After a Few Months in D.C., It's Not Just The Rental Options That Stink

I didn't begin looking for an apartment in Washington until a few weeks before I was supposed to start work.

First, I hit Craigslist. The experience was depressing. I didn't know Washington. I didn't want to live with strangers. I didn't even necessarily want to leave Brooklyn. And I didn't have much money.

Each click made me more nerve-racked. Spend $1,400 to $2,000 for a one-bedroom in Dupont Circle or Adams Morgan -- the only two places I had even faintly heard about? Or $600 or more to live with four or five strangers?

The D.C. rental market is tough, even for a lifelong New Yorker like me.

After a few days, I decided to start searching for hostels. I had stayed in one once in California, and despite the pile of meat cleavers discovered in a roommate's suitcase, it really wasn't all that bad.

It was at this point -- between Web sites for Capitol City Hostel and William Penn House -- that I called the only person I knew in Washington, my friend Henok.

"My brother," he answered.

"Henok, man, I'm really stressed out," I said. "This internship starts in a week, and I don't even have a clue where I'm going to live. I'm looking at hostels right now."

"Don't you check your voice mail, man?" he asked. "I left a message a few months back about a place with a friend of mine. Hold on. I'll call you back in five minutes."

Less than five minutes later:

"My brother," Henok said. "It is done. You will live with me and Carolyn [Henok's girlfriend] and this really nice guy named Roger. It is a huge house in Northwest Washington near U Street. Five hundred dollars. Everything included."

I hopped a bus from Brooklyn. Henok and Carolyn picked me up near the New York Avenue station on the Metro's Red Line. The place was a two-story rowhouse near First Street NW.