Ms. Klein suggested the Brookses attend open houses to study the market. They assumed they would sell both houses and rent while they hunted for a long-term place.
They viewed a co-op unit on Riverside Drive near 105th Street, listed at $1.595 million, with maintenance of around $1,800. But the narrow kitchen was a problem.
“When Isaac was cooking, he couldn’t be with his guests, and that was a very big deal to him,” Ms. Klein said. And the walk to the subway was uphill. It sold for $1.625 million.
Ms. Klein had them see a new condominium conversion of a 1979 building in Midtown West, near the theater district. (The Brookses have nine theater subscriptions.) But modern wasn’t their style. “It was so not us,” Ms. Brooks said.
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Stephanie Diani for The New York Times
Mr. Brooks went alone to an open house in Morningside Heights, a lovely 1911 condominium building filled with original charm. The listing price was $1.599 million, with monthly charges of around $2,300.
It had the light and layout they wanted. To avoid undue influence, Mr. Brooks didn’t convey his enthusiasm to his wife.
When she went, she loved it, too. The third bedroom was tiny “even by maid’s room standards,” she said, and the closet space, though ample, was distributed unevenly. “I knew that there was going to be a compromise somewhere,” she said.
They made an offer immediately and even wrote a letter to the seller, noting their love for the apartment and the opportunities they foresaw for their lives there.
Meanwhile, an earlier deal fell through, Ms. Klein said, and their offer of $1.58 million was accepted.
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Stephanie Diani for The New York Times
The purchase, however, was contingent upon the sale of their Yonkers house. The parties reached a deal whereby the Brookses would rent the apartment and buy it if their house sold within six months. Otherwise, it would return to the market.
Within two weeks, they had an offer on their Yonkers house, which they had restored to its original 1908 condition, to the point of flying a 1908 flag, with 46 stars.
The family cleared the house out — the people running their sale told them the trick was not to decide what they didn’t want, but to decide what they did want — and moved in the fall, along with their dog, Juno. The Queens house is in contract.
City living, and togetherness, suits them. A trip to school previously required a car. Now, though the trip is farther, the Brookses can drive or take the 1 train to Van Cortlandt Park-242nd Street, allowing them to travel separately if schedules don’t coincide.
The move, Mr. Brooks said, “has reinvented time for us.” Errands are quick, as are trips to the theater and museums. One day they went to a matinee and hosted friends in the evening.
“That would never have happened in Yonkers,” he said. “If you were out, that day was done.” He cooked, as usual, for his guests. “If we forget an ingredient,” he said, “we just go across the street.”
