Lillie Walsh Dudley and Andy Dudley wanted to be homeowners. The couple, who have a 5-year-old son, had been renting in South Slope since 2014. They began looking for something to buy about three years ago.
“Even though we’re not rolling in money, we had a little bit of savings.,” said Ms. Dudley, 41, who works in book publishing, as does Mr. Dudley, 45. Still, not enough to buy in Brooklyn. “Anything we could possibly afford would be a stretch and a downgrade from our rental.”
Then the pandemic hit, and their apartment suddenly felt small and the city itself felt claustrophobic. The couple decided to try another house hunt.
This time, instead of looking in Brooklyn, they looked farther out — much farther. Their plan: Keep their rental and buy a second home about three hours away in the Catskills. In August 2020, they paid $221,000 for a move-in ready, 100-year-old house in Roxbury, N.Y.
up 13.7% from a year ago, the challenges are mounting.
“Even if you’re being paid really well, accumulating a down payment for a million-dollar house is really hard,” Mr. Green said. “But you want to own somewhere, you want to get into the market.”
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