Author: cia

Whenever we searched “3+ bedrooms, 1+ bath, outdoor space, public transportation” in Jersey City against our budget, results dwindled; it didn’t seem like we would move out of Harlem any time soon. During the day, we would text each other listings we found but nothing seemed to stick.

Jersey City is rich in history and has a lot of old dwellings. If the house was under our budget, it was run down; the thought of renovating scared the shit out of us since we’ve watched too many Grand Designs episodes. If it was newly renovated, we didn’t like the layout or the materials used; we would have to renovate anyway.

A single-family house that recently dropped in price caught Alec’s eye. It sits on a narrow but deep lot on a quiet street that’s also a block and a half away from the Light Rail. It was the first property that we considered to having potential. It looked like it will require a lot of work–listing and staging photos only fool you so much–but for the first time, our thinking switched from fear to, What if we can build our forever home according to our specs?

As I wrote in my previous post, the Bergen-Lafayette area is going through a lot of changes. Making an offer on this house means we will bet on the improvements down the line; it will mean making an investment on a neighborhood we’ve only done research on but never spent time in. When Alec and I felt comfortable about the possibilities, we reached out to the agent and scheduled a virtual tour over Zoom with the seller. 

We imagined what and how the house could be. We did more homework and interviewed different contractors to talk about our plan and vision. A lot of them were gung-ho to sign up and do the work, but none made me feel as comfortable as Tam of Houseplay Renovations. We signed up for her homebuyer support Zoom service and then scheduled an in-person visit to see the house. She guided us while Alec measured everything she needed and I pointed my phone’s camera wherever she instructed. Afterwards, she was always on-point with scheduling time to talk that worked for all of us. I never had to follow-up–she was always beating me to it. It’s the project manager-kind of thinking that I was able to relate to.

In the meantime, there has been a lot of emails, phone calls, and Zoom meetings with different banks and real estate lawyers. When we were confident enough that we can afford the house and the level of gut renovations it required for us to consider it move-in ready, we got our finances ready and we let our agent know that we were ready to make an offer. 

I know we don’t really have the house just yet, but I preemptively started designing my dream kitchen. When I was buying my Harlem apartment, the sales office said I was the only one who requested “an open kitchen”; that most people asked for a park view or a second bathroom first. Now you know where my priorities lie but really, I’ve been dreaming about my perfectly functional kitchen for 10 years!

Alec is the person who made me realize that “we” is a very good thing, but I’m not hesitant to say “my dream kitchen” because my day to day revolves around food. While I’m working, I’m planning ahead so that the right meat has enough time to thaw from the freezer; before starting a workout, I set up the rice cooker so it’s one less thing to think about after; while walking Atticus, I’m trying to decide if I should make a stop at the pizza place; before going to bed, I make sure there’s enough cold brew for tomorrow’s drip. I plan all the grocery shopping and cooking lest I want to eat mac and cheese everyday.

I picked these appliances first because their measurements will dictate the rest of our kitchen. Without thinking of style or prices just yet, I wanted to create a wishlist so that whatever kitchen layout we get, I can plan to work around them:

• Induction cooktop like the Bosch 800 series – I have always wanted an induction cooktop for easy cleaning, precise cooking, and for its safety features. If you think, I can’t imagine cooking without an open flame, then you simply haven’t tried cooking on an induction cooktop. The Wirecutter says there are several misconceptions about them. Americans tend to be hesitant to adopt new cooking tech mainly because it hasn’t been marketed very well. Here I am, Bosch, and I am going to make sure I convince people to switch after I get mine installed!
• A very wide single basin sink like the Kohler 36″ apron sink – I am the cook that is always cleaning up every step of the way and I always find myself rinsing my chopping block or wrestling with a baking sheet. I never soak dishes, so my priority is a roomy sink over a deep one.
• A tall faucet to accommodate a stock pot and to dispense carbonated water like the Grohe Blue chilled and sparkling – I don’t think a pot filler is necessary above the stove, but I can’t stand that my purifier takes up a lot of sink space. I exclusively drink seltzer water at home and at work, so having one faucet that does both would be amazing. Together with the induction cooktop that can heat water in seconds, I won’t be needing my electric kettle to boil a giant pot of water for pasta anymore.

Of course, there is the quiet dishwasher, the counter-deep refrigerator, and the right oven model for someone who doesn’t favor cooking a giant turkey, but the above 3 are the ones that make the top of my list.

And then I made a list of all the things that I do in the kitchen so that I can plan on how to improve each one.

1. Cooking
   – an efficient vent would minimize wall and ceiling stains
   – an easy to reach backsplash would make it easier to wipe down after each use
   – a self-cleaning stove would be a necessity
2. Prepping/chopping
   – ample space for sorting out and bagging groceries for storage
   – a chopping block that’s not too far away from the sink for easy cleanup
   – extra space next to the stove for easy transition from prep to cooking
3. Composting/recycling/garbage disposal
   – an under the counter large bin to collect compost directly from the chopping block before transporting to an outside composter; I already use bokashi bran to help with my indoor composting
   – it would be great not to have all our recyclables and trash exposed until we have to take them out for the next day’s collection; this is something we will have to get used to since we will be our own landlords!
4. Storing
   – easy to reach and store plates and utensils used everyday
   – easy access for the most used small appliances and enclosed storage for those that only get used during the holidays
   – a daily view of fresh food items that don’t need refrigeration like garlic and ginger; if I see them, I will use them!
   – a hidden paper towel compartment (why is this not a more common thing?!)
   – vertically stored ladles and serving utensils to easily pick which one to use

Lastly, I audited my current kitchen items, from the heaviest in weight to the least used. This will help me plan how I move around the kitchen and how much storage I need.

