Only $960 in maintenance? That's why I didn't buy in New York.

No thanks. I'm staying here.

The Hunt
And Now a Homeowner

The New York Times
August 15, 2008

MICAH BERGDALE had no time for adolescent indecision. He graduated from college with a degree in business administration at 18 and founded his own company three years later.

A three-bedroom at 1100 Grand Concourse has about 1,500 square feet.

?Some people go through their 20s floating around, and I don?t want to float around,? said Mr. Bergdale, who is now 26. ?I want to create a successful strategy for my life over the long term. You know how people in college have no clue what they want to do? At 15, I wanted to get a business degree. What else could there be??

When Mr. Bergdale was a teenager, his family moved from Iowa to Arizona. His precociousness was partly a function of the educational system, he said. He was ahead of his classmates academically.

After graduating in 2000 from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Mr. Bergdale landed in Chicago, where he worked for Apple Computer setting up retail stores. The company he later founded, Digital Criterion (digitalcriterion.com), provides consulting services to small businesses that primarily use Macintosh computers.

He lived in Chicago?s South Loop, where he watched the neighborhood gentrify.

About three years ago, a friend from New York called, looking to refer some computer clients to him. That served as a catalyst for Mr. Bergdale, who wanted to move to New York anyway, to expand his business. ?A week later,? he said, ?I was in a U-Haul driving across the country.?

He rented a two-bedroom for $3,300 at the Crest at 63 Wall Street. The Crest, an office-to-rental conversion, had received bad publicity related to a lack of services and nonworking utilities, and ?they were practically giving places away,? Mr. Bergdale said. He received three months? free rent and paid no broker?s fee. The second bedroom was occupied by a series of less-than-ideal roommates.

As the two-year lease came up for renewal, he resolved to buy. ?It takes money to make a down payment and to start a business,? he said, ?and I chose the business path? first.

His roommate at the time happened to be a real estate agent, who wanted him to buy in a high-end financial district condominium like William Beaver House. ?These luxury properties were completely out of my range and weren?t anything I was interested in,? he said.

He hunted for the most space for his budget, which was $250,000 to $400,000. He felt priced out of most of Manhattan, though it was important to be within easy reach of a subway to the financial district, where his office is.

The apartments he found in Hoboken and Jersey City seemed too far from the PATH stations. In Long Island City, he checked out the 41st Avenue condominiums, but was troubled by the small kitchens and high prices per square foot, he said.

Then, last fall, his price range led him to the Bronx, where two-bedroom co-ops sold for below $300,000. He likened the area around Yankee Stadium, and the stadium under construction nearby, to the thriving Wrigleyville neighborhood around Wrigley Field in Chicago. ?I could see the same thing happening in the South Bronx,? he said.

He visited 800 Grand Concourse, a doorman co-op building, where two-bedrooms lacked space and light. While in the building, he said, he heard too many noisy children.

But he was captivated when he entered the sunny lobby at 1100 Grand Concourse. Two adjacent three-bedroom co-ops, each with around 1,500 square feet, were for sale by the same seller; each was listed at $269,000.

?The second I saw them, I knew one of these had to be my apartment,? he said. ?There was no question in my mind. You can?t even explain it. You walk in and it?s like, ?I?m here; I?ve found it.? ?

The seller, who planned to leave town to care for his elderly parents, was living in the renovated unit, said Whitnie Payne of Citi Habitats, the listing agent. The other unit, with ?more of the prewar aspect,? she said, was vacant.

Mr. Bergdale liked that one, with much more potential to ?make it my own,? he said. ?I was blown away by the size of the apartment. Having too much space never crossed my mind.?

He bought the unrenovated unit for $265,000. Maintenance is around $960 a month. Three parties were interested in the other apartment, and it ultimately sold for $279,000, Ms. Payne said.

Last summer, Mr. Bergdale moved out of the Crest ? prematurely, it turned out ? and stayed with a friend in Greenpoint, Brooklyn. His friend?s roommates ended up calling him ?the squatter.?

He had been preapproved for a mortgage by Countrywide Home Loans, but was then told that the company had stopped financing co-ops. He worried that the deal would fall through before he found another lender, but got a mortgage through his bank, Chase.

Two-bedrooms at 800 Grand Concourse in the Bronx seemed to lack light.

For months, the apartment ?didn?t become home because I needed to start on renovations,? he said. He left those in the hands of the building?s superintendent, Hector Soriano, who lives on his floor. ?I figured this was the best-case scenario,? Mr. Bergdale said. ?I think it ensured I was going to get a quality job. People say, ?You could have gotten it cheaper,? but I?ve seen some of those jobs that were cheaper.?

He is spending around $30,000. ?The entire apartment is networked and cabled up,? he said, with satellite TV and high-speed Internet service. The original parquet floors were replaced with red oak. Removing the wall between the kitchen and dining room made for an open living area where ?people can sit around the countertop as you?re cooking, almost like a cooking show.?

Mr. Soriano, who does many renovations along the Grand Concourse, said that Mr. Bergdale, like most of his current clients, wished to open up and modernize the space. He also notices a trend toward electric stoves, like the one that Mr. Bergdale chose. ?They believe it is cheaper than using gas,? Mr. Soriano said.

Mr. Bergdale didn?t fully move in until spring, turning the original living room into a home office. He still needs to add lighting fixtures, renovate the closets and expand the two bathrooms. Construction dust coats every surface.

Mr. Bergdale recently gained two roommates; each pays $800 a month. ?When I decided I wanted to do the renovation,? he said, ?I knew from a financial standpoint that would be the best way.?

He joined the co-op board as treasurer, too, and has ideas for improving some of the building?s common areas.

?It seems that people realize the potential of what exists in the Bronx,? he said. ?It seems more and more apparent this is going to be an extremely good investment.?