For five years, Jeremy Gimbel owned a two-bedroom brick rowhouse in the Italian Market area of Philadelphia.
“Philly is a great place to buy,” he said. “Beyond your basic starter apartments, it is cheaper to buy than it is to rent.”
A few years ago, Mr. Gimbel, a graduate of Drexel University, started working for a New York company in web marketing and development. He traveled often to the Midtown East office.
“During the pandemic, I saved a ton of money from not going out and not doing anything,” he said. “The years were going by, and it seemed like I could actually afford to live in New York. I always found the city a happy place to come to.”
Mr. Gimbel, 38, read endlessly about New York’s housing market and its co-ops. “I set my expectations that my dollars wouldn’t go as far as they would in Philly,” he said. (His approximately 900-square-foot Philadelphia house, which he bought for $278,000, recently sold for $320,000.)
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His budget for a place in Manhattan was less than $500,000 — or an outlay of up to $2,500 a month — which he was hoping would buy a small one-bedroom or a large studio with a sleeping area. Although he now works remotely, he was familiar with Murray Hill, so he hunted nearby. Prices there, in elevator buildings primarily from the 1950s and ’60s, fell within his range.
He discovered the Yoreevo website, which connected him with Ali Shulman, an associate broker. (Yoreevo provides a rebate to the buyer of up to 2 percent of the purchase price.) “As a web person, I respect a company that has a really good website,” Mr. Gimbel said.
They spent a fall weekend visiting as many places as possible. “Jeremy wanted enough space to cook, and to have a bed and a couch,” Ms. Shulman said. “It’s hard to get much more in his price range.”
The apartments’ condition also determined the price, and Mr. Gimbel didn’t want to do major work. But the listing photos were often deceptive. “Being unfamiliar with New York apartments, I wasn’t paying super-close attention to what I should see in the pictures,” he said. “Seeing places online and seeing them in person — they do wonders with the camera.”
At first, Ms. Shulman said, “for him, it was a shock of: ‘This is what I can get for my money.’”
Among his options:
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