A Couple Look to Upgrade Their Brooklyn Rental. Which One of These Would You Choose?
By: Joyce Cohen
Published: 11/7/2019Source: The New York TimesFeaturing Wassim Fakhereddine's rental listing at 225 Sterling Place, Prospect Heights:
Tired of their sunless one-bedroom and its tiny kitchen, Mallory Harwardt and Max King stretched their budget to see if they could afford a place they liked better. Here’s where they landed.
Mallory Harwardt and Max King were renting a dark one-bedroom in Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, with a tiny kitchen, two small closets and no laundry room.
It wasn’t their dream home, but when they arrived in New York from Chicago a year before, they had just two days to find a place. The rent was $2,500 a month.
The couple, who met as students at Simon Fraser University in their native Canada and married three years ago, are both runners in their early 30s, and they liked their location two blocks from Prospect Park.
But with so many workout clothes to wash, doing laundry was burdensome. On weekends at the crowded laundromat, Mr. King, a computer programmer for the nonprofit Center for NYC Neighborhoods, would set an alarm so he could leave and return just before the machines finished.
And in the cramped kitchen, it was tough to bake. “If Max was making bread or pastry for a pie, you had to do everything in weird shifts and move everything off the counter and move it back when he was done,” said Ms. Harwardt, a grants administrator.
[Did you recently buy or rent a home in the New York metro area? We want to hear from you. Email: thehunt@nytimes.com]
Mr. King had trouble fitting his bulky hockey gear in the closets. And their sunless windows faced walls, so they could barely see the weather.
“I was not prepared for how much that bothered me,” Ms. Harwardt said. “We set our budget too low, anchored to what it was in Chicago.”
There, they paid $1,600 for a 1,500-square-foot two-bedroom with a washer-dryer.
When they moved to New York, they had targeted the area around Prospect Heights, Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant because everyone they knew in New York lived in those neighborhoods.
They wanted to remain in the area, but in a place without the drawbacks, so they upped their budget to $3,500 a month, or somewhat less if a broker’s fee was required.
Among their choices (all with laundry in the building):
No. 1
Boerum Hill Condo
This one-bedroom with around 600 square feet was in a 2007 building near Hoyt Street with a gym and two common terraces.
It had an eat-in kitchen and sliding-glass doors to a south-facing balcony.
The rent was $2,900 a month.
No. 2
Prospect Heights Doorman Building
A one-bedroom in this 1937 doorman building near Grand Army Plaza was larger than most, with around 1,000 square feet.
It had big closets, built-in bookcases and a raised kitchen-and-office area.
The rent was $3,250.
No. 3
Prospect Heights Two-Bedroom
A couple of blocks away, this two-bedroom was on the top floor of a walk-up that was converted to a condominium 15 years ago.
It had about 750 square feet, with exposed brick walls and roof rights with Manhattan views.
The rent was $3,200.
Find out what happened next by answering these two questions:
Which Would You Choose?
Boerum Hill Condo
Prospect Heights Doorman Building
Prospect Heights Two-Bedroom
Which Did They Choose?
21%
Boerum Hill Condo
55%
Prospect Heights Doorman Building
23%
Prospect Heights Two-Bedroom
Their Choice: Prospect Heights Doorman Building
The Boerum Hill location was less than ideal, closer to the F/G trains than the Q, which they preferred for their Manhattan commutes. And they had no interest in a gym.
[Neighborhood Guide: Prospect Heights real estate prices, trends and insights]
The stairs were a deterrent at the Prospect Heights two-bedroom. “Not having any upstairs neighbors is definitely a nice perk, but you’ve got to walk all the way up there,” Ms. Harwardt said. And the trek was inadvisable for visiting parents.
The unit in the Prospect Heights doorman building had the space and light they sought, plus charming prewar details like arched doorways and “strange little intricacies that appeal to me on an aesthetic level,” she said.
They moved in early fall, paying a broker’s fee of 15 percent of a year’s rent, or $5,850.
Their home is a rarity in the area: a rental building with an elevator and doorman, said Wassim Fakhereddine, the building’s agent and an associate broker at the Corcoran Group. “Usually that kind of building is a co-op,” he said, accompanied by restrictions for renters, such as a limit of two years.
The couple have had only two small complaints. One is street noise from the busy nearby avenue, plus construction noise from a neighboring building. But “that’s what white-noise machines are for,” Ms. Harwardt said.
The other is the flat-top stove, which has inconsistent heat. The building is all electric, with no gas line.
By and large, though, they are thrilled. Mr. King can roll out as much dough as he wants, with counter space to spare. And even with his hockey gear stowed, there are plenty of closets remaining. There is also a hallway where they can throw balls for Bert, the cat, to chase.
The big basement laundry room, open until 10 p.m., has freed up their weekends. “You don’t have to plan your week around when you can do laundry,” Ms. Harwardt said.
And on wet and gloomy days, they can watch the weather. “I grew up in Vancouver, which is a rainy city, so the sight and sound of the rain puts me in a good mood,” Mr. King said.
They even requested a two-year lease. “Knock on wood, unless something disastrous happens, I couldn’t see us moving out of here unless we left New York or bought a place,” Mr. King said. “And both of those things are pretty far off at this point.”
Copyright © 2019 The New York Times Company. Reprinted with Permission. Stefano Ukmar/The New York Times.