The Hunt
They Wanted a House in the City for $1 Million. Would They Find It in Brooklyn or Queens?
A pair of newlyweds dreamed of a three-bedroom house with a grassy yard for their dog and a reasonable commute to Manhattan. Here’s what they found.
Shortly before Covid hit, Danielle McCullough moved to the East Harlem neighborhood of Manhattan. “It reminded me of home,” said Dr. McCullough, who is from Baltimore. “There are familiar things there, being around other people of color.”
The two-bedroom, two-bathroom brownstone apartment she rented cost $3,400 a month and had space for guests and for her beagle, Penny. She had previously spent eight years in hospital housing on the Upper East Side, first as a medical student and then as a resident in anesthesiology.
Dr. McCullough, now 38, was also in a new relationship with Lorne Behrman, whom she had met online. “It was two people who look very different on paper, and we ended up having this deep soul-type connection,” she said.
Mr. Behrman, 48, a musician and copywriter from California, had been divorced for several years. He was renting in Midwood, Brooklyn, paying around $1,750 a month.
“I was kind of lost as a person, to be honest, trying to figure out my life,” he said. “I knew Danielle was the one. Everything changed. My heart opened.” He (and his cat, Numi) joined her in East Harlem, and the two married last year.
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When Dr. McCullough was growing up, money was tight and her family had to move a lot. “Part of my ambition to succeed was having a place that I owned, that felt very secure,” she said.
Last spring, working the overnight shift as an obstetric anesthesiologist, she had an “aha moment,” she said, and realized that she and Mr. Behrman were financially able to buy a home. They briefly considered Westchester, where Mr. Behrman’s teenage daughter lives with her mother, but the area didn’t feel right.
So Mr. Behrman called James M. Armstrong, a friend and salesman with the Corcoran Group. “They were overwhelmed and feeling pessimistic about the whole experience,” Mr. Armstrong said. “But Danielle had been pre-approved for a physician mortgage” — which allows for a low down payment — “so I knew they were in good shape.”
With a budget of up to $1.2 million, the couple dreamed of finding a three-bedroom house “where we could spread out and make noise and be a family,” Mr. Behrman said, with a grassy yard for the dog and a reasonable commute on public transportation to Dr. McCullough’s Upper East Side hospital.
No. 1
Corner House in Flatbush
This circa-1930 corner townhouse in Flatbush, Brooklyn, had three bedrooms and two and a half bathrooms — 2,000 fully renovated square feet, but with plenty of original details. There was a finished basement with a “guest suite,” a roof deck, an attached garage and a fenced yard. A school and an affordable-housing complex were across the street, and the subway was two blocks away. The asking price was $998,000, with monthly taxes of less than $400.
No. 2
Tudor Rowhouse in Forest Hills
This 1940 Tudor rowhouse was on a tree-lined street in Forest Hills, Queens. It was being sold in an estate sale and had 1,600 square feet, with three carpeted bedrooms and one and a half bathrooms. The sunken living room had exposed beams and a fireplace, and the main bedroom had an attached sunroom. There were flower beds out front and an alley in back, leading to a garage. The nearest subway was nearly a mile away. The price was $1.1 million, with monthly taxes of around $800.
No. 3
Detached House in Forest Hills
This stand-alone 1920 house sat on a leafy residential street in Forest Hills. It had been fully renovated inside following a fire a year earlier, and had 2,400 square feet, three bedrooms, one and a half bathrooms, a full attic, a detached garage and a fenced yard. But it was also nearly a mile from the closest subway. The price was $1.199 million, with monthly taxes in the high $500s.
Find out what happened next by answering these two questions:
Which Would You Choose?
Corner House in Flatbush
Tudor Rowhouse in Forest Hills
Detached House in Forest Hills
Which Did They Buy?
Corner House in Flatbush
Tudor Rowhouse in Forest Hills
Detached House in Forest Hills