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 management consultant returning to the city and looking to live downtown.
Price
Dream: $3,100 to $3,700 a month
Reality: Just over $3,600 a month
Neighborhood
Dream: Financial District
Reality: Financial District
Amenities
Dream: One-bedroom
Reality: One-bedroom
Summary
These stories often end with something quite different from the Hunter's dream; but sometimes, the person finds exactly what he or she was looking for. Such is the case here with Justin Cohen, a management consultant looking for apartments in the Financial District. In 2008, fresh out of Wharton, Cohen got a job as a management consultant in Tribeca and wanted to live downtown. He found a place, initially sharing a one-bedroom with a roommate and then getting a studio for himself. Then work took him to San Francisco before sending him back to New York City—but when he arrived in Lower Manhattan, he found an environment with which he was unfamiliar. For his apartment search (he wanted a one-bedroom), he enlisted the help of a real estate agent. He knew he'd be looking at converted office buildings with strange layouts, but he needed a decent kitchen (his girlfriend loves to bake), eventually finding one with everything he could want: space, a kitchen, and a washer-dryer. And he didn't even have to up his budget. Sometimes New York real estate stories can have happy endings. [The Hunt/A One-Bedroom in the Financial District]