Corinne Real (Estate) Story-Your Dream Home May Have an Ugly Kitchen
And baby makes 3.......a one bedroom doesn't work!
One night, we were having pizza in Manhattan. The NY Times was spread out on the table (Note to Millennials and Gen Z: before Zillow, we used newspapers to find real estate). We were trying to figure out where would we live. New Jersey? Westchester? We just knew that we wanted more space and NY was very expensive. Suddenly, a man stopped by the table, “What are you doing?” he said looking over the paper. My husband said, “We want to decide where we want to live since we are having a baby.” The man was eating his pizza slice quickly, and stopped to say, “Whatever you do, please don’t leave NY. Look at me, it is 7:30, I live in CT, and I won’t be home until 9pm. Then I leave my house at 6AM. I am never home!” And as he ran out of the shop, he yelled, “Remember me!” His voice trailing off, but we never forgot what he said!
We looked at each other and said, “Maybe we should consider a 2 bedroom in NY!” Despite knowing that apartments in Manhattan were overpriced, we made the decision to make that our family home. For us one of the non-negotiables was a great school system and great location. We looked until we found what we could afford. It was in a non-descript building with an awful lobby. I said to my husband, “It’s a nice apartment if you can close your eyes until you get to the elevator.” He agreed, nice apartment, horrible lobby! But it was located between Madison and Park Avenue and the neighborhood was amazing with everything you needed within a few blocks. We felt lucky.
This apartment wasn’t our dream home. But it was comfortable and livable. The kitchen was ugly, but we made it work. The floors were wood with a white wash that I didn’t love. But buying area rugs helped. Then seven years later we renovated the home and made it what we wanted. We never regretted that home, it was just perfect.
Frequently, I work with first time buyers who are looking for their dream home. The long-term strategy of real estate is that you buy the best of what you can afford. Then you can fix it up while living there to make it the home you prefer.
I suggested this to a first-time buyer who was having trouble finding the perfect “home”. I saw how they were struggling, but when they realized they just needed to buy the best of what they could afford, their decision became clearer. They found the house the following weekend and have purchased it. They lived there for a few months and then decided to renovate the kitchen. After this renovation, they are in love with their home and so grateful that they purchased it.
We live in a world where we watch TV and see people looking for homes and buying the most beautiful properties. So, we all think, we need to find our dream home. We forget that TV is not really reality and sometimes your perfect home has an ugly kitchen!