When searching for a home in NYC, everyone has to sacrifice something. After reading a few good posts today I was wondering, what people value most in a home. If you had to sacrifice three of the following things in the purchase of your home, what would they be?

1) Light
2) High floor
3) Good layout
4) Nice finishes
5) View
6) Noise level
7) Amenities (gym, bike room, pool)
8) Location
9) Square footage
10) Doorman
11) Distance to transportation
12) Low maintenance

As a general rule, when stating you would sacrifice light, don’t assume you are moving into a cave. Just that it the apartment may not have constant light from a high floor. Another example would be if you are sacrificing views, you wouldn’t necessarily face a brick wall but maybe a non-descript alley view. In other words, not extreme sacrifice, just not as good as the other characteristics.

I would sacrifice finishes (they can always be added ), amenities ( they just drive up maintenance costs ) and distance to transportation

Of these, I would say -

Amenities
Distance to transportation
either doorman or low maintenance, depending on specifics

Amenities, nice finishes (prefer to do customize to taste)and doorman (just adds to expense).

BTW I would take a washer/dryer over gym/pool/bike room any day of the wk.

Finishes (waste to pay premium for someone else's)
Amenities
Low maintenance (but not trading it for unduly high fees)

1) Finishes
2) Amenities
3) High floor

For me: High floor (I live on a mid floor in a big building at the moment and have no issues)
Finishes - they can be fixed and sometimes you could do it yourself
Amenities - these can be expensive (gym, pool), I've also heard of insurance issues with pools.

The thing I find important is outlook as opposed to view. I don't necessairly need to have a fantastic view of a park or river but I want to at least have an open outlook with nothing really blocking my windows. I looked at a place that had the windows looking onto a brick wall and even though everything else was good I could never have lived there even if they paid me!

Amenities and Floor

1) square footage....layout is much more important...who needs a 600 sq ft apt with 150 sq ft of closet space...

JuiceMan, great idea for a thread, if just for the fun of it.

- Amenities (have to agree with hsw9001 here - I've never seen the draw of having a pool or a billiards room, or anything of that sort)
- Doorman (never liked that much either - mostly useful for packages, and there are ways around this)
- View (I'll get killed for saying this, because I know how much it impacts resale value, but I honestly don't spend much time just staring out at my views, unless they are truly special)

Um, ceiling height is missing and is a major one that can't be adjusted.

Nothing worse than 8 foot ceilings.

I'd sacrifice:
Nice finishes (agree, these can be added later)
Doorman (I have one now and frankly I find the chitchat annoying plus they assume that all my friends can just go straight up w/o calling)
Noise level

After living at Avenue C, about ten minutes away from the subway, I'd never sacrifice proximity to transportation. I now live 10 seconds away from a subway station. So nice.

4) Nice finishes - It seems it is generally expected that a mark-up is justified for any improvements. Why should I pay someone 1.5x what it would cost to do or have done myself once I own the place

5) View - Maybe I've never had a worthwhile view, but of the 3 apartments that I've lived in in the city (one with view of Astor Place being the best) I think I look out the window less than 1% of the time in the apartment and then usually to check if it is raining. I guess it would neat to have a view of the Empire State Building lit up at night, but the novelty would wear off quickly.

7) Amenities (gym, bike room, pool) - same issue with the novelty. I'm sure I would use a gym/pool a lot for the first couple of months and trail off quickly. When I have kids I would like to give them the opportunity to have a pool, but that is a ways off. I'm not crazy enough to ride a bike in this city.

Resident geniuses,

May I just ask a quick question? Views keep coming up as an unnecessary luxury. I traded in my initially contracted apartment in a new construction and paid $148,000 more for the same exact apartment with a truly sensational view looking at downtown Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridge which shouldn't be blocked due to landmark status of neighborhood to my west. Initially had no view at all and now have view that is truly uplifting. By the way, my sofa will face the window and I'll get my monies worth since windows are floor to ceiling and take up entire wall.

By the way, I'd pay more in maintenance to get rid of a doorman. I can't stand having the door opened for me and chit chatting. Concierge is just fine.

Where's the question, unless asking if you could ask was the question itself.

I'll mix mine up a tad (since people seem to be centering on a lot of the same things) and inlude the ones that I wouldn't sacrifice on at the bottom.

Sacrifice
4) Nice finishes - Seems to be a common sentiment here. Unless the place is exactly how I want it I would be hesitant to pay any premium.
5) View - Unless I have outdoor space I couldn't really care that much.
7) Amenities (gym, bike room, pool) - Pools in most developments are maintained at too high of a temp for serious swimming. Plus, I'd rather not pay for this stuff anyway.

No Sacrifice
11) Distance to transportation - Every time you go out you'll benefit from this. Less getting wet when it is raining and being cold in the winter.
6) Noise level - Live in a noisy place once and it will be the last time you make that mistake.
8) Location - Not getting stabbed and being able to get to work quickly are paramount. To me anyway..

Not getting stabbed? Are you nuts?

Don't mind losing...
2) High floor
4) Nice finishes
then maybe..
7) Amenities (gym, bike room, pool)
10) Doorman

Would not give up...

3) Good layout
6) Noise level
8) Location

Could do without...

