Two Empty Nesters Flew to the City With $600,000 for an East Side Studio

After immigrating from their native India in 1998, Vidya Jayaraman and Jay Krishnamoorthy settled in Connecticut and then New Jersey, visiting New York City as much as possible. Work led them to St. Louis and then to Atlanta, where they lived a suburban life, raising their daughter.

“We are empty nesters — bird launchers, is what they say now,” Ms. Jayaraman said. Though their woodsy Georgia neighborhood was suited to family life, she said, “now that we have launched our bird, we wanted the city life as well. The city has so much to offer.”

Their daughter, Rithika Jayaraman, now attends Stony Brook University, on Long Island. The couple, who both work remotely in tech jobs, visit with her often.

“I don’t want to be too far away from my daughter,” said Ms. Jayaraman, 49. “I want to be in closer proximity to her so I can be a part of her life and she can be a part of my next phase of life.”

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Ms. Jayaraman and Mr. Krishnamoorthy decided to buy a second home in the city, rather than spend money on hotels. Early last year, they began checking out listings with the goal of buying a small place — nothing more than a glorified hotel room — in a doorman building for up to $600,000.

The couple focused on the East Side, convenient to the new Grand Central Madison terminal, where they could catch a train to Stony Brook. They found themselves gravitating toward Midtown East, which seemed more happening at night than some areas of the Upper East Side.

After seeing several one-bedroom co-op units, “I said, Let’s go a step down and see how the studios are,” said Mr. Krishnamoorthy, 53. Studios were almost as big in square footage, they found, but the monthly maintenance was typically less.

“I thought, How can we fit our life into a studio?” he said.

An alcove studio seemed to be the answer, since the alcove could be used as a sleeping nook. But the pair had a tough time navigating the Manhattan market. They encountered high down payments, uncertainty as to whether negotiation was possible, and a dizzying array of co-op rules. And they felt it was important to have a rapport with an agent. That didn’t always happen, assuming the agent even returned their call. So they hunted on their own.

At some point, exhaustion took over. The couple considered settling for a place that wasn’t quite right. They thought about giving up.

Among their options:

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