The Hunt: This Time Park Slope, or Close to It
January 14, 2011
Ms. Jensen, an art teacher at the Bank Street School for Children in Manhattan, used the master bedroom as a studio for painting and drawing. But she was never quite happy with her home.
“Having grown up in Manhattan,” she said, “I kind of romanticized living in this almost suburban part of the city with its Victorians, big trees and front lawns.” The neighborhood, however, was too residential for her. In her building, “young couples would move in and start having babies,” she said.
A part of Ditmas Park’s appeal had been its affordability, but she often found herself on the subway en route to pricier Park Slope, which she would have preferred and where many of her friends lived. She took yoga classes there, and belonged to the Park Slope Food Co-op. “It was really good food,” she said, “and it was important to me.”
What’s more, her 1,000-square-foot apartment felt too big. When she was at home, Ms. Jensen was either cooking or working at her desk, so the living room sat largely unused. She learned that “location was more important than having tons of space that I didn’t need.”
So last summer, Ms. Jensen, 33, decided to put her apartment on the market and move. She thought that with prices lower, she would be able to afford a place in Park Slope, or at least near it.
A graduate of Smith College with a master’s degree in art education from Teachers College at Columbia, she hoped to keep her monthly outlay around $1,300, so she hunted for an apartment costing no more than $475,000. This time, a one-bedroom would do, as long as it had some light and views. “I would feel claustrophobic without being able to look out on the city,” Ms. Jensen said. She figured she could work in the apartment if it had suitable space. Otherwise, with a smaller, cheaper place, she would be able to afford to rent a studio elsewhere.
In Park Slope she found a one-bedroom co-op with a sunny view of rooftops and steeples, along with a living-room large enough to work in. The listing price was $399,000, with a maintenance of nearly $900. It was around the corner from the food co-op. She knew she would be happy there.
She negotiated the price to $385,000 but still had no buyer for her Ditmas Park place, so she was reluctant to make a firm offer. “I did it backward,” she said. “I didn’t really think it through.”
When Ms. Jensen did find a buyer, the Park Slope apartment was still available, this time for $379,000. Her offer of $372,000 was accepted.
The transaction, however, proved difficult. The seller wanted Ms. Jensen to pay the fees for a bridge loan if the closing was delayed. He promised that a loft bed would be gone, but the contract said it would remain. Then, when Ms. Jensen’s lawyer commented on the balcony, she knew something was really wrong: the apartment didn’t have a balcony.
The apartment next door did. A one-bedroom with the same owner, it was also for sale. The balcony was shared by the two units, but had been blocked off for the use of just one. “It raised a lot of issues,” Ms. Jensen said. “If I sold, how would I explain the discrepancy between the floor plan and the actual layout?”
So she never signed. “I had a day of mourning,” she said. Then she lined up appointments for apartments in her price range. If she didn’t find a place quickly, she would rent.
She had seen a cozy one-bedroom co-op with a nice kitchen on Prospect Place in Prospect Heights. It was only $299,000, with a maintenance of $640. But within two weeks of hitting the market, it was in contract for $320,000. “I felt I missed the boat on that one,” Ms. Jensen said.
On Underhill Avenue in Prospect Heights, she visited a one-bedroom in a four-story co-op. At 525 square feet, the place seemed just the right size. The seller, an architect from Germany, had added plenty of built-in shelves. The co-op had a large common garden. The price was $345,000, with a maintenance of $525.
E-mail: thehunt@nytimes.com
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