Photo by m hoek.

Last spring, we noted that Atlantic business editor Megan McArdle just could not find a tolerable home in the District on which to spend her federally-subsidized home buyer tax credit! McArdle received a fair amount of criticism from various sources for saying things like there are no Metro stops in Anacostia. (But there is a Ray’s the Steaks nearby!)

What a difference six months and a double-dip recession makes, eh? A second-place finish for Advertising Age‘s magazine of the year and a Michelle Rhee departure later, McArdle has survived the closing process and a somewhat reluctant-to-leave tenant and has become a proud property taxpayer in the District. How ’bout them low mortgage rates?

Politics aside, McArdle deserves credit for being fairly open about her and her husband’s quest to purchase a home in D.C. over the past year or so, while she could have sold out (like yours truly) and moved to Cherrydale. She also is fairly open and responsive to her critics — no small feat, considering what usually happens when political bloggers try to talk about living in the District.