title: Initialize var to null
body: <p>I have seen how to initialize <a href="https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2904689/how-to-initialize-var">var to null.</a>  This does not help in my situation.  I have</p>
  
  <pre><code>string nuller = null;
  var firstModel = nuller;
  if(contextSelectResult.Count() &gt; 0)
      firstModel = contextSelectResult.First();
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>I get error</p>
  
  <blockquote>
    <p>Cannot implicitly convert type
    'SomeNamespace.Model.tableName' to 'string'.</p>
  </blockquote>
  
  <p>I am trying to avoid try/catching <code>InvalidOperation</code> for <code>First()</code> when no first exists as its expensive.  So, how can I get past the scope issue here?</p>