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The New York Times Sunday October 25, 2024 The City Section Select another article... 09-20-99 New York Times 07-22-99 CBSMarketWatch.com 04-26-99 Sidewalk.com 03-15-99 New York magazine 10-25-98 New York Times 04-30-98 Time Out New York 12-05-97 New York Times 04-24-96 Time Out New York 07-09-95 New York Times The Hope and the Hunt A co-op? Out of reach. Brooklyn. Out of the question. Two Manhattanites Find a New Home by Jennifer Steinhauer When friends of mine found out they were pregnant, their thoughts turned to Baby Gap and iron supplements. Mine turned to real estate. For two years, my husband and I lived in a one-bedroom fourth floor walk up in the East Village, shopping at the health food markets, tripping cheerfully over angry young white girls begging for quarters on St. Marks Place and eating our way through every French bistro and falafel stand in Alphabet City. But this summer, after two months of pregnancy, several realities set in. Four floors feels different when you are carrying a child, before and after birth. The idea of also schlepping a stroller and three bags of groceries did little for me. Tompkins Square Park has its charms, but it's better for strolling with a dog than an infant... We spent July in denial. In August we began our search. We knew we wanted to stay in Manhattan, even though many friends offered compelling reasons to move to the suburbs or at least to Park Slope in Brooklyn or Jackson Heights in Queens. But we were, to our equal shame and delight, consumate Manhattanites. Still we knew we were in for a major headache. A Manhattan apartment with two bedrooms for less than $3,000 within walking distance to some plot of green is next to impossible to find these days, when the rental market is tighter than in two decades. With the citywide vacancy rate hovering around 3.5 percent (about three percentage points less than five years ago), the pickings can be depressingly slim. Prices for basic two-bedroom apartments in Manhattan average $2,500 to $3,500 a month, said Barry Feinsmith, president of The Apartment Store, an on-line brokerage: at least 25 to 35 percent higher than five years ago. As a result, even dual-income professional couples like us, who earn considerably more than $46,000, the average full-time salary in New York State, often find themselves priced out of the market. Although Wall Street's recent travails have lessened rents somewhat, the climate remains painful. "This summer was awful," Mr. Feinsmith said. "The quality of inventory was the worst and the rents were the highest. New Yorkers couldn't afford to move. The inventory is better now, but it is still overpriced." Select another article... 09-20-99 New York Times 07-22-99 CBSMarketWatch.com 04-26-99 Sidewalk.com 03-15-99 New York magazine 10-25-98 New York Times 04-30-98 Time Out New York 12-05-97 New York Times 04-24-96 Time Out New York 07-09-95 New York Times TOP OF PAGE | TESTIMONIALS PAGE