The primary time Jenn Leyva moved to New York, it was to begin school at Columbia College. After commencement, the San Diego native headed to Seoul for a two-year stint educating English after which returned to town in 2015 to pursue a profession as a public faculty trainer. However she was quick on funds, so a good friend provided to sublet her a room in a home in Midwood, Brooklyn, the place she would have six housemates.
Ms. Leyva, now 32, jumped on the probability. By 2021, she was a middle-school chemistry trainer in Manhattan, nonetheless residing in that Midwood home. She took Zoom calls in a nook of the communal front room and made certain to at all times wash her dishes.
“I shared a toilet with two different roommates,” she mentioned. “Our kitchen had two fridges, and we had a six-burner range the place two individuals might simply be cooking on the identical time.”
All of the whereas, she was tucking cash away in a financial savings account, hoping to amass a down cost for a spot of her personal. She figured she might spend as much as $2,000 a month on a mortgage, which, together with her financial savings, would permit her a funds of round $350,000 for the acquisition. Because the pandemic started to wane and rates of interest crept up, she determined the time had come.
“I needed to at the very least begin trying and see if there was something I preferred that I might afford,” she mentioned. “And if there wasn’t, I figured I might wait and preserve saving cash.”
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She was pleasantly stunned by the choices she discovered on-line: a handful of studios for lower than $400,000, simply south of the Brooklyn Bridge, within the nook of the borough the place leafy Brooklyn Heights meets Dumbo and Downtown Brooklyn. And all the residences met her standards: They have been inside strolling distance of a number of subway traces, had a tub in addition to a bathe, and had a separate kitchen area the place she might take pleasure in her elaborate baking initiatives.
It felt too good to be true. “Studios have been low cost, as a result of everybody was nonetheless working from residence and needed a one-bedroom with a separate sleeping area and work area,” Ms. Leyva mentioned. “However my work area is in Manhattan.”
She teamed up with Leora Blumberg Rubinstein, a realtor with Douglas Elliman, who authorized of her technique. “Typically when you have got a very pretty neighborhood that’s additionally tremendous costly, it’s worthwhile to have a look at the perimeter to seek out one thing that meets your funds,” she mentioned. “Jenn was very open-minded.”
Among the many choices:
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