since I worked in Crystal City (Arlington). The grounds were fairly clean, but the scenery was definitely uninspired and aging. Belle Haven stands in a neighborhood that is a bit of an urban blight. It is surrounded by low cost homes, cheap motels, and low class strip malls. Generally, the further south you go from Belle Haven, the worse the neighborhoods get. The area didn't seem too dangerous, but Belle Haven has no gating and only 1 night watchman who patrols the large grounds. I did see a couple cars with smashed windows and broken glass all over the parking lot while I lived there. However, I never heard of any violent crime on the grounds.

Apparently, most of the buildings are infested with roaches. I was lucky to live in building #6034 which is one of the clean buildings. I never had a roach or vermin problem while I lived there for 2 years.

The populace in the buildings was fairly diverse. Lots of ethnic minorites from India, China, Mexico, etc. People were mostly friendly (as far as East Coasters go). There seemed to be a decent mix of single renters and families.

The complex has a fenced in pool and a small playground. Nothing fantastic, but its ok. There is also a small grocery store which is about the equivalent of a 7/11. I heard there was a haircutter and yoga excercises as well, but I never tried them.

All in all, its a decent complex if you are short on cash or need a cheap starter complex, but you'll definitely want to move on later.

I would recommend it if you can get into building 6034 to avoid the roaches, otherwise I recommend passing and finding something else.

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