Ignore the broker-speak — listings agents are calling the neighborhood that straddles West Harlem and Morningside Heights “NoCo,” as in north of Columbia University — and you’ll see that this co-op at 501 W. 122nd St. may be the antidote to an Upper West Side family’s space-starved distress. With four bedrooms and two baths sprawled over 1,700 square feet, it’s worth a look, especially considering what the owners are asking. At $1.069 million, it’s the price of a two-bedroom ten blocks south or a smaller three-bedroom just one block over. Plus, the down payment’s a surprisingly buyer-friendly (for a co-op, anyway) 10 percent, and the apartment’s flooded with light. The downsides? It’s a walk-up, so hauling a stroller up and down the stairs could be tiresome. And it could use a makeover, especially the eighties-style kitchen. Plus, it combines two apartments so the layout’s a little funky. Still, at this price, buyers could conceivably have the cash left over to give it some TLC.
— S. Jhoanna Robledo
