Back when people still worked in offices, a quick walk to work was important to Tony Pham. So when he moved to New York from San Francisco for a new job about three years ago, he rented a one-bedroom in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, less than a 10-minute walk from his Gowanus workplace.
The one-bedroom was in a classic brownstone, recently renovated inside. Mr. Pham liked the roomy interior, but grew unhappy with building management, which he said was not only unresponsive, but lacking compassion.
“During peak pandemic, they raised the rent on everybody whose leases were expiring, which I thought was an unkind, inhumane thing to do,” he said.
He decided it was time to move. Mr. Pham, 40, who grew up near Seattle as the son of Vietnamese refugees, hoped to buy a place in or near Carroll Gardens, although his job as head of marketing for a blockchain and cryptocurrency company is now remote.
“I like having the same subway stop,” he said. “There’s a green market where I can drop off my compost. Carroll Gardens is a queer-friendly community — a safe, friendly, inclusive neighborhood.”
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Mr. Pham liked the combination of a classic brownstone with a modern interior. He wanted someplace sunny, with plenty of storage and natural light, large enough to accomodate a dedicated work space.
He also hoped for “certain conveniences that are luxuries in many places in New York,” he said, like a washer and dryer and central air-conditioning.
He contacted Brian Babst, an associate broker at Compass, who had helped him find his rental. Mr. Babst suggested looking at small, redeveloped brownstones, which fit Mr. Pham’s style: charming on the outside; updated on the inside.
Mr. Pham, who teaches meditation, was also interested in “the energy of the space,” he said. “I admit that I did not necessarily make it easy for the broker.”
Something essential, but hard to test, was quiet — and not just for him.
“Tony was concerned not only about noise intrusion, but about noise extrusion,” Mr. Babst said. “Meditation is not always a silent endeavor.” In Mr. Pham’s case, it sometimes includes chanting and a handpan drum.
In his price range — up to about $1 million for a place in move-in condition — apartments tended to be around 900 square feet. He gravitated toward top-floor units, where there would be no noise from above, and he had little interest in an elevator.
Many of the places he looked at, he said, were “almost but not quite — there was something about each one that made me hesitate.”
Among his options:
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