One of the hardest things about purchasing a home is deciding where you want to live. Which neighborhood will best suit your needs? The answer to that question may not be easy, particularly in a city like Washington, DC, where there are so many different neighborhoods. To help you get started, we're developing links to pages with photos, maps and data of specific neighborhoods.

For those of you new to DC, you may not be aware of the fact that the city is divided into quadrants: Northwest (NW), Northeast (NE), Southwest (SW) and Southeast (SE). The quadrants are by no means equally proportioned, with NW being the largest; and SW (also known as "The Waterfront"), the smallest. The quadrants designate where a property is in relation to the U.S. Capitol Building.  So, any street address followed by "NW", such as "3232 Wisconsin Avenue, NW" is northwest of the Capitol. Centrally located, the Capitol Grounds are located at the eastern end of "The Mall," where DC's three "Capitol" streets (North Capitol Street, South Capitol Street, and East Capitol Street) converge. Those streets, with the help of the Mall, serve as the informal boundaries separating the quadrants.