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Contributor: Diary of a First-Time Buyer

Diary of a First-Time Buyer

A newbie navigates the NYC real estate market

Latest "Diary of a First-Time Buyer" Articles

The two most beautiful words a mortgage applicant can hear

by Elle Bee | 5/06/13 - 1:42 PM

At this point in my apartment-buying career—and yes at times it has felt like a full-time job—I began coming around to the idea that hope looks through a blind eye.
With so many obstacles in my way, should I give up? Or...
Hell is applying for a mortgage...as a self-employed writer

by Elle Bee | 4/22/13 - 11:41 AM

The joy of finding another place to buy in such short order—after three days of searching and looking at fewer than...
Elle makes a deal

by Elle Bee | 4/08/13 - 2:10 PM

It was a happy accident that Sidney, my broker, suggested we return to the West 181^st...
With Brooklyn behind me, I head toward Hudson Heights

by Elle Bee | 3/25/13 - 10:42 AM

Within a couple of months after the Brooklyn apartment fiasco, I decided to stop pouting and start looking for a new...
To pick up the pieces, shut off your Trulia alerts and go on the rebound

by Elle Bee | 2/25/13 - 3:03 PM

Finding, securing and losing an apartment, I decided, was a lot like running. It takes forever to build up to a five-mile run, and it takes one week of inactivity to lose all you've gained.
...
After the board interview, a title search bombshell

by Elle Bee | 2/11/13 - 2:12 PM

Once I recovered from the co-op board interview and the gamut of feelings following it—shock...
A home visit from a private investigator, board interview bombshells, and other signs I'm in trouble

by Elle Bee | 1/28/13 - 10:31 AM

On a Thursday about two weeks after Karen, my broker, delivered my co-op board application, I...
How (not) to prepare a co-op board package

by Elle Bee | 1/14/13 - 9:56 AM

It was August 2012, a full nine months after I made my offer on Ashland Place, and I was feeling like I...
What does it take to get a mortgage in this town?

by Elle Bee | 12/31/12 - 1:22 PM

Having been rejected by my credit union for a mortgage, I turned with some trepidation to the...
The art (and horror) of the deal

by Elle Bee | 12/17/12 - 10:20 AM

The only problem with finding an apartment that I liked and could afford was that I found it with...
I find my "dream" apartment...in Ft. Greene

by Elle Bee | 12/03/12 - 2:43 PM

After eight months and 49 apartments, I was increasingly worried that my broker, Sidney, would throw in the towel—he had shown me numerous apartments that looked alike and yet, none that fit the bill.
He never...
Updating my wish list

by Elle Bee | 11/12/12 - 2:19 PM

Between March and late fall of last year, most of my Sundays were consumed by open houses in Upper Manhattan, a parade of one-bedrooms with an assortment of ailments ranging from lack of space to lack of light.
By this...
Navigating the (rocky) relationship between broker and buyer

by Elle Bee | 10/31/12 - 10:44 AM

Week 4 of the apartment search. Sidney, the first realtor I contacted about four weeks ago, offered to show me around Inwood, a neighborhood in the...
My whirlwind affair with Hamilton Heights

by Elle Bee | 10/15/12 - 10:38 AM

Week 3 of my apartment search. Since songs from the musical “In the Heights” are running through my head, I take that as a divine sign that...
Open house time (a.k.a. the sound of my heart breaking)

by Elle Bee | 9/24/12 - 10:29 AM

Week No. 2 of my search: Wanting to avoid another blind side, I decided to contact an agent whom I’d interviewed...
Diary of a First-time Buyer: "How did I get here and how do I get out??"

by Elle Bee | 9/10/12 - 11:32 AM
Wednesday night in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. I’m sitting not at a hip bistro but in a fluorescent-lit basement room at the head of a U-shaped table with two thoughts running through my head:
- This is a long way from a...

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