Lawyerly Lairs: A Skadden Associate's Housing Hunt

A patent litigator picks up a pad.

Today’s Lawyerly Lairs column is about a Skadden associate’s search for a home (other than 4 Times Square, where he surely spends most of his waking hours). The firm requires sacrifices of its lawyers, but it also offers rich rewards, including generous pay and ample prestige. There’s a reason that Skadden is a top 10 firm in our new law firm rankings.

Working at Skadden gives you the ability to buy a Manhattan apartment while you’re still in your early 30s. The home we’re about to view is not a lavish lawyerly lair, but it’s a perfectly respectable starter apartment.

Let’s have a peek, shall we?

Meet Edward Tulin, 33, an IP litigator in Skadden’s New York office. He joined SASMF after graduating from the University of Texas School of Law and clerking for a district judge in Delaware. His partner, Joel Fineman, works in advertising. (Fineman is also rather cute and seven years Tulin’s junior — well played, sir.)

Tulin and Fineman got featured in Joyce Cohen’s The Hunt column in last weekend’s New York Times. Here is what Tulin was looking for:

He was interested in buying a one-bedroom co-op for $550,000 to $750,000 on the West Side below Columbus Circle with good subway access. “But you pretty much have subway access all along the West Side, so that kind of took care of itself,” said Mr. Tulin, 33, a patent lawyer.

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Very true about West Side subway access — and one big advantage the west side enjoys over the east side. The Lexington Avenue line gets ridiculously crowded, even when it’s not rush hour.

Through law school friends, Mr. Tulin was referred to Adam Lynch of Town Residential. “I did not fully understand how heated the market was,” Mr. Tulin said. “I learned quickly.” Early ideas about buying a two-bedroom fell by the wayside.

A two-bedroom in Manhattan for $750,000 or less? Some house-hunting gay couples have such unrealistic expectations. We really ought to know better.

Anyway… after Tulin’s offer on a one-bedroom on West 55th Street didn’t work out, an opportunity in Chelsea presented itself:

[U]p popped a one-bedroom on West 15th Street for $725,000. Maintenance was around $900 a month. The south-facing apartment, on a low floor, was flooded with light. But construction was starting right outside on a 12-story building. The light wouldn’t last. And the floors were sloped — “dramatically so,” Mr. Tulin said. “It was making me a little dizzy.”

That one later sold for $736,000.

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An apartment with sloped floors and a vanishing view sells for $11,000 above the asking price. Welcome to Manhattan real estate in 2014.

After additional searching — Tulin, wearing his lawyer’s hat, ruled out one building due to financing-related risks — the couple found their new home:

Nevada Towers, on Broadway south of the 72nd Street subway station, seemed right.

“We had seen so many old, nice buildings but the apartments inside needed a lot of love,” Mr. Fineman said. This one, built in 1977, was neither old nor new. “It was refreshing to see three large elevators going up 30 floors. It was the tallest building that we looked at.”

To be honest, it’s not a particularly attractive building from the outside. As you might expect from a 1977 building, it has a grim, Soviet sort of vibe:

But it had other factors in its favor, such as a great location — in the heart of the Upper West Side, but close to the subway that can whisk Ed Tulin down to Skadden in Times Square. And Tulin and Fineman could customize the space a bit:

[A] renovation wasn’t finished, so they were able to select the kitchen appliances. Mr. Tulin appreciated “having the opportunity to make these choices but not having to go through the hassle of doing a renovation all on my own.” They arrived in late spring.

The layout, around 700 square feet, was so similar to that of his old rental that “the furniture just dropped right into this place,” Mr. Tulin said. “It was really lovely to have that happen.”

Tulin paid $610,000. That works out to less than $1,000 a square foot, which isn’t bad for Manhattan (although note that the building is a co-op rather than a condo; co-ops are often less expensive than condos on a per-square-foot basis).[1]

A downside: the maintenance of $1,800 a month seems a bit high. But because this is a co-op, some of that is tax-deductible. And a fairly senior associate at Skadden can surely use a tax deduction.

Congratulations to Edward Tulin and Joel Fineman on their new home. I suspect, however, that this is just the beginning of their real-estate adventures. If Tulin makes partner at Skadden in a few years, an upgrade will definitely be in order.


[1] This rule has exceptions. Some of the white-glove co-ops on Fifth Avenue and Park Avenue, the types of places that populate Tom Wolfe’s list of “good buildings,” are obscenely expensive.size>

Is the Floor Sloping or What? [New York Times]