1) High Floor (Not interested to walk up/down stairs - if required)
2) Nice Finishes (It'll just be replaced anyway - unless its a Wolf range)
3) Light (At least artificial light can be adjusted and won't bleach your furnishings)

Can't do without...

1) Noise Level (Inconsiderate neighbors are the worst)
2) Location (Would rather be in an area that I'm happy with versus wondering about 'the future' daily)
3) Apt Ventilation / Air conditioned common areas (Who wants to smell everyone else's aromas?)

Would be nice...

1) Doorman (To receive packages)
2) Layout (Sometimes layouts beat square footage)
3) Gym (It's nice not to track across town to workout)

Aren't some of these things intertwined? For instance, one can certainly do without the doorman in most instances but in certain locations it is nice to have the doorman. View/high floor/light/noise level and doorman/low maintenance/amenities are also intertwined and the amenities become more important depending on the location.

"What would you sacrifice?" It is a question that can be answered personally, but also from a resale point of view. Regardless of whether you desire natural light, if you don't get good light, it will kill you on resale. The view may not have to be stellar, but if you can't see sky, again you are limiting the pool of buyers on resale. Same with doormen for many types of apartments: people with children who have packages and carriages; people with schedules that make dry cleaning drop off/pickup difficult to do personally; people who receive many packages...all will gravitate to doormen buildings...lose them and your buyer-pool shrinks. If you don't have a gym or pool in your building, you aren't going to miss out on much in terms of people who would buy the place--those aren't deal busters but they can cost money that adds to maintenance and that will hurt you. Noise? Forget it. A noisy apartment shows very poorly and will be harder to sell. It is a bit of a sliding scale, though. If you have a killer location and white glove building, a unit on the third floor with only street views may still be attractive because the lack of view is counteracted by these other plusses.

IMPORTANT TO REMEMBER: the more compromises you make on the big 4 (layout, light/views, location, building quality) the more risk you assume in buying in terms of resale value and time it will take to resell. This is like a cardinal rule of real estate that too many people have recklessly abandoned in the last 10 years. Granite and a spa do not result in resale if the place has 1 closet, 1/2 a kitchen, and a bedroom you can't fit a dresser in with a Queen bed.

Would sacrifice:
1. Finishes
2. Doorman
3. High floor

Amenities that mean the most to me are bike storage and extra storage space. Would sacrifice potentially other amenities in place of high floor.

Nix list:
1. Amenities
2. Low Maintenance
3. Finishes

Can't Live Without:
1. Pre-War
2. Layout
3. Light

1) My mother-in-law
2) Wife's friend
3) My former boss

{I thought maybe we could make human sacrifices instead...}

Agreed, great thread:

Would sacrifice:
High Floor
Amenities
Nice Finishes

Would not sacrifice:
Good layout
Square Footage
Location

Nice to have
Noise Level (I disagree with others a bit on this one - lived in several noisy apartments and got used to it to the point that it was a non-issue)
Doorman (I find it convenient)
Light
View
Distance to Transportation (this one is trickier for me, it depends on where, cabs, pleasantness of walk; I'd live on East end, but not on 11th avenue).

As an aside, I found the exact same thing in the rental market when I first moved to NY. The key to getting a deal is finding an apartment that has negatives you don't care about, but that result in a discount. Whether you're willing to put up with a walk-up, need less closet space, don't care about view, etc.

Wow finally a good thread. My thoughts...

I think the most important factors are sq footage, high ceilings and layout. A decent amount of natural light is nice, but not too much. A lot of people talk about southern exposures, I've had that, it just makes the apt an oven (same with the eastern exposures in my office in the morning). I'm perfectly happy with my current northern exposure. I also currently have a big 40 foot terrace, hardly use it, views are nice but certainly something I could sacrifice. I have an amazing view of the Empire St Building, I like it but could live without. Regarding noise, while I agree with one posters comment that you mostly get used to the noise (I used to live overlooking 14th near 5th, extremely noisey), when I moved to my current extremely quiet place, you realize it makes a big difference.

Distance to transportation (and specifically ease of commute is definitely not something to sacrifice. Also I'd note the comments about people who don't like doorman have probably never had kids, its nice to have someone to open the door for you when you're lugging 2 kids around. Regardless I think having at least a concierge is very important for security, packages, etc.

Would sacrifice:

- Amenities (location should substitute)
- High floor
- Finishes

Very important:

- Noise level
- Location
- Distance to transport
- Sq ft

Ignoring resale values, I would sacrifice
1) Light
2) High floor
4) Nice finishes
5) View
10) Doorman (and concierge)

Would not sacrifice
9) Square footage
11) Distance to transportation
3) Good layout

Would prefer to have a washer dryer to a gym as well, although a gym would be nice.

I was pummelled on another thread when I suggested cutting up a junior-4 to create an interior living room, but I would sacrifice light in the living room if it got me into a more desirable neighborhood on my budget.

I also am a big proponent of buying into the best building you can afford -- even if it means you have to take that building's worst apartment. That isn't necessarily the right solution for everyone, especially for those with their eyes on new development condos, but it's the right solution for the majority of buyers.

ali r.
{downtown broker}

amenities
finishes
layout

I'm one of the few who picked "layout." For me, I kind of like the challenge and creativity that comes from working around an unusual layout. For instance, I'd rather have more space in an awkward layout than the reverse.