With Plans for a Baby, They Wanted a Place With a Second Bedroom and Lots of Amenities. Which Would You Choose?
A couple from Mexico City knew that if they were going to buy, ‘it had to be now’ — before interest rates went up. Here’s what they found in Brooklyn for less than $2 million.
Maria Fernanda Espino and Andre Nicolas hoped to find a two-bedroom in a new luxury building in Brooklyn, with a budget of up to $2 million.
When Maria Fernanda Espino and Andre Nicolas arrived in New York from their native Mexico City four years ago, the future was wide open.
Ms. Espino had come to the city for a banking job, and the couple — who met as students at Anahuac University, in Mexico City, and married a few years later — moved into a one-bedroom in a luxury rental building on the Far East Side.
“We didn’t know whether we would move for two years or forever, and forever is a long time,” said Ms. Espino, 30. But they found that they liked living in the city, and decided to stay.
They were especially glad to live in an elevator building with plenty of amenities. “Imagine in winter when you have all the groceries and have to walk up seven floors,” Ms. Espino said. They appreciated the doorman, the laundry room and the package room, she added, “things that make your life easier.”
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With both working from home during the pandemic — Mr. Nicolas, 35, is self-employed in the financial technology field — and with plans for a baby, they decided to look for a place with a second bedroom in a similar amenity-filled building.
But they wavered between renting and buying.
If they rented a two-bedroom, would a similar or slightly higher amount be better spent on a mortgage? Could they find a suitable place to buy for $1 million to $2 million? If they hesitated, would they miss out on the temptingly low interest rates?
“If we were going to buy something, it had to be now,” Ms. Espino said. “If not, the train would be gone.”
They scanned Manhattan’s housing stock and found it discouraging. “The apartments are super-old and the price is still a million dollars,” Ms. Espino said. “I didn’t want to spend all our savings on the down payment for an apartment like this, because then we would have to renew it.”
A new building, where renovations weren’t needed, seemed a better bet.
The couple hunted online exhaustively. Mr. Nicolas suggested One Manhattan Square, the 72-story tower in Two Bridges, on the edge of Chinatown, on the former site of a Pathmark supermarket. The building’s rent-to-own program appealed, as did its 20-year tax abatement.
But they didn’t love the gritty neighborhood, near highways and housing projects. And it was too expensive, as was much of the new construction they saw in Manhattan.
By now, they knew they could afford a suitable place in Brooklyn. “I would not move to Brooklyn to have an old apartment,” Ms. Espino said. “For that, I could stay in Manhattan.”
So they looked at several new condo developments in or near Downtown Brooklyn, all with lots of amenities, both indoors and out: playrooms, package rooms, fitness rooms, screening rooms, gardens, roof decks, studies, lounges and more.
Among their options:
No. 1
11 Hoyt
This 57-story, 481-unit tower in Downtown Brooklyn had 55,000 square feet of indoor and outdoor amenities. The two-bedroom, two-bathroom apartments the couple considered, each around 1,200 square feet, cost around $1.6 million to $1.8 million, with monthly charges typically a little more than $3,000.
No. 2
One Clinton
This 38-story, 134-unit building in Brooklyn Heights was near Cadman Plaza Park. It had 10,000 square feet of amenities and would include a branch of the Brooklyn Public Library. Two-bedrooms, with around 1,600 square feet, cost around $2.6 million, with monthly charges in the mid $3,000s.
No. 3
Brooklyn Point
This 68-story, 483-unit tower had around 40,000 square feet of amenities and was part of City Point, a mixed-use development project with a Target and an indoor food bazaar. Two-bedrooms with almost 1,200 square feet ranged from $1.8 million to $2.7 million, with monthly charges of around $1,500 and a 25-year tax abatement.
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