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The New York Times

Becoming a First-Time Buyer in Brooklyn

By: Joyce Cohen
Published: 3/22/2018Source: The New York Times

Featuring Alison McQueen

 

Elaine Burns had moved far too often for her liking.

“It was never my choice,” she said. “I was getting so fatigued from the stress of moving and dealing with roommates and landlords.”

She longed to be a homeowner, and had been saving for years to become one. “Having a home base is one of the most important things to me,” said Ms. Burns, who works as a product manager at a cosmetics company and also has a home and event styling company called Pistachio By Elaine.

She started her house hunting in earnest last summer with a home-buying class offered by Brooklyn Brainery and taught by Alison McQueen, an associate broker at the Corcoran Group in Park Slope.

At age 28, Ms. Burns said she realized she was one of the youngest in the class, which was “full of couples and people who seemed to know what they were doing. I was in way over my head.”

She met with Ms. McQueen, and laid out her priorities: a budget of $300,000 and a sunny studio co-op somewhere in Brooklyn, in move-in condition.

“Alison told me there would be slim pickings, which I had assumed,” Ms. Burns said. “She was happy I wasn’t super-picky about amenities or location because with my budget already small, it would be limiting.”

To get a sense of what $300,000 could buy, Ms. McQueen encouraged Ms. Burns to visit open houses in areas south of Prospect Park where co-ops are available for about $400,000 or less. Ms. Burns stuck to places within her price range. “I didn’t want to tempt myself,” she said.

Within weeks, Ms. Burns saw the first place she liked, an alcove studio in a 1939 building on a pretty block in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. It was asking $349,000, with monthly maintenance of $400. At the open house, she talked to some neighbors, who were “all superfriendly and engaging,” she said.

The studio, which was in great shape, had a sunken living area, a separate kitchen and a built-in bookshelf sectioning off the sleeping alcove.

It had been on the market for a month, and the price had fallen, so “I felt confident I could put in a slightly lower offer and they would bite,” Ms. Burns said. She bid $330,000. But someone else had the winning bid at $340,000.

She found another promising alcove studio on Ocean Parkway in Kensington. The location, on a thoroughfare, was less appealing, but the 1965 building, called Caton Towers, had a similar close-knit feel, with children running a bake sale in the lobby.

This apartment was listed at $279,000, with maintenance of $600 a month. Ms. Burns offered $308,000. She was at a work conference, and stayed in touch with Ms. McQueen throughout the day as the seller negotiated, but it went to someone else for $315,000.

She was more disheartened after losing out on this second co-op. She checked listings multiple times a day, but rarely saw anything new. “I felt I had memorized every listing,” she said, and many of them seemed to be in terrible condition.

But then, another studio in Prospect-Lefferts Gardens appeared, in a 1927 building, for just $199,000, with monthly maintenance in the mid-$500s and a monthly assessment of around $150. Ms. Burns immediately had Ms. McQueen contact the listing agent, who already had an offer in hand. “That was crazy,” Ms. Burns said. “It was listed mere hours before.”

She left work to see it, and loved what she found: a sunny, boxy sponsor unit, just renovated, with plenty of closet space. She immediately offered $250,000.

Having been outbid twice, she said, “I knew it was a good find. I would rather go in aggressive up front.”

The offer was accepted. Relieved, she arrived in the fall, having measured everything — including distances between electrical outlets — so she could plan the space. Her parents, who had done plenty of work on their own Arts and Crafts house in Worcester, Mass., helped her install curtains and some light fixtures.

Her mother, a ceramic artist, also made a planter to hang in the bathroom. But it soon fell into and damaged the bathtub. “I think we didn’t install it correctly,” Ms. Burns said. To repair the tub, she used the contractor who did the renovation for the sponsor.

Using her own sense of décor, she added a room divider with plantation shutters and is now collaborating with her mother to design wallpaper for the kitchen. She also built a coffee table from a slab of wood and four hairpin legs.

“I love living by myself and being able to decorate and style the place exactly as I want to,” Ms. Burns said. “Owning is what I needed in order to tackle my biggest design project yet.”

 

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