Welcome to It Happened One Weekend, our weekly roundup of The New York Times real estate section...
The Hunt: Every "The Hunt" column begins with the Hunters describing the apartment they want, and ends with them rationalizing whatever they came away with. This is The Hunt: Dreams vs. Reality
The Hunter: A man from Georgia who got a taste of urban living and wanted more.
Price
Dream: About $300,000
Reality: $410,000
Neighborhood
Dream: Northern Manhattan
Reality: Central Harlem
Amenities
Dream: One-bedroom
Reality: One-bedroom
Summary
This week's Hunter is Mark Scott, a Georgia businessman who went from a house to a 1,200-square-foot two-bedroom condominium in a downtown tower, apparently a bit rare down there. But he loved the urban life so much that he wanted even more, so much more that he got himself transferred to his company's New York City office. He wanted a one-bedroom and needed the building to be dog friendly for his two for his two companions. He started by looking for available units near Starbucks locations. His initial budget was $300,000, but realized he had to up that to the $400,000s. He tried co-ops, but realized he had to go condo. After some false starts, he ended up on a low floor in the back of a Central Harlem building and bought it sight unseen. He and the dogs love it. He didn't even ship a lot of his stuff because it was cheaper to replace it, in part by shopping at the Bronx Terminal Market just across the Harlem River. [The Hunt/Found: A One-Bedroom in Central Harlem]