Apartment Detectives

We really found working with Nancy made our move a LOT easier.
We were moving from outside the US and had 4 days in DC to view, pick, and sign a lease on a home to live in. We were able to work with Nancy from a month before our trip, via phone. Nancy helped us come up with a list of must haves and nice to haves. About 10 days before our visit to DC she started sending us listings to look at. We could respond telling her what we did/didn’t like and she seemed to factor that into future listings she sent us. By the time we arrived in DC we had a nice little list of places to look at. Several of them ended up being places we would have happily signed a lease on (and one that we did).
Very much worth the money!

Much beyond my expectations! They are very responsive, very understanding of your situation, courteous, cognizant of your needs, and very quick turnarounds with some great options! She found deals on apartments I never would have found. And all of this she did within 24 hours because I had to move out the next day!
This is an outstanding service that I highly recommend even if you know which area you would like to live. These agents SAVE YOU MONEY!

Nancy Simmons Starrs
President, Apartment Detectives
202−362−7368
Licensed Realtor
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices
PenFed Realty
SHE ROCKS!!! NANCY is very personable, dependable and a very friendly woman FULL of integrity and SHE Makes the Apartment search — HOME search TRULY a pleasant and easy experience in the Washington D.C., MD, VA region!!!
My friend, WILL, and I worked with Nancy in JULY 2014!!! SHE IS FABULOUS!!! and IS an EXCELLENT and Very Knowledgable Real Estate Agent/​Broker. I found my HOME because of her excellent network, dedication, and perseverance!!! She is a Terrific listener too!!!
I HIGHLY Recommend her business, and refer her services to people in need of her expertise!!!
Nancy is truly a Blessing and a person I TRUST 200%+ SHE KNOWS what she is doing and when you are working with her, YOU are in TERRIFIC HANDS!!! She GETS THE JOB DONE RIGHT THE FIRST TIME!!! ;-)
NANCY ROCKS!!! ;-) :-) :-)

I love this service! I was moving to DC for work, working a full-​time job until then, and only had a couple days in the area to look at places. Nancy lined up 10 apartments for me to go look at, right in the areas I wanted, with the amenities I needed, and scheduled them perfectly so that I could go from place to place without trouble. I visited all the places and rented one the next day (and I love it). Couldn’t have been easier. I’ve recommended her service to friends who are in the same position, and only wish that she had offices in other cities! This is a fantastic service for those of us who don’t have the time or energy to spend poring over craigslist postings and scheduling appointments.

This service was a complete waste of time and money! Most of the apartments they found for me were already listed on Criagslist. One building cancelled my appointment time and Nancy said she would follow up with a new time but that never happened. They also do not offer to drive you around to look for apartments so if this is something you are expecting, look elsewhere. The apartment I ended up leasing was one I found on my own. I do not recommend!

The 2 star rating is really just for our circumstance. If you don’t know much about DC or are really short on time I can see rating the service much higher.
We contacted Nancy and Apartment Detectives to help us find an apartment when moving to DC from out of town. I had an idea where I wanted to live but after flying to DC for a weekend to look at apartments and not finding anything I thought having someone in the area full time would make the search easier. After checking out the website and requesting more information I learned the cost depends on the number of neighborhoods you want to search and ranges from $ 350 for four neighborhoods to $ 487 for eight. It seemed a bit expensive but the reviews were great so we gave it a shot.
Nancy is incredibly nice and helpful. After contacting her via email we spoke on the phone for maybe 15 minutes where I explained: the neighborhoods I was considering, the rent I wanted to pay and all the other things you consider when looking for an apartment. She took down all the information and said she would send me a list of apartments within 2 – 3 days. I was a little concerned at that point, we had a very targeted search and if you could come up with a list in 2 days it would be a miracle but I was optimistic and waited patiently.
When the first list came I was disappointed. It was 9 apartments 3 of which were outside the areas we were considering, 3 we had already seen and eliminated on our weekend trip and of the final 3 only 1 looked promising but we quickly discounted it after reading reviews of the building and seeing multiple complaints warning potential renters away. If you know about DC and how to use craigslist/​padmapper you’d receive a very similar, maybe more comprehensive, list of apartments by searching online.
During the next period Nancy was incredibly responsive via email. She would often respond with 10 – 15 minutes and would reply on nights and weekends if we had a question. I really felt like she was available whenever we needed her which was great. Unimpressed with the initial list we took matters into our own hands and started sending her various listing we found monitoring craigslist, padmapper, and other rental websites. We’d email her a link to the listing and ask her to follow up with the landlord with any questions we might have. Sure we could do it ourselves but at that point we’d already paid over $ 300 so why not delegate.
After a few days we found a listing and once Nancy made contact with the landlord we ended up communicating with the owner directly. In the end we found a nice place to live but I think we could have done it and saved ourselves a few hundred dollars.
Nancy as an agent is definitely 5 stars she is helpful friendly and easy to get in touch with. In my opinion, the apartment hunting service isn’t worth the money if you know DC and are comfortable using the various apartment listing websites. With the amount of information available today I’d have a hard time justifying the cost if someone asked. Unless you are very tight for time or really have no clue where you want to live searching yourself is still the best bet.

I needed to find an apartment in DC in August (a tough month) and I only had 2 days in the city. Nancy sent me a list of about 15 places that fit my preferences quite well and after I narrowed it down to about 10 she set up an itinerary for my 2 day trip. I visited all the places and when my favourite fell through at the last minute, she found a few extra places (including my current apartment) with only a few hours notice. I liked the service before her extra effort at the end, but that extra effort was incredible.
I’d highly recommend the service for anyone who is picky about apartments and has limited time. It was easily worth the money.