News Item
"The New York Times" featured Alumna Haoran Yang in "Finding a Place (and a Decent Kitchen) to Call Her Own"
During and after graduate school at Pace University, Haoran Yang lived in Chelsea with roommates.
Then, three years ago, she found a new roommate situation on Craigslist and moved into a one-bedroom condominium in Midtown East near Sutton Place. For $1,600 a month, she occupied the bedroom. The condominium’s owner, a retired woman who traveled often, took a curtained-off corner of the living room.
“We’ve become like a family,” said Ms. Yang, who came to New York from China to study finance. “I am a twentysomething and she is older than my mom, and she treated me like a daughter.”
Late last summer, Ms. Yang landed a new job in her field, financial services, and decided it was time for her own place. A friend referred her to Sangmi Park, a licensed salesperson at Keller Williams TriBeCa. She knew she needed help with the hunt — it would save her time, she said, and give her access to more options.
Ms. Yang, now 29, wanted a decent kitchen and a location with an easy commute to her Midtown office.
For her monthly budget, $2,000 to $2,200, she assumed she would find a studio in a doorman building, similar to the condo building. But Ms. Park told her that if she wanted more space — and didn’t mind giving up amenities like an elevator or laundry room — she could instead get a one-bedroom in a no-frills building on the Upper East Side.
“That’s perfect, because I don’t mind a walk-up,” Ms. Yang said. “I have a lot of stuff, and I feel more comfortable if I have a separate room.”
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