This is the first installment of a new weekly real estate column from Mark Wellborn of UrbanTurf, a local blog and newsletter that covers the residential real estate scene in D.C., MD, and VA.

A few weeks before the Democratic National Convention came to Denver this past summer, an email popped up in my inbox from an industrious friend in the Colorado city.

“I am going to get $3,000 for my place for the week,” the elated friend wrote from Denver. “That is going to pay my rent for about five months.”

Not long after getting this email, a few journalist friends who were heading out to cover the convention marveled at how much their respective employers were willing to shell out for accommodations for the week. For a three-bedroom home, rates were upwards of $10,000 for the week.

As people begin to make their preparations to come to D.C. for what is hyped to be one of the most heavily attended presidential inaugurations ever, similarly high-priced rentals are showing up on Craigslist. I decided to look into what is out there and how much people are willing to pay.

A one-bedroom on the top floor of the Cairo building near 16th and Q Streets is available for the week for $7,000, almost three times the monthly rent for that area. The unit is furnished, has a roof deck and, according to the ad, the owner is “using the money to do volunteer work overseas, and willing to consider other reasonable offers.”

There are also options if you are heading to DC with a group, but some are prohibitively expensive. A five-bedroom, 5.5-bath mansion is available for the week in the Colony Hill neighborhood next to Georgetown. The home boasts an “expansive entertaining space and a large private garden,” and is fittingly owned by a White House physician from the Clinton administration. The price tag for the week: $25,000.

Read the whole story here.