To find the right place for themselves and their young son, this couple considered the pros and cons of various building types. Which option would you choose?
To find the right place for themselves and their young son, this couple considered the pros and cons of various building types. Which option would you choose?
The New York Times
Real Estate|Condo or Co-op? A Young Family Discovers the Differences and Makes a Big Decision
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Real Estate|The Hunt
Condo or Co-op? A Young Family Discovers the Differences and Makes a Big Decision
ByJOYCE COHENNOV. 5, 2020
To find the right place for themselves and their young son, this couple considered the pros and cons of various building types. Which option would you choose?Related Article
Six years ago, Mauro Restuccia, a software engineer, was sent from Buenos Aires to New York for work. He and his wife, Adriana Daroqui, landed in a one-bedroom rental in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn. When their son was born a year later, they upsized to a two-bedroom in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
The couple, both in their 40s, owned a house in Buenos Aires that they were renting. It was hard to maintain from New York, so in 2019 they were happy to sell it and go on the hunt for a two-bedroom co-op or condominium, preferably in their neighborhood, so their son, Emilio, 4, could stay in the same school district.
Sunlight was important to them, and “maybe to see outdoors something that is cheerful,” said Mr. Restuccia, who was born in Uruguay and grew up in Venezuela. Ms. Daroqui is from northern Patagonia, in Argentina.
They wanted a dishwasher, which turned out to be easy to find. “I remember seeing apartments for rent without a dishwasher, but I don’t think we saw any apartments for buying without a dishwasher,” said Ms. Daroqui, who was a lawyer in Buenos Aires and is now in graduate school, studying environmental policy. Most of the co-ops they saw had a laundry room, too, while the condominiums usually had a washer-dryer in the unit.
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They were ready to spend up to $800,000 for a place in move-in condition. “We didn’t want to do renovations, because we don’t know how to deal with that,” Ms. Daroqui said.
One brand-new condominium they saw in Clinton Hill was at the top of their price range. It was nice, but the bathrooms were ugly. One had black walls; the other had black-and-white hexagonal tiles in various patterns. “I would imagine putting all our money there and hating the bathrooms all the time, every day,” Ms. Daroqui said.
Among their options:
No. 1
Prospect Heights Co-op
This two-bedroom, 600-square-foot apartment was one flight up in a 25-unit prewar co-op. It had high ceilings, two big closets and exposures to the north and south. The building had a laundry room and a roof deck. The price was $710,000, with monthly maintenance of around $900.
No. 2
Clinton Hill Co-op
This one-bedroom was around 800 square feet, with big, west-facing windows with window seats, and a dining nook. It was on a high floor with skyline views in the 12-building Clinton Hill Co-ops complex, where there was a laundry room and a courtyard. The price was $730,000, with monthly maintenance in the mid $900s.
No. 3
Clinton Hill Condominium
This 700-square-foot apartment, in a four-unit condo building with a roof deck, was advertised as a two-bedroom “outfitted as a spacious one-bedroom.” It had a second bathroom, exposures to the north and south and a washer-dryer. The price was $799,000, with monthly charges of nearly $1,100.
Find out what happened next by answering these two questions:
Which Would You Choose?
Prospect Heights Co-op
Clinton Hill Co-op
Clinton Hill Condominium
Which Did They Choose?
Prospect Heights Co-op
Clinton Hill Co-op
Clinton Hill Condominium
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