Haley and JP moved to Brooklyn from the Midwest with a methodical plan for buying a place of their own. They spent weekends searching the city for a neighborhood that fit their needs and landed in a new condo building that is still wrapping up construction. Here’s Haley’s story as told to Kelly Kreth.
I was born in Westchester and attended NYU. After graduation, I lived in many places around the U.S. My partner, JP, was born and raised in Sydney, Australia, and came to the States in his late 20s.
We met in 2018 when we were both living in Columbus, Ohio, and thinking of moving. I had always planned to go back to New York City and JP dreamed of returning to a more urban lifestyle.
I owned a 1919 Arts and Crafts-style house in the walkable Short North Arts District in Columbus for almost 20 years. After completing multiple renovations, I told my friend, a real estate agent, “Someday, someone will come along and make me an offer on this house, and I’ll use it to buy a NYC apartment.”
In spring of 2023 that’s exactly what happened. I received a full-price, all-cash offer of $1,500,000— without the house even being on the market. I felt like the universe was telling me: It is time! JP had recently taken a new, fully remote job, and my 10-year-old consulting practice Storyforge was already location-agnostic.
[Editor’s note: “Transitions” features first-person accounts of what it’s like to move from one NYC neighborhood to another. Have a story to share? Drop us an email. We respect all requests for anonymity.]
We rented a two-bedroom, two-bath in Prospect Heights with a plan to eventually buy. The place was 1,000 square feet and the building was new. It had a full staff, roof deck with pool, co-working lounge, and a great gym. The rent was $5,625.
There were several things we really liked: The apartment had in-unit laundry, huge windows, and loads of closets. The building was close to Atlantic Terminal and within walking distance of so much of Brooklyn’s best.
Prospect Heights is a short walk from Prospect Park, Brooklyn Botanical Garden, and Brooklyn Museum, among other greenspaces and cultural destinations. We both practice yoga every day and our favorite studio Brooklyn Flow was nearby.
For pizza, Patsy’s was right around the corner and became a favorite spot, as did Gertrude’s, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and coffee at Milk Bar. The farmer’s market at Grand Army Plaza was a regular Saturday morning ritual.
But there were also aspects we disliked: It had a very small kitchen, which was a big adjustment for me, since I love to cook and host dinner parties. Since we didn’t want to use the bedroom as an office, one of us had to work in the living room. The building was near a fire station and the Barclays Center, where there’s lots of traffic and the noise during rush hour was sometimes unbearable.
What their search was like
Having been owners for many years, we wanted the stability that ownership provides, to be invested in our neighborhood, and have the freedom to make changes to our apartment.
We knew buying in NYC would be different from our experiences buying in other cities. That’s one of the reasons we chose Yianni Vitellas of BOND New York as our agent: he had been an owner and landlord in the Midwest. We knew he’d be able to translate the complexity of the NYC market and purchase process for us.
Using a real estate lawyer was also something new for us; it’s not necessary in other states. I didn’t realize how important and comforting it is to have a legal expert on your side.
We wanted a bigger space for around the same price I received for my Midwest home in a condo or co-op building with few amenities—to keep our monthly costs low.
Also on our must-have list: A walkable neighborhood near the park and subway with small music venues and eclectic food options. We needed space for two people to work from home comfortably. Outdoor space would be a bonus.
We spent all of 2024 exploring neighborhoods, hoping to move in February 2025. If we didn’t find what we wanted, we would rent for another year, which meant a rent increase of 10 percent.
We looked in Manhattan and Brooklyn, then narrowed our search to the neighborhoods surrounding Prospect Park. Prospect Lefferts Gardens ticked most of the boxes for us.
We viewed more than 30 apartments and finally homed in on a three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath in a new, 20-unit condo building in Prospect Lefferts Garden with an elevator, virtual concierge, outdoor space, deeded storage, and parking garage.
There’s an abundance of natural light in our new place and the 1,261-square-foot condo feels even larger with big windows that face north and south. It is on the top floor and we have a private terrace and roof deck. The price was $1,550,000, just $50,000 more than what I received for my Ohio home.
Buying in New York is complicated; buying a sponsor unit in a new building is even more so. Our punch list was long and is still being completed four months after closing. For example: one of our neighbors noticed that the bathroom vents were not drawing air because the ventilation shaft is incomplete.
The plus side is everyone in the building became an owner at roughly the same time, so there’s a great sense of community.
But there’s also a lot of ongoing construction. While the units were completed prior to move-in, the ground-floor commercial spaces are unfinished. The work in the restaurant space is a major disruption for the many WFH owners.
How they feel about the neighborhood
Prospect Lefferts Gardens is part of the larger Flatbush neighborhood, also consisting of Little Caribbean, Lefferts Manor and Little Haiti. Parkside is often considered the southern border of PLG proper. The streets are lined with single-family houses and many blocks are past winners of Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s “Greenest Block in Brooklyn” competition. I love that neighbors stop to say hello.
We are just three blocks from Prospect Park and one block from the 2 and 4 subway lines. We also have the Q, an easy ride into Chinatown, which I love for the view of the Brooklyn Bridge when the train goes above ground. Never gets old.
We knew the move would mean some compromises, and sadly a convenient yoga studio is one of them. We walk 30 minutes each way to get to Arise Yoga in Crown Heights, or even farther across the park to to Brooklyn Flow; we haven’t found our daily yoga home.
There are many shuttered storefronts, but there are a few gems nearby, like an African record store a few blocks away that has been here for 60 years, Granru Market for vintage clothing, and Awesome Brooklyn for cards, gifts, and housewares. The currant bread from Allan’s Bakery is now a regular request from family when we travel home. Our building has happy hours and a team that competes in a weekly trivia competition at Hasenstüble, a nearby beer garden.
We are far from friends on the Upper West Side and the Bronx. Two friends rode 90 minutes each way to come for dinner last weekend, but my cousin now lives a short 10-minute walk away.
We are so into Brooklyn. We love exploring the city and like being owners. We are here to stay!
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