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THE HUNT

Room for 1.) a Dog, and 2.) Wedding Gifts

New York Times
By JOYCE COHEN
Published: June 23, 2011

NEARLY four years ago, James Marotta bought what he intended to be a bachelor pad. An alcove studio in a Midtown East co-op building, it cost him $372,000, but he never had a chance to be a bachelor there.


Karen and James Marotta and Kaya, in a rare still moment, in their new home.


Jersey City was the target. The view from Aquablu was impressive.

Before he could move in, he met his future wife, Karen Seaman, through friends. The apartment, at 550 square feet, was just big enough for them both. They lived there happily until last winter, when they acquired a puppy.

At nine weeks, Kaya weighed only 11 pounds. But as rambunctious Labrador puppies do, she grew quickly.

In the studio, there was no place to confine Kaya before she was housebroken, so Mr. Marotta constructed a makeshift wire pen in one corner. Kaya ?would get these little fits of energy, and she would be able to run only 10 or 15 feet and turn around and go back the other way,? Mrs. Marotta said. ?It was sad for us. If we had a bigger apartment, we could throw a toy.?

Walking a distractible puppy on the crowded sidewalks was a chore, too. ?About a million people stop you if you have a puppy in the city,? Mr. Marotta said.

The couple had other reasons to move. They stored sporting equipment and out-of-season clothing beneath their bed, which was on two sets of risers ? too high for sitting. And their wedding gifts were at Mrs. Marotta?s grandmother?s house.

?All the stuff you get for starting your marriage, I wasn?t able to use,? Mrs. Marotta said. ?I was bummed about that.? They wanted a second bedroom for storage, guests and maybe a baby in the future, as well as a second bathroom to eliminate the workday-morning squeeze.

In a stronger market, they might have sold their co-op. But values of similar units in the building had dipped and were hovering around $360,000. So they decided to rent their place out and hunt for a two-bedroom two-bath rental in a calmer locale.

In Westchester and on Long Island, they found few apartment complexes or private houses that allowed dogs. And they were alarmed by the cost of a monthly train ticket, plus a MetroCard for each of them: several hundred dollars a month. Both work downtown, Mrs. Marotta as a public relations executive and Mr. Marotta in the internal audit department of a bank.

They planned to buy a car, too. They often visit their families in Queens and on Long Island, and needed an easy way to transport Kaya.

Mrs. Marotta?s best childhood friend and her husband owned a condominium in Jersey City, so the Marottas knew the area was filled with new high-rise rental buildings. A 30-day unlimited PATH ticket was just $54. So they decided their best bet was Jersey City.

As soon as they began searching, their budget rose well beyond $3,000 a month, from $2,500. ?I think we were maybe out of touch with prices of luxury rentals,? Mrs. Marotta said.

The buildings they saw all seemed nice, with waterfront locations, vistas of the Manhattan skyline and similar amenities. To the Marottas? surprise and dismay, all included an extra charge for Kaya.

They loved the views from the big windows at Aquablu, the newest of the Newport complex?s rental buildings. The monthly rent for two-bedroom two-bath apartments was in the low to high $3,000s. The pet fee was $300 per pet per year. The complex included a dog run, so the fee seemed reasonable, Mr. Marotta said.

Parking was $190 a month. Use of the Newport pool was $77 per person per month. (Mr. Marotta thought a pool might be worth it.)

Next up was the Pier, where two-bedrooms rent in the $3,000s. The pet fee was $500 per pet, plus a pet rent of $75 a month. There was a $500 one-time fee for amenities, a monthly charge of $200 for parking, and a flat monthly fee ($95 for a one-bedroom and $122 for a two-bedroom) covering water, sewer, trash and heat. Mr. Marotta objected. If the fee was obligatory, he said, it should be added to the rent instead of tacked on separately.

At every building they saw, he asked immediately about extra fees. He found building Web sites annoying. Typically, they gave prominence to the lowest rental prices and touted their pet-friendliness, with only a glancing mention, if any, of additional charges.

?I am always happy to see all charges and fees laid out ? what consumer wouldn?t want that?? Mr. Marotta said.

The not-so-fine print wasn?t endearing Jersey City?s new rental buildings to them. Meanwhile, they were monitoring Craigslist, intrigued by an ad for a two-bedroom two-bath apartment in the A Condominiums, where their friends lived. The brick and glass building was several years old and had a gym but no pool.



The Pier also had a view. But what was all this talk of fees?



A sublet at A Condominiums came into play.
?You usually don?t see rentals for that building,? Mrs. Marotta said.

But this was a sublet. The rent was $3,100 furnished, plus $200 for parking. Over two months, the rent dropped. The parking fee vanished. The place was offered unfurnished.

And, it turned out, the apartment was next door to their friends?.

The owner, needing to relocate for work, was reluctant to sell in a soft market, just as the Marottas were. ?It was a really good coincidence,? Mr. Marotta said, ?so we pretty much fixated on that apartment. There was no nickel and diming.?

The Marottas signed a two-year lease for $2,900 a month ? which covered them, their dog and their new car ? and moved in two months ago.

Everyone is enjoying the space, where they play fetch both inside and on the balcony. Kaya walks, uninterrupted, on empty sidewalks. They hope to trade babysitting for dogwalking ? their friends had a baby earlier this month. They joke that the only bad thing about Jersey City is leaving it, due to the horrific traffic in the Holland Tunnel.

Meanwhile, through a StreetEasy ad, the Marottas quickly found a couple to rent their alcove studio for $2,300 a month. Their pet-friendly co-op has relatively lax rules when it comes to allowing renters, except for one thing: It charges them $300 a month for a pet.

?It seems so hypocritical to me,? Mr. Marotta said. He would prefer a prohibition on pets to an exorbitant charge. ?If you want to raise revenue, then at least put a number that is doable. It is so high nobody is going to pay it.?

The rationale, he was told, was to deter pet ownership among renters, who might not care for pets or property with the same vigilance as owners. ?I don?t get their logic,? he said. ?My dog peed in the elevator when she was a puppy. I wasn?t a bad owner. That is just what dogs do.?