Post by decemberwedding07 on Oct 4, 2015 14:28:34 GMT -5
Favorite part: Ms. Rabbi (pronounced Robby) set a price range of around $600,000 to $800,000. “Because I am a single person with a single-person income, I wasn’t sure what I was able to afford,” she said.
Living near Grand Central Terminal was Sabah Rabbi’s priority.
“I feel I have more control being within walking distance,” said Ms. Rabbi, who arises at 6 a.m. and has a commute of about an hour via Metro-North to her finance job in Fairfield County, Conn. “If I am running one or two minutes late, I can still run and make my train. If I miss my train, I am half an hour late.”
Ms. Rabbi, 32, who is from Dhaka, Bangladesh, came to the United States to attend Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. After her graduation in 2005, she lived for a time with relatives in Jamaica, Queens.
The Hunt Tag along on a search for a New York City home. A Midtown East Rental, Sight Unseen OCT 1 Hell’s Kitchen: More Room, Less Noise SEP 24 A Realistic Renter in Central Harlem SEP 17 The Target Neighborhood: Hamilton Heights SEP 10 The Apartment Trail Winds Back to Hamilton Heights SEP 3 See More »
When she landed a job in Westchester County, N.Y., that would require train travel, she moved to a share in Midtown East with roommates. “We were just out of school and very broke,” she said. “The apartment was very crusty, but that’s what everybody does.” She moved several times within the East 30s and 40s, always seeking to upgrade, finally renting a studio by herself in the high East 30s for $2,800 a month.
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MIDTOWN A large one-bedroom on East 55th Street would have done nicely, except that it was a few blocks out of the target area. Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times She moved a lot — more than any of her friends — and became weary of moving. She wanted stability, a nice home and an investment. It made sense to buy a place.
Her aim was a one-bedroom with a large kitchen in a postwar building within about 10 blocks of Grand Central.
Ms. Rabbi (pronounced Robby) set a price range of around $600,000 to $800,000. “Because I am a single person with a single-person income, I wasn’t sure what I was able to afford,” she said.
Last fall, she contacted Raoul Marc Boisset, a friend of a friend and a salesman at Town Residential, who has since moved on to Stribling & Associates.
Both knew what kind of apartment she could expect to find — a boxy one-bedroom in an elevator building with an attended lobby. “There is a certain conformity to that part of Manhattan,” Mr. Boisset said.
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MIDTOWN A building on East 49th Street seemed complicated to buy into. The prospective buyer became wary. Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times Early on, Ms. Rabbi fell for a one-bedroom in a 1962 brick co-op building on East 55th Street, listed for $799,000. The renovated apartment was bigger than many similar ones — its 825 square feet included a foyer, a walk-in closet and an office or den area. Monthly maintenance was a bit more than $1,500.
The apartment was at the top of her price range and farther north than she liked. Envisioning herself running most of the way to the train station, she passed it by. The place sold for the asking price.
In a 1959 co-op building on East 49th Street, a one-bedroom with a little less than 800 square feet was less expensive, around $625,000. The maintenance was more than $1,700 a month.
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Ms. Rabbi couldn’t quite meet the co-op board’s financial requirements. Because she had switched to the job in Fairfield County in midyear, her paperwork indicated she made less than she really did.
“I decided if it was going to be that difficult to buy that place, it would be difficult to sell,” she said. The building also had a comparatively rigid rental policy — and Ms. Rabbi wanted the ability to rent out her home in the future. That one, too, sold for the asking price.
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MIDTOWN Somebody else secured a one-bedroom apartment on East 38th Street. The pool would have been nice. Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times The dozens of apartments she saw “had a lot of things in common,” she said. “They were pretty much the same apartment,” with differences in condition, light, view and building amenities.
A 1974 Murray Hill co-op on East 38th Street had an attractive lobby and a swimming pool. The asking price for a one-bedroom with 700 square feet was $599,000, with monthly maintenance of around $1,250. Ms. Rabbi offered the asking price, but didn’t especially mind that another offer, for the same amount, was accepted. The apartment’s kitchen had been too small.
Besides, she had long cast her eye on a 1967 building on East 40th Street. She walked past often, and shopped at the drugstore across the street. A few years ago, she had even stopped to ask the doorman about apartments for rent. “The exterior is really grand and it looked like a really nice building,” she said.
She went to see a 750-square-foot one-bedroom there, on a high floor, listed for $799,000, with maintenance a little more than $1,400 a month. The building had other available one-bedrooms, but they were pricier because they were larger, had balconies or were in better condition.
The walls of the candidate apartment were an off-putting color, “a dingy, gloomy something between cream and yellow,” Ms. Rabbi said.
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MIDTOWN Paint and a bit of fixing up would be needed, but a building on East 40th was handy to the train. And it had a pool and a gym. Credit Yana Paskova for The New York Times Like many a prospective buyer, she wouldn’t have made some of the decorating decisions the current owner had. But, she said, “I knew I could make this place look better than he did.”
Ms. Rabbi had found little else that was sufficiently nice, and came to the conclusion that she’d have to pay her top price in order “to find something I wanted to live in,” she said. “I realized there’s no point in being so conservative. I was more willing to have less cash reserve and get a nicer place that I would like.”
