Cost to See Kids: $2.5 M or More in NYC
Why would a family pay nearly $2.5 million to buy a needs-work apartment in New York City when they could live in a larger, nicer, single-family home with a yard in the suburbs? Because it gives dad–or, sometimes, mom or both parents–a chance to see the kids.
A rapidly increasing number of young families are reaching this conclusion, contributing to a real estate boom in Manhattan that has not only driven up prices into the stratosphere but made it almost impossible to find large, family-sized apartments to purchase at any price, reports the New York Times. According to census data, the number of children under age 5 in the borough increased by one-third between 2000 and 2005.
Among them: Rick and Leticia Presutti, who count themselves fortunate to have been able to buy a needs-work seven-room four-bedroom four-bath apartment on Madison Avenue in February for just under $2.5 million. If they were purchasing the same unrenovated home today, it would cost $3 million, according to a real estate agent.
A mergers and acquisitions lawyer, Rick Presutti is able to spend at least an hour each weekday morning with their two young children and take the older one to preschool, notes his wife. If they lived in the suburbs like many of their friends, “[m]y husband would never see the kids,” she says, noting that it’s common for suburban dads to get up before their children and come home after they are already in bed. “On Sunday nights, the kids practically say: ’Bye Daddy. See you next week,’ ” she recounts.
