The New York Times-20080127-With No Time to Spare

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With No Time to Spare

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THERE was only a narrow window of opportunity for Kimberly Noble and Eric Carvin, who married last May, to find a new home.

As a resident in pediatrics, Dr. Noble would need to be at work at 6 a.m., and sometimes earlier, so location was paramount. This is not a time in her life when she needs a long commute, Mr. Carvin said.

At the same time, she had no idea where she would be commuting to. She had applied to residency programs at several hospitals in the city, but wouldn't find out where she would end up until match day, March 15.

Then, she would face another narrow window -- just over three months -- for moving, graduating and marrying, before starting work in June.

There is no way of ensuring you will find the perfect apartment right when you need it, she said, but I started looking, really, years ahead of time.

Dr. Noble, 31, who is from Broomall, Pa., a Philadelphia suburb, earned all of her degrees, including a joint M.D./Ph.D., from the University of Pennsylvania. As part of her Ph.D. program, she came to New York to study cognitive development in children from differing socioeconomic backgrounds.

A lab mate of hers, suspecting a good fit, fixed her up with a friend's roommate. That was Mr. Carvin, a Yale graduate from Indialantic, Fla. He and his roommate shared a small two-bedroom on Second Avenue near 12th Street.

Dr. Noble later displaced the roommate. The rent there, which began at nearly $1,700 a decade ago when he moved in, had risen to nearly $2,200.

Kim will point out that it was really dark, but I would point out that it was really quiet, said Mr. Carvin, 34, an editor for The Associated Press.

Though Dr. Noble had long been keeping an eye on the market, the couple began hunting seriously for a co-op a year ago. Their budget was something less than $500,000. They concentrated on the Upper West Side, hopeful that she would be assigned to New York-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center at 168th Street and Broadway. The plan was to be ready to sign on a home the moment she found out.

If they bought too soon, they ran the risk that she would be assigned to a faraway hospital and stuck with a long commute. If they waited, they would have to continue the hunt while she traveled from the East Village. In the worst-case scenario, they figured that they could quickly find a convenient rental, or maybe get a car.

In the West 120s, the two-bedroom co-ops they could afford seemed inconveniently far from the train. In a more central location, they could afford only a one-bedroom, though they hoped for some space convertible to a future nursery if need be. In their price range, few places met that requirement.

One that did was on West 102nd Street overlooking Broadway. The listing price was $449,000, reduced from $465,000, with a monthly maintenance of $766.

The layout even allowed for an extra small bedroom with an actual window. It got a lot of sun, Mr. Carvin said, which was novel to me.

They also visited the Lincoln Guild building on West 66th Street, where a sunny, spacious one-bedroom was available for $495,000.

They were warned that the place showed badly. An elderly man, headed for a nursing home, lay in a hospital bed in the middle of the living room.

As a physician, I wasn't freaked out, Dr. Noble said. She noticed that the dining room was a separate bedroom waiting to be made.

The neighborhood, though, seemed characterless and deserted, tucked away near Freedom Place, in the far West 60s. It is not the New York that I know, Mr. Carvin said. It was a long walk to most stuff you might need in your life.

Because of the size, however, we felt we couldn't not put a bid on it, he said. They found themselves relieved when the seller rejected their low offer of $425,000.

Back at the 102nd Street building, they saw a slightly larger one-bedroom on a higher floor, but it was a pricey $525,000. So they offered $432,000 for the one they had originally liked. The building required just 20 percent down, another incentive.

They were meticulous in terms of their research, said the listing agent, Kristina Ojdanic of the Corcoran Group. They really needed to be sure this was the right apartment for them and they were paying the right price.

They hadn't yet signed a contract, and they kept hunting in case the deal didn't pan out or they found a place they liked even more. They almost did on West 70th Street, in a prime location just west of Broadway. There was no extra space for a nursery, but it had been renovated recently and well.

They offered $475,000, then changed their minds and withdrew their offer.

They were finding themselves increasingly partial to the diverse, middle-class neighborhood farther uptown, sometimes called Bloomingdale. It seems there is change and growth going on, Mr. Carvin said.

Still, he hated to leave the East Village. That was my New York the whole time I had been here, he said.

They delayed signing a contract on the 102nd Street apartment because they were afraid to commit to the deal if they didn't know where Dr. Noble would be working. Meanwhile, Ms. Ojdanic held another open house for that apartment. We didn't have another offer and the owner wanted someone for backup, she said.

Dr. Noble and Mr. Carvin went to check out the competition. The place was jammed. Dr. Noble was alarmed to see a sign-in sheet four pages long.

There weren't a lot of one-bedrooms on the market, and this one was very attractively priced, Ms. Ojdanic said.

The day before Dr. Noble was to find out her location for at least the next three years, she signed the contract. Off she went to Philadelphia, where she would receive the news at the University of Pennsylvania. New York-Presbyterian it was!

Elated, she called Mr. Carvin, who ran to their lawyer's office to add his signature.

They quickly began some small renovations -- installing new fixtures in the kitchen and bathroom, and adding a bedroom closet. (They are, however, no longer convinced that it's possible to carve a baby room from the living room.)

After their wedding in Philadelphia and honeymoon on the Iberian Peninsula, Dr. Noble began work.

I'm sure a huge portion of this was luck, but we were able to coordinate it, she said.

Now, she rises at 5 a.m. for what is sometimes a 27-hour shift, walks a block to the subway, and rides the train for 20 minutes or less. All that slows her down is the lumbering, stuffy elevator at the 168th Street station. She and her colleagues call it, fondly, the tuberculator.

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[Illustration]PHOTOS: A spacious one-bedroom on West 66th Street was in an area that felt deserted.; A West 70th Street apartment was nicely renovated, though a little too small.; A one-bedroom on West 102nd Street was in the right location.; Kimberly Noble and Eric Carvin, in their new home after some quick renovations.(PHOTOGRAPHS BY HIROKO MASUIKE FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES)