Financial Team

In my earlier post – How small can you go? Chris in Boston left a comment about this NYPost article: Cozy-crazy couple makes tight all right in the city’s tiniest studio profiling Zaarath (37) and Christopher (35) Prokop who purchased a 175 square foot apartment for $150,000 three months ago.

After reading the article, I decided the response to the comment deserved its own post – because this couple’s lifestyle sounds so crazy to me! They don’t cook, so the kitchen cabinets are used as their closet (because the apartment doesn’t have any) and since the cabinets can’t hold their wardrobe, they keep just work-out clothes at home and “store” all other items at dry cleaners or the office. No mention is made about coat or shoe storage – so I guess those are in the cabinets as well. You can view the photos of the tiny space here.

The way they describe their lifestyles makes them sound like workaholics. Their marriage also sounds like what others do on dates – dinner out and then back to the apartment and right into bed…

But maybe I am reading this wrong. They seem to have a financial plan for the place.

The couple will pay off their mortgage in two years, when they plan to remodel some of the apartment, adding a Murphy bed and larger windows. They will then be saddled only with their maintenance fee, which is just over $700 a month.

“It’s like having a rent-controlled apartment,” she said. “We’re going to own something in Manhattan in two years. How many people can say that? And we’re very happy doing more with less.”

She added that because they save money on their home, they can spend money in “areas that make our lives better,” like restaurants and vacations. The two just got back from Beijing and have been to Japan and other countries.

“We get to really experience life and enjoy ourselves,” she said. “We eat out all the time. On the weekends, we’re outside exploring the neighborhood. We’re at Riverside Park all the time. We’re not nesters. This apartment is perfect for someone active. If you want to stay home or entertain, this is just not the apartment for you.”

Let’s just hope neither one loses a job, because I don’t think they could survive in that space without an office to escape to every day.

Labels: Living Small

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Tags: Couple, Ny Couple