At their 2017 wedding, Dante Olivia Smith and John Estep made two unconventional vows: Their home would always be open to their community, and Ms. Smith would get Mr. Estep a dog.
They didn’t know how long it would take to make those vows a reality.
Ms. Smith, a television lighting designer, and Mr. Estep, a theater props manager, were renting a three-bedroom townhouse with a terrace in Borough Park, Brooklyn. Dogs weren’t allowed. But their rent, at $1,850 a month, was well below market rate, and Ms. Smith, 40, and Mr. Estep, 43, couldn’t bring themselves to leave.
The pandemic only tightened their finances, but after a year of isolation, they were eager to move closer to friends. The time had come to fulfill those wedding vows. “We needed somewhere that felt like home,” Mr. Estep said.
They also needed something priced well below the average cost of an apartment in New York City, which was hovering around $650,000. The couple capped their budget at $250,000 and hoped to find something with a nice kitchen — they love to cook and entertain — as well as in-building laundry and an elevator, if the apartment was on a higher floor. And they didn’t want to have to make any repairs.
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“It couldn’t be a bunch of compartmentalized rooms,” Mr. Estep said. “It had to be at least a little bit open concept.”
As for location, their main concern was commuting to Midtown Manhattan. “We weren’t tied to any specific neighborhood,” Ms. Smith said, “but we asked our Realtor to keep our commute the same length.”
Allison Deutsch, an agent with Oxford Property Group who assisted with their search, was confident they could find what they wanted.
“Artists sometimes don’t think they can possibly buy in New York City because of the prices they see,” Ms. Deutsch said. “But if you look, there are neighborhoods that have easy commutes and are good choices.”
During their yearlong search, the couple focused on Harlem and Kingsbridge, in the Bronx, where several friends had moved recently.
Among the properties they considered:
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