Elise and Michael Cocozzo had no actual plan to shop for a house. “We have been saving for who is aware of what,” Ms. Cocozzo stated. “We didn’t suppose purchasing our house could be that factor, however we have been all the time cautious with our price range.”
After their engagement 3 years in the past, the couple rented a big one-bedroom in a prewar apartment development within the a long way West 70s. They loved the separate eat-in kitchen and plentiful closet house, and didn’t thoughts the brick-wall view. Their canine, Walter, romped within the canine run in within sight Riverside Park.
All through the pandemic dip, their hire fell from $3,400 to $2,700 a month. And once they started to look listings for Higher West Aspect one-bedrooms — or even two-bedrooms — on the market with per month outlays within the mid-$3,000s, they learned they might find the money for to shop for a spot.
“If we have been going to in reality put money into one thing long term, we in point of fact sought after that 2d bed room,” stated Ms. Cocozzo (previously Holzbauer), 29, who works as a first-grade Spanish immersion instructor in Chelsea. Mr. Cocozzo, 30, works in industrial actual property.
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The Cocozzos, who married final October, set the cheap of $600,000 to $800,000, hoping to stick on the low finish of that vary. Figuring they might get more room in Brooklyn, they went to look a couple of flats there, which have been spacious and great. However the pageant was once fierce, and the neighborhoods they might find the money for have been far away from side road lifestyles, with lengthy walks to the grocer and no handy canine runs.
“We concept if we have been going to are living in a large, stunning position and couldn’t stroll to dinner, shall we are living within the suburbs,” Ms. Cocozzo stated. “Brooklyn didn’t really feel proper. We have been looking to persuade ourselves that we favored it.”
Thru a Brooklyn record, they attached with Manek Mathur, an agent at Serhan, and enthusiastic about co-ops at the Higher West Aspect.
“If you wish to have house, you must compromise on some issues,” Mr. Mathur stated. “What are your standards and what are your priorities?”
An elevator was once essential: The couple considered groceries, suitcases, sooner or later a stroller. So was once a separate kitchen with a dishwasher, a spot to retailer their cooking apparatus and a 30-inch oven, the place they might have compatibility a part sheet pan.
“A separate kitchen narrows down the hunt significantly,” Mr. Mathur stated. “When one thing is that exact, it nearly makes it more straightforward to seek out what you wish to have.”
Amongst their choices:
To find out what took place subsequent by means of answering those two questions:
