After immigrating from their native India in 1998, Vidya Jayaraman and Jay Krishnamoorthy settled in Connecticut and then New Jersey, visiting New York City as much as possible. Work led them to St. Louis and then to Atlanta, where they lived a suburban life, raising their daughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are empty nesters \u2014 bird launchers, is what they say now,\u201d Ms. Jayaraman said. Though their woodsy Georgia neighborhood was suited to family life, she said, \u201cnow that we have launched our bird, we wanted the city life as well. The city has so much to offer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Their daughter, Rithika Jayaraman, now attends Stony Brook University, on Long Island. The couple, who both work remotely in tech jobs, visit with her often.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t want to be too far away from my daughter,\u201d said Ms. Jayaraman, 49. \u201cI want to be in closer proximity to her so I can be a part of her life and she can be a part of my next phase of life.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms. Jayaraman and Mr. Krishnamoorthy decided to buy a second home in the city, rather than spend money on hotels. Early last year, they began checking out listings with the goal of buying a small place \u2014 nothing more than a glorified hotel room \u2014 in a doorman building for up to $600,000.<\/p>\n
The couple focused on the East Side, convenient to the new Grand Central Madison terminal, where they could catch a train to Stony Brook. They found themselves gravitating toward Midtown East, which seemed more happening at night than some areas of the Upper East Side.<\/p>\n
After seeing several one-bedroom co-op units, \u201cI said, Let\u2019s go a step down and see how the studios are,\u201d said Mr. Krishnamoorthy, 53. Studios were almost as big in square footage, they found, but the monthly maintenance was typically less.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought, How can we fit our life into a studio?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
An alcove studio seemed to be the answer, since the alcove could be used as a sleeping nook. But the pair had a tough time navigating the Manhattan market. They encountered high down payments, uncertainty as to whether negotiation was possible, and a dizzying array of co-op rules. And they felt it was important to have a rapport with an agent. That didn\u2019t always happen, assuming the agent even returned their call. So they hunted on their own.<\/p>\n
After a long and exhausting search, the couple considered settling for a place that wasn\u2019t quite right. They thought about giving up. But they didn\u2019t. And they found their perfect studio, a cozy and charming space that fits their needs and lifestyle.<\/p>\n
A: They wanted to be closer to their daughter, who attends Stony Brook University, and to experience the city life.<\/p>\n
A: They were looking to spend up to $600,000 for a small place in a doorman building.<\/p>\n
A: They wanted to be close to the new Grand Central Madison terminal, which would make it easy to catch a train to Stony Brook.<\/p>\n
A: They found it difficult to navigate the Manhattan market, with high down payments, uncertain negotiation possibilities, and complex co-op rules.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
From Suburban Life to City Living: A Couple’s Journey to Find the Perfect Studio After immigrating from their native India in 1998, Vidya Jayaraman and Jay Krishnamoorthy settled in Connecticut and then New Jersey, visiting New York City as much as possible. Work led them to St. Louis and then to Atlanta, where they lived […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":4138,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rank_math_lock_modified_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-4137","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-real-estate"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i2.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/11\/07\/multimedia\/07Hunt-Jayaraman-01-fbjt\/07Hunt-Jayaraman-01-fbjt-facebookJumbo.jpg?w=1050&resize=1050,550&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4137"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4139,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4137\/revisions\/4139"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4138"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4137"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4137"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/citystuff.com\/new-york\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4137"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}