MESSAGE
| DATE | 2020-04-21 |
| FROM | Ruben Safir
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| SUBJECT | Subject: [Hangout - NYLXS] Escape from NY
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Escape from New York City
Many New York City residents are packing up their apartments and heading
for the hills or suburbs to escape the pandemic—some permanently
Photo: Wesley Bedrosian for The Wall Street Journal
By Anne Kadet
April 21, 2020 10:00 am ET
Like many families with young children, Stan and Julia Usherenko had
long planned to move to the suburbs, where they could afford a larger
home and a yard. This year, they finally started what they assumed would
be a leisurely search. Then the pandemic hit.
In mid-March—the last weekend that real-estate agents could hold an open
house—Mr. and Mrs. Usherenko rushed to make an offer on a three-bedroom
house in Midland Park, N.J., with a pool and fenced-in yard.
“If we didn’t go with this house, who knows when we’d find the next
house,” Mr. Usherenko said. “We might have been stuck until much later.
We went $25,000 over asking.”
A closing is scheduled for the end of April, but the move can’t come
fast enough for the Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, family.
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Mr. Usherenko, a financial analyst, and Mrs. Usherenko, a
psychotherapist, are both working full time in their two-bedroom
apartment while caring for two toddlers. “We’re definitely not getting
enough fresh air,” said Mr. Usherenko, whose grandfather recently died
from coronavirus. “And it’s stressful. Every time we go outside, you
don’t know who you’re passing by.”
Members of the Usherenko family.
Photo: Usherenko family
They’re hardly the only family spurred by the pandemic to make a fast
move, said Alison Bernstein, founder and president of Suburban Jungle, a
company that specializes in matching city clients with their ideal
suburban town, and helped the Usherenkos find their new home. “This
whole thing is catastrophic and petrifying for families in urban areas,”
she said. “People want out of the city and now.”
Ms. Bernstein said demand for her firm’s services is up 40% from the
same period last year. Some are prompted by safety concerns. Others
worry the shelter-in-place edict will drag on, confining them to small
city apartments.
Carlo Siracusa, president of Residential Sales for N.J.-based Weichert
Realtors said while inventory is low due to sellers pulling homes off
the market, demand remains high because of a new wave of city dwellers
shopping in the suburbs.
“They’ve been confined to a small space the last 45 days and want out,”
he said. “There’s a sense of urgency.”
The real-estate market isn’t exactly lively these days, of course. In
Manhattan, contract signings are down 77%, according to UrbanDigs. A
National Association of Realtors survey, meanwhile, found that most
buyers are delaying purchases.
But for some, the pandemic had the opposite effect.
By the end of March, Kristen Euretig was fed up with quarantine life in
her Brooklyn rental apartment. She’s now enjoying a three-bedroom Airbnb
rental outside Rochester, N.Y. with her husband, 18-month-old son and
dog. And she’s surprised to discover how much her family enjoys country
living.
When they want fresh air, there’s no need to don gloves, face masks and
dodge neighbors crowding the apartment building lobby. They tumble out
to the yard with its 16 acres of marshland that hosts ducks, geese and
deer. “I’m not in a rush to head back,” said Ms. Euretig, who founded
the financial advisory Brooklyn Plans, and is now working from home.
Indeed, the experience has the family rethinking its commitment to the
city. Until the pandemic, the suburbs didn’t seem practical. But now
that her husband, a lawyer, has proven his ability to work from home,
they’re hoping his employer will be open to the idea. Last week, Ms.
Euretig made her first call to a Hudson Valley real-estate agent.
The prospect of a mini-exodus is a real possibility, said Jonathan
Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, a
Manhattan think tank focused on the local economy.
“New York is the epicenter for this pandemic,” he said. “Everybody knows
that, and it’s understandable for people to think maybe a less dense
place would be safer the next 12 to 18 months.”
But it is hardly a foregone conclusion, he said. Whether the flight from
the city materializes depends largely on how authorities handle the
situation during the coming weeks and months. “It’s all about whether
people feel safe from another wave of the pandemic breaking out,” Mr.
Bowles said.
After 9/11, some predicted the city would see a population decline
spurred by fears of terrorism, he said. Instead, the population grew as
the city demonstrated its ability to keep residents safe.
The catch: It may require long or repeated shutdowns to address the
virus, which could itself spur suburban flight. What’s the point of
paying crazy rent on a cramped apartment if you can’t enjoy the city?
Last month, after two weeks of quarantine living, Manhattan residents
Eric and Heidi Matisoff packed their two toddlers and dog into an SUV
and temporarily moved in with Mrs. Matisoff’s mother, who lives
Northvale, N.J. On the drive over, the Suburban Jungle clients stopped
to view an available four-bedroom house in Glen Ridge, N.J. They made an
offer that day. The closing is scheduled for June 15.
The Matisoff Family
Photo: Matisoff family
The Matisoffs—he works at Adobe and she is a nurse practitioner who is
on leave to care for the children—had been contemplating a move for a
while. They are sad to be leaving the city behind, but the pandemic
makes it easier.
“This could go on for six months, 12 months. And who knows what the city
could look like after,” Mrs. Matisoff said. “The lure of leaving the
city has increased.”
Write to Anne Kadet at anne.kadet-at-wsj.com
Corrections & Amplifications
An earlier version of this story included photos that incorrectly
identified the Matisoff and Usherenko families. (Corrected on April 21)
--
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