Amanda DiMarco didn’t expect Recent York City to tug her back, nevertheless it did.
Ms. DiMarco, 32, had lived in the realm for nearly her entire life: She was born and raised in Westchester and spent seven years in Hoboken, N.J., after college. But when her role overseeing client success for a software company went distant in 2020, she sold most of her furniture, put just a few things in storage and hit the road along with her roommate.
The pair, who had been renting a two-bedroom, two-bathroom Hoboken apartment for $3,500 a month, spent the subsequent 13 months crisscrossing the country. They earned loyalty points at Marriott hotels, where Ms. DiMarco would take Zoom calls within the morning before heading out to hike in national parks.
“It was the largest self-growth experience I’ve ever had,” she said.
But while she kept expecting to feel a tug in certainly one of the cities she visited between Maine and California, none compelled her to place down roots. “I kept expecting to think, ‘Oh, my god, this feels right. I should be here,’” she said. As an alternative, when she made her way back home — where her large Italian family still gathers for Sunday dinner every week — “Recent York, lo and behold, was what felt most right.”
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It was the autumn of 2021 — rents were climbing, and mortgage rates were near a historic low. Ms. DiMarco, who had been putting aside funds since college, knew she had enough tucked away to make a 25 percent down payment on a house costing as much as $650,000.
Her ideal spot was in Manhattan, preferably below twenty third Street. She expected to eventually return to her Midtown office, and “wasting those hours on a commute was something I didn’t want,” she said.
She knew that her budget and placement would limit her to a studio, so she hoped she could discover a place that she could eventually operate as a rental. “I hope I’m not living alone in a studio three years from now,” she said. “I desired to have the opportunity to rent and gain that income down the road.”
When she connected with Christiana Beniamino, an actual estate agent with Bond Recent York and an old friend, she was bouncing between hotel rooms in the town and her childhood home in Westchester.
“She had already been nomadic, and he or she wanted a stable place,” Ms. Beniamino said.
Ms. DiMarco began taking a look at apartments in early 2022. Amongst her options:
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