Caroline and Aaron Sokol beloved their one-bedroom rental on the Higher West Aspect.
“We’d joke that if we by no means had a child, we might have lived and died in that house,” Mrs. Sokol stated.
Then, after all, they’d a child: Their son, Maxwell, was born in October 2023. The couple gave it a shot at first, staying within the rental for an additional 12 months. “Being within the metropolis with a child is definitely very handy as a result of every little thing is so shut,” Mr. Sokol stated.
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They put up a short lived wall to create a six-by-nine-foot nursery, full with a crib and dresser, however earlier than lengthy, issues felt cramped. “I couldn’t have been 9 months pregnant and slot in that room,” Mrs. Sokol stated.
They thought of renting a bigger house within the neighborhood, however realized that the hire for a two-bedroom would value about the identical because the month-to-month mortgage for a home exterior the town, even with rates of interest nonetheless pretty excessive.
“We felt like the home was actually essential, and if now we have to pay the rate of interest, we’re going to do it as a result of we want the area and we don’t wish to wait till the market adjustments,” Mr. Sokol stated.
The Sokols, who met in 2009 whereas attending Indiana College, each loved childhoods within the suburbs — Mrs. Sokol, 34, in Framingham, Mass., exterior Boston, and Mr. Sokol, 35, in Scarsdale, the upscale Westchester County city simply north of New York Metropolis. They needed the identical for Maxwell, and Westchester appeared like the apparent selection due to “the commute and the colleges,” Mr. Sokol stated.
Mr. Sokol, vice chairman of licensing on the model administration agency WHP World, goes to his Manhattan workplace 5 days every week, whereas Mrs. Sokol works remotely as a senior supervisor at Capital One. After promoting some shares and pulling from financial savings, they’d sufficient for a 12 % down cost on a $1 million house, and received a $50,000 penalty-free mortgage towards Mrs. Sokol’s 401k to cowl transferring bills and furnishings.
They clicked with the brokers internet hosting the primary open home they visited, Nicole Orefice and Janine Hennigan of William Raveis, and the 4 visited a few dozen listings via the winter. Together with an inexpensive commute and up to date updates, their wishlist included a pleasant kitchen and three bedrooms plus a house workplace. Early within the search, Mrs. Sokol developed an affinity for Cape Cod-style properties.
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