After years of saving, a longtime renter sought a well-located one-bedroom with a decent kitchen on the Upper West Side. Which of these options would you choose?
After years of saving, a longtime renter sought a well-located one-bedroom with a decent kitchen on the Upper West Side. Which of these options would you choose?
The New York Times
Real Estate|Moving On Up to Her First Manhattan Purchase. What Could She Find for Under $800,000?
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Real Estate|The Hunt
Moving On Up to Her First Manhattan Purchase. What Could She Find for Under $800,000?
ByJOYCE COHENOCT. 15, 2020
After years of saving, a longtime renter sought a well-located one-bedroom with a decent kitchen on the Upper West Side. Which of these options would you choose?Related Article
Six years ago, Juliana Merola returned to New York City after business school in Chicago. During and after her college days at New York University, she had lived in various downtown neighborhoods, but now she was interested in the other end of Manhattan.
“I always liked the Upper West Side, and decided to rent to see if I wanted to make an investment there permanently,” she said. It was important for her to test practical day-to-day things, like walking home with bags of groceries.
She chose a one-bedroom in a West 70s walk-up, close to the 72nd Street express subway stop. “I could do all my weekend errands and chores, and be easily accessible to my job in Midtown and my friends downtown,” said Ms. Merola, 34, who works in financial services.
Last year, she was ready to make the move. “I had been saving for quite some time, thinking about the right place to go,” she said. “If I were going to pay the same amount for renting, I would rather buy.”
[Did you recently buy or rent a home in the New York metro area? We want to hear from you. Email:thehunt@nytimes.com]
She was hoping to find a one-bedroom in an Upper West Side prewar co-op building with no doorman. “I don’t like someone knowing my comings and goings,” she said. “I don’t want my maintenance fee going toward that.”
That was no problem for her price range, $600,000 to $800,000. “There were more buildings without doormen than with doormen,” said her agent, Jillian Maslow, an associate broker at Elika Associates.
Ms. Merola also wanted a kitchen with a dishwasher and a proper 30-inch oven. “I make a Thanksgiving meal every year,” she said. “I have friends over to try different recipes. I bake a fairly regular output of banana breads and chocolate-chip cookies — easy stuff.”
Among her options:
No. 1
West 90s One-Bedroom
This south-facing one-bedroom with about 800 square feet was in a 1929 building with a laundry room. A foyer and eat-in kitchen separated the living room from the bedroom, which had an access door to an internal fire stairwell. The price was $775,000, with maintenance in the $1,200s.
No. 2
West 80s One-Bedroom
This one-bedroom with around 650 square feet was at the back of a small walk-up building. It had a raised foyer with three stairs down to the living area, exposed brick, a wood-burning fireplace, a washer-dryer and a small terrace. The asking price was $720,000, with maintenance of less than $1,000.
No. 3
West 70s One-Bedroom
This one-bedroom was 680 square feet, with a foyer, southern and eastern  exposures, four closets and an eat-in kitchen that seemed worn down but serviceable. The 1922 building had a laundry room and a courtyard. The price was $665,000, with maintenance of around $1,200.
Find out what happened next by answering these two questions:
Which Would You Choose?
West 90s One-Bedroom
West 80s One-Bedroom
West 70s One-Bedroom
Which Did She Choose?
West 90s One-Bedroom
West 80s One-Bedroom
West 70s One-Bedroom
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