Heaviest weight items. I’ve always stored these on lower shelves for a less dangerous lift, but they also can’t be stored lower than my knees:
– All Le Creuset pots and pans (I have 5 different sized ones and you know how heavy each one is!)
– KitchenAid mixer
– Cast iron pan

From most used:
– wok
– rice cooker
– cast iron pan
– assorted Le Creusets
– donabe clay pot
– blender

…to almost never. I would store these farther from reach, but not so far that I will completely forget about them.
– steamer
– Instant Pot
– food processor
– waffle maker
– hot pot
– roasting pan
– raclette 
– ice cream maker
– sausage maker attachment
– pasta maker attachment

After we’re all vaccinated and we can all see each other again, I’d love to invite you over for some melted raclette with salami and gherkins!

With our wishlist in mind and taking the Heights off the board, we narrowed our search down to the Bergen-Lafayette area where the Light Rail that connects to the PATH train is within walking distance.

A Google search revealed 13 new home developments are either being planned or have already started construction in the neighborhood. Berry Lane Park officially opened in 2016 after 4 years of construction on a brownfield site of former rail yards, junkyards, and industrial facilities. It now includes a 12,000-square foot poured-in-place concrete skate park funded by the Tony Hawk Foundation. Old coal silos still stand in the park and the Jersey City Mural Arts Program is in the process of selecting local artists to create Harriet Tubman- and the Underground Railroad-themed murals to honor the more than 55,000 slaves who crossed through Jersey City to escape slavery.

Canal Crossing is also slated for a controversial residential development and will include a greenway along the former route of the Morris Canal, which moved coal to industrializing eastern cities in the 1800s. We also saw the renderings for a 110-unit mixed-use development on Garfield Avenue.

All the changes remind me of Harlem 15 years ago. For better or worse, more people have a place to call home, small businesses can thrive, and city parks and shared public spaces flourish.

So we started our filtered home search.

If you told me back in the day that I will be writing about moving to New Jersey after turning 40, I would have made a face and mouthed, Never. Funny how life happens: you meet the person who changes the trajectory you thought you’d already planned for in your head, and you love it.

I was fortunate enough to buy my own place in Harlem, New York when the neighborhood was starting to gentrify 10 years ago. I grew up in Washington Heights, so staying uptown was a no brainer for me. Until my parents retired, home-cooked Filipino meals were a block away. Except for a short stint in 2009 commuting to Connecticut for work, Manhattan has always been home.

Alec and I were hiking in Patagonia, Chile when we started talking about moving in together. We never felt any pressure–things just started to happen. We welcomed 2020 and started consolidating our stuff. We were even able to travel to San Francisco and San Diego in late February, not knowing it was going to be our last trip for a while. When it became obvious that Covid-19 was worse than what anyone has said, we had to act quickly; Alec rented a storage space and carried his essentials to move to Harlem. There was a day when we didn’t even know if he can cross New Jersey from New York; everything was up in the air and things were just getting worse. We already planned on moving in together, but the pandemic just pushed us to do it earlier.

The first lockdown was months long so we felt so grateful to have our own private outdoor space. We carved our own work spaces in the apartment while my 8-year old Rottweiler, Atticus, started to get used to having us both at home. By summer, we started passively looking at house listings–what if we got a bigger space? But we had a very specific wishlist:

1. Must be walking distance to public transportation – Our commute from Harlem to the bottom tip of Manhattan takes us at least 50 minutes due to overcrowding in the subway; anything that’s shorter than that would be a plus
2. Must have safe biking lanes – As cyclists, we would like to ride our bikes when running errands without worrying about vehicular traffic. Unfortunately, the New York City mayor has not kept his promise to make it safe for bike commuters. I have biked from Harlem all the way down to World Trade Center and even though it’s a good workout, crossing Harlem has always been harrowing for me.
3. A neighborhood that supports high-density housing – Neither of us aspire to have a house in the suburbs. We’ve always advocated for city living and higher density so that communities form and thrive. We want to keep an outdoor space to be used for vegetable and flower gardening, composting, and someday a chicken coop, but never just for a green lawn. We would like an attached home to conserve heat, but if it’s a detached house, we’d consider making it passive and as energy-efficient as much as possible.

Looking for a comparable but bigger apartment in Harlem proved to be way out of our budget, even with two salaries. Alec used to live in Hoboken, New Jersey so he was already familiar with the area, but his Hurricane Sandy experience motivated us to find a place less vulnerable to flooding. Alec has also been involved with Bike Hoboken and Bike JC, citizen-based non-profit advocacy organizations that aim to make their city streets safer for bike use, so I started to learn about the Jersey City mayor who has made significant improvements to its cycling infrastructure.

There were plenty of listings in the Heights in Jersey City, but every time I mapped the house, it was always a long walk to the nearest train. Our walk to the subway is less than 10 minutes now and we have 4 lines to choose from to get us downtown; if I was truly to give up New York, everything must be an improvement. I didn’t want to settle–27 years in Manhattan will do that to anyone.

So we started doing our homework.