Sure, the apartment has leaky windows and an ancient fridge from 1988. Yes, it’s on the fifth floor of a Manhattan brownstone; no, there’s no elevator. But when Colleen Kelly, 64, got the one-bedroom, $4,500-per-month unit two years ago, it felt like the “find of the century.”
“Anybody outside of New York City wouldn’t understand that at all,” she said.
What made it so alluring? A window on one side, where Ms. Kelly could see a slice of the sky and the East River, and a tiny outdoor deck with a view of the Chrysler Building.
“I go in and out all day long,” she said.
It can seem like a miracle that anybody finds a place to live in New York City, which is enduring its worst housing shortage in nearly 60 years. Rents and home prices remain staggeringly high.
What’s even more surprising is that people are able to find places they actually like.
We asked New Yorkers to tell us what they were looking for in this punishing housing market, seeking insight into their needs, wants and deal breakers. Price was a vital issue, though curiously not always the most important. Many people said they had to be close to mass transit, or in a safe neighborhood, or have space for their children to play and grow. Amenities like washers, dryers and dishwashers were, of course, often cited as needs.
Ms. Kelly’s story illustrates one of three broader themes that shaped the more than 160 responses.
First, the expectations of many New Yorkers were what could be considered incredibly low, as they grasped for things as simple as a closet, the sound of birds chirping outside or having enough counter space for a dish rack. Second, despite their love of the city, many wanted to also feel like they were in suburbia, prioritizing outdoor space or quiet. Finally, the hunts were often guided by niche desires, like being close to a Colombian bakery or not living on a parade route.
Low Expectations
The features that are often commonplace in other cities — air-conditioning, full-size appliances, even floors, ample power outlets, freedom from rodents and insects — can seem aspirational in New York City.
A person on the Upper East Side of Manhattan just wanted good water pressure in the shower. One Bronx resident described a need for natural light, because she felt traumatized by having lived in “mineshaft-like apartments.”
One resident fled the Upper West Side last year for Long Island City, Queens, just to escape a next-door neighbor who screamed at him and his partner.
For decades, Ms. Kelly, who is retired, had lived in a top-floor duplex with a roof deck in the Gramercy Park neighborhood of Manhattan.
Then she got divorced and had to find a place of her own. She wanted some sense of a connection to the outside world, even if it meant landing in a place that felt a little “run-down.”
Her new building in Manhattan’s Murray Hill section does not have a superintendent or doorman, she said. She’s seen a couple of mice. But she has a hallway, which creates more of a “home feeling,” she said.
In the end, the benefits outweigh the negatives, because the apartment isn’t about the physical unit for her. “I would never leave New York City,” she said.
She added: “I feel like I take advantage of everything New York has to offer, culturally, musically, food, the whole nine.”
Niche Desires
Some apartment searches were shaped by unusually specific or narrow desires: yes to being close to Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Alamo Drafthouse or the Park Slope Food Co-op; no to being anywhere near a McDonald’s, Lululemon or Shake Shack.
A man living across the river in New Jersey said he wanted a hand-held bidet. A Brooklyn Heights resident wanted space to lay out her yoga mat. An older couple living near Union Square in Manhattan said they had to have a street where taxis regularly stopped because walking was difficult.
In the case of Vishnu Reddy, 26, it was proximity to a gym where he could practice powerlifting.
Mr. Reddy has been in the city for about three years, after moving from Seattle, because his job in software engineering allows him to work remotely.
He lived in pricey parts of Downtown Brooklyn and Brooklyn Heights before moving to Sunnyside, Queens, where he bought a one-bedroom co-op unit for less than $400,000. His mortgage is $2,200 and monthly maintenance costs are just shy of $700, Mr. Reddy said.
He chose Sunnyside because it felt culturally diverse, like many neighborhoods that are farther away from Manhattan. But he could also easily bike to a high-end gym in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.
“The access to those sort of amenities are very good for me,” he said.
For Brian Lutz, 30, one of his top needs was to have a window that under no circumstances looked out onto the street. Courtyard views, he said, gave him a sense of isolation and peace.
Originally from Cleveland, Mr. Lutz, a software programmer, moved to California after college. After he got laid off, he took a job with J.P. Morgan in New York City, where he had interned, prompting a frantic search for an apartment.
And while the inward-facing window was a must, Mr. Lutz found his other tastes changing. He initially wanted a laundry room in his apartment building, and to have a gym within walking distance.
But after living in his first New York apartment for a year — a $3,200 studio in Kips Bay in Manhattan — he decided he wasn’t saving enough. So he moved into a $2,700, fifth-floor walk-up on the other side of Manhattan in Hell’s Kitchen. It does not have laundry, but he’s come to enjoy biking to work and exercising at a gym there. His window still faces a courtyard.
“I think the social life here is a lot more interesting,” he said.
Suburban Vibes
Most of the responses highlighted the need for a home to balance against bustling, urban life.
Alejandra Araujo, 33, grew up in Jamaica, Queens. In 2017, she left for Los Angeles, where she worked in film, but she moved back to New York City in 2023 after growing worried about the industry’s future because of the actors’ strike.
In Los Angeles, she said she had gone to the beach and learned to hike and meditate. She wanted a place in New York that let her keep doing those activities.
A broker showed her a one-bedroom apartment in Richmond Hill, Queens — close to the Rockaways and to Forest Park, where she could take her dog. The apartment had lots of light for her plants. There was almost always free street parking available.
But best of all was the price: a little over $1,000, and rent-stabilized.
“This city, it can get to you,” she said. “Growing up here, I think I’ve found a balance.”
Amada Hassan, 29, an academic adviser at a university, said she and her wife had been on the cusp of leaving the city. The couple lived with Ms. Hassan’s wife’s brother and his boyfriend, creating a household of four that was fun and helped lower their cost of living.
But they had lived “all over” Manhattan, including the Upper West Side, Upper East Side and Midtown. They were getting tired of the crowds and the rats. They thought they might want a car.
“We were thinking we would go to the suburbs and have more space, and maybe actually have a pet,” she said. “We were thinking up in Yonkers, or over into Jersey.”
But they decided to look a little harder in the other boroughs, and found a three-bedroom apartment in Astoria, Queens, that seemed to fit their needs. It felt safe, Ms. Hassan said, and was affordable enough — each person pays about $1,400. They have a spare bedroom that can double as a work space and storage.
Most importantly, though, there is a large living room. It was something Ms. Hassan imagined she might have found in the suburbs, but not in the city.
“Being able to open up that space, have people come over and host clubs and stuff, plenty of room for everyone to sit and talk and bond and host parties — that has been so different for me,” she said.
Mihir Zaveri covers housing in the New York City region for The Times.
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