First I want to say this neighborhood was great. Very quiet, there was always a patrol car making rounds, there was a convenience store right down the street that had a very sweet couple running it. I was only followed by a weird creepy guy once (which is pretty good for being a woman in DC!). The walk to Howard/Shaw metro was about 15 minutes which was decent in the summer and fall and a bit too long for me once the cold weather hit.
I stayed here for two and a half months. The place itself, I was actually pretty disappointed. The reviews I saw were great so the place itself was a bit of a let down. John is good host, nice guy, and responsive so this is not a reflection on him at all, but there were just a few too many problems for me personally and I felt like I was having to get issues resolved a little too frequently. The room I stayed in was clean (except the mattress was heavily stained when I took the sheets off to wash) and easy to keep clean, but the common spaces were pretty gross. I got sick the first time I cooked there and was vomiting all weekend. John had the cleaners thoroughly clean the kitchen after that which helped. The toilets got backed up a few too many times. The ceiling was leaking in the downstairs kitchen the entire time I was there. I commented about mold in the dishwasher and the next day the dishwasher was just gone? Which was weird? I think the state of the place really depends on the people you end up living with. There’s about 7 bedrooms in the house total. The walls are pretty thin. I was woken up by people making loud phone calls and blasting music at 2:30am and doing...other activities, a few times. I think the people you end up staying with are what really makes the difference and I just probably had a bout of bad luck with both people and the kind of problems that cropped up. Still, I appreciate John helping me out when he could!