On the hunt for a new apartment, 25-year-old Jordan (who asked that we not use her last name), sent this enquiry last Friday afternoon after coming across a Craigslist listing—which has since been removed—for a “Charming 1BR/1Bath in fabulous Adams Morgan Location.” (We obtained the email exchange and address of the building, 2611 Adams Mill Rd., apartment number unknown, from Jordan.)
Good morning,
Is the rental you posted on Craigslist still available and if so, are there any photos of the home?
Thank you for your consideration.
– Jordan
She received a reply the next day:
Hi, I’ve attached photos. I’ve attached some photos with furnishings to give you an idea of what it would like with furniture. And I’ve also attached some photos to show it empty. Let me know if you would like to see it in person.
An hour and a half later, Jordan hadn’t responded and the lister followed up again:
Is there a problem with photos? Something you don’t like?
The next morning, Jordan sent a reply, indicating that she wasn’t interested in the property:
Thank you for sending the photos. I am concerned that 2k is a little more than I’d like to spend. Thank you for your help and please keep me in mind if you decide to lower the price.
Thank you.
Jordan
you went to a mediocre college, 2-3 years out of school , not really a great job and you think you can live in the best part of dc
And that’s when she received the first in what would turn into a string of increasingly aggressive and threatening emails. (We haven’t corrected or adjusted any spelling or syntax.):
what do you mean concerned? you’re the one responding to the ads to begin with. , that’s what a ave one bedroom rent’s for in this area
She knew nothing about this person, not even his name, and Jordan worried she may have accidentally insulted him in some way, though she couldn’t figure out how. “I thought maybe there was a language gap or I’d said something wrong,” she told me. So she followed up.
It simply isn’t what I am looking for for that price. Nothing wrong with that. Good luck with your search.
When you get raped a couple of times on your new great neighborhood’s side streets you thank your brain for getting you such a great deal.
Within 40 minutes he replied again, this time escalating the conversation:
and who the hell are you that the apt is not what you’re looking for at that price. you went to a mediocre college, 2-3 years out of school , not really a great job and you think you can live in the best part of dc, you can afford anything at 2000
But scarily enough, Jordan hadn’t supplied this person with any of this information or filled out an application of any kind. And because of Craigslist’s encrypted email system, she’s not even certain how he discovered her last name, which allowed him to Google her to discover this information. In other words, this man independently looked up Jordan’s employment and education history and then used that information to insult her.
Reasonably upset by the email—and his unbidden dive into her background—Jordan replied again, attempting to put a stop to the emails.
stop comparing the top locations to former crack houses and go get your deals, you cheapscape.
I am unsure where the hostility came from. I meant nothing disrespectful by declining your offer. I simply decided to search for apartments slightly less in price. But thanks for taking the time to look me up and insult me.
And that’s when he went off the handle,
god, this city is getting filled with clueless, dimwit millennials that have no clue about real estate, go to the new gentrified areas where you and yours have filled up, stop comparing the top locations to former crack houses and go get your deals, you cheapscape. When you get raped a couple of times on your new great neighborhood’s side streets you thank your brain for getting you such a great deal.
Yes, you read that correctly. He wrote “When you get raped a couple of times…”
Initially hesitant to tell anyone about the harassment, Jordan sent some screenshots of the conversation to her ex-boyfriend, who also lives in the neighborhood and works in real estate, to see if he had any information about the guy who placed the ad. Plus, she was afraid.
“He keeps taking down and then reposting the listing,” she explained, and that made her question “What would happen if a woman goes there by herself?” And Jordan wondered, considering the steps he had taken to uncover information about her identity, “Does he know where I live now?”
Bryan Weaver, an Adams Morgan resident who has friends in common with Jordan, saw photos of the conversation after they began circulating throughout the neighborhood and tried to place a call to the phone number that was provided in the original Craigslist post. Nobody answered, but Weaver than received a call back from an unlisted number. Weaver asked the man on the other end if he was the landlord for the apartment at 2611 Adams Mill Rd., to which the man responded “That’s not me,” and promptly hung up.
When Washingtonian attempted to call that number, it was disconnected and not in service.
Hillary writes about interiors, real estate, arts, and culture. She is the former digital media editor of The New Republic, and her work has also been published in Glamour, The New York Times Book Review, and The Washington Post, among others. You can follow her on Instagram @hillarylouisekelly or on Pinterest @hlkelly.
