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A Tough Initiation to D.C.
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He had been working as an accountant at one of the Big Four firms before he left. "I was disenchanted with my job and looking for a bit of a change," he said.
He had lived in a group house in south Arlington and then with his then-girlfriend in a one-bedroom apartment in Clarendon. As he tried to arrange a new place from his parents' house in Phoenix, he considered Clarendon, south Arlington, Alexandria and Capitol Hill.
He posted a housing-wanted ad, too, with an $800 price tag, even though he doesn't have a job lined up. He looked at the array of ads and figured the going rate for a room in a shared house or apartment in the areas he wanted.
McWilliams knew he wouldn't have anything settled before he drives back east. "It's kind of a meet-first kind of deal," he said of getting a group-house berth. His first thought was to stay with his ex-girlfriend in Clarendon. "But that's not going to work out," he said dryly.
Instead, he invited himself to crash at a friend's house. And as it turned out, he found a place his first weekend in town, at the end of March. He had e-mailed the prospective roommates from Arizona, and they had a good feeling about him and didn't schedule any other interviews until they met him.
He'll be spending $850 a month, which includes most utilities, and living on Capitol Hill.
And a job might follow soon. "I've actually gotten two job offers based on my post. Kind of crazy, but the mention of being an accountant sparked some interest from some people," he said.