This building had a pool along with a gym, which “made the deal that much sweeter,” she said.
In the spring, Ms. Rabbi bought the apartment at the asking price and hired a contractor, who worked often in the building, for some bathroom improvements and the necessary painting. The kitchen, though of a good size, is “very standard,” she said, so she might renovate at some point.
Despite her high-floor location, her apartment is surprisingly noisy, with sirens screaming down Second Avenue.
But Ms. Rabbi is glad she is able, finally, to stop moving. Her new home is one block farther east from Grand Central than her old one, but “I am a very fast walker,” she said. “So one block hasn’t made a difference.”
The worst example of trolling I've come across was when they did an article a while back (maybe six months or so ago) about families who let their minor children choose their multi million dollar apartments. There was this one example they gave where the kid came home from a friend's house and somehow talked his parents into buying an apartment in the same building because it had such luxurious amenities that appeal to teens. The NYT absolutely trolls in the real estate section. I don't know if this is a good example but they definitely do it. You can usually tell they're doing it because they don't always leave the comment section open but they do on the click bait ones.
The worst example of trolling I've come across was when they did an article a while back (maybe six months or so ago) about families who let their minor children choose their multi million dollar apartments. There was this one example they gave where the kid came home from a friend's house and somehow talked his parents into buying an apartment in the same building because it had such luxurious amenities that appeal to teens. The NYT absolutely trolls in the real estate section. I don't know if this is a good example but they definitely do it. You can usually tell they're doing it because they don't always leave the comment section open but they do on the click bait ones.
I think this article is not all the same. This is a young professional looking for a 1-BR in a price range that's not crazy for the part of the city she is looking at. Acknowledging this reality is not the same as the mega-rich playing games with their money.
Yeah it didn't seem that way to me (and the comment section is closed which is revealing) but I'm no expert on Manhattan real estate, lol.
Manhattan real estate is like a totally different universe. What's funny and troll-ish is when the NYT seems oblivious to the fact that the rest of the country (except maybe SF area) does not inhabit this universe.
The New York Times gave an accurate portrayal of real estate in New York, the city it covers, and that's considered trolling? The apartment in question is actually under the current average apartment price in Manhattan ( one million dollars).
The New York Times gave an accurate portrayal of real estate in New York, the city it covers, and that's considered trolling? The apartment in question is actually under the current average apartment price in Manhattan ( one million dollars).
Are you referring to the OP or my "acoustic privacy" couple with concerns about their 60" television?
The New York Times gave an accurate portrayal of real estate in New York, the city it covers, and that's considered trolling? The apartment in question is actually under the current average apartment price in Manhattan ( one million dollars).
Are you referring to the OP or my "acoustic privacy" couple with concerns about their 60" television?
the OP. Your article is definitely trolling. I want to smack those people.
OMG, she graduated the same year I did, from a college one town over from mine. And she spent more than twice what I did on my HOUSE on her tiny little apartment.
this could have easily been written about China Basin/SoMa/Marina/CowHollow/NoeValley/Mission San Francisco
The two closest houses for sale near my mom's house, in an unfashionable part of SF, are $899,000 and $999,000 respectively. 1000 and 1400 square feet, with 1 car garages. The cheaper home has 1 bathroom and is right next to a gas station where gangs like to hang out.
I think about how my parents immigrated to SF in the 70s, with only my mom being employed, and realize that it would simply be impossible for a similarly situated couple to do so today. I can't even afford my not-updated-since-1984 family home at market rate and I make more my parents collective income at retirement!
what kills me about NYC isn't just the prices it is the maintenance fees on top.. $1700/mo. That isn't deductible. At least the mortgage interest is.
What's amazing is that their are thousands of apartments within these NYC high-rise complexes, so these buildings are bringing in a million+ each month. Does it really cost that much to operate? Or is this how Trump has a billion dollars?
if you're willing to rent instead of buy (or move to an outer borough) then you probably could find something you can afford.
We would definitely rent. It will be a few years but if we decide to do it I will definitely be asking for neighborhood recommendations on here!
Keep in mind the median HHI is around $67,000 in Manhattan and about $50,000 in NYC as a whole. Plenty of non-rich people live here. The rest of us just don't make for interesting stories.
Coming from a VLCOL area, I cannot fathom this. Like, I had anxiety even reading that article.
Yes. I'll take my 3 bedroom house on 5 acres of land that we bought for $160,000. VLCOL for the win.
But then again, even if I made enough to afford a giant luxury apartment you still couldn't pay me to move to NYC, so there's that. Urban living definitely does not appeal to me.
Okay....what is a maintenance fee? What does that cover?
When we owned our co-op apartment (outer boroughs, so not Manhattan which is why we could afford it lol), the monthly maintenance fee covered the cost of having a live-in super, property taxes, gas, water, parking, snow removal, storage in the building, and a few other things that I can't remember. It was $540/month for our one-bedroom apartment, which is pretty reasonable given what we got, IMO.
This is true, but that's still a shit ton of money, even on a $200k salary.
oddly normal by Bay Area standards (both house price and hhi for a techie single)
The maintenance fee, though! But I guess if the fee includes property taxes, it's not too much different from a million dollar Bay Area house with an HOA, although the property tax on a million dollar house in CA would be $10k/ year.