Creative condo-hunting strategies, part 2: living out of a van on the Upper West Side
Last week, we blogged about an apartment hunter who took the unusual step of posting “Condo Wanted” signs all over the Upper West Side in an attempt to find himself a studio or one-bedroom with outdoor space for about $500,000. It was a tall order: most of the listings we unearthed lacked private outdoor space (even if there was a shared roofdeck) or were outside the neighborhood. But it turns out, the man behind the signs is trying something even more, er, creative.
Uri Toron, 72, is a divorced father of three grown children who's been living out of his 2013 Mercedes Sprinter while he searches for a new home, as the New York Post revealed on Saturday. Toron took to his van about a year ago, not out of desperation, but due to an unwillingness to compromise. Turns out, he simply hasn’t yet found an appropriate place to call home.
The good news is, living out of his van has apparently facilitated Toron’s search. “It helps me explore New York City and decide where to live,” he told the Post. “I didn’t know I would end up on the Upper West Side, but where else can you live between the sea and the forest?”
And, of course, the apartment search has taught Toron one thing every New Yorker must have when scouring the city for a place to buy—patience, lots and lots of patience.
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