IT WAS an Oprah moment for the Loo family. Five years after arriving in America, taking up dozens of odd jobs and missing out on untold hours of sleep, they finally have a place they can call their own.
On Tuesday, they will move into a US$550,000 (RM1.9mil) double-storey house, completing their American Dream.
“It had been our plan from day one to buy a house here. We would bank in our salaries, withdrawing only sufficient for daily expenses. Everything else goes towards the house,” said Moses Loo, a hospital administrator.
His wife Michelle Chew, who had accompanied him, works as an insurance executive.
Theirs is a story of triumph in a city of renters. A recent news report, quoting the 2005 American Community Survey, stated that only about 33% of people here are homeowners.
Property prices are staggering. The average apartment in Brooklyn, a New York City borough, costs US$629,000 (RM2.2mil).
You’ll take Manhattan, did you say? In a soon-to-be completed condominium project there the average price per unit is US$1.49mil (RM5.2mil). And a basement parking space goes for US$225,000 (RM783,000).
Loo came to New York for post-graduate studies upon securing a green card through the lottery draw.
In those early days, this 30-something couple would break their backs to take up at least two simultaneous part-time jobs between them. They waited on tables, or worked as a telephone operator for that extra cash.
Sacrifices were aplenty especially when they had their son, now three.
“No movies, no vacations, no going to karaoke although I love to sing,” Chew said.
Loo, on his part, opted for the graveyard shift so as to care for their child during the day. It was only early this year that they began sending the boy to daycare.
Apart from their savings and loans from friends, they borrowed US$400,000 (RM1.4mil) from the bank recently to purchase a 6m by 30m house in Brooklyn. They found the 50-year-old house through an acquaintance and thus were spared the broker’s fee.
“This is such a thrill. We have our own parking space and a yard now. No landlady to tell us not to wash our car. No more going to the laundromat,” Chew said.
(Their US$900, or RM3,100, monthly rental for the ground floor of a two-storey house covered the water bill, so the landlady was often calculative about the usage of the utility. Washing machines are forbidden.)
Most of all, there is freedom.
“The landlady, who lives upstairs, will knock on my door the minute she hears the slightest noise from my TV at night,” Loo said.
In the past two years, Loo and his wife secured well-paying and stable jobs. Last year, they had a combined annual salary of US$80,000 (RM278,000).
However, he played down their achievement.
“We do not have the kind of jobs that we want. That’s the sacrifice,” said Loo, who would have preferred to pursue a career in writing.
Still, he is far more fortunate than those who came here to scratch out a living without legal status.
One Malaysian couple have not seen their two children, now 11 and 12, whom they left in the care of their relatives, since they arrived here a decade ago. The phone is their main way of connecting with their kids.
He works as a deliveryman, while the wife is a cashier at a fruit stall. They have earned enough to own three houses in Malaysia, but fear returning home as they know they could never re-enter the United States should they do so.
Buying a house here is obviously out of the question for illegal immigrants like them. Their option is to rent the upper floor of a double-storey house in Brooklyn with another family.
Manhattan remains out of reach for most renters. A mere studio apartment in the SoHo neighbourhood could cost up to US$2,230 (RM7,760); double that amount for two-bedroom units.
Even monthly parking rates average US$630 (RM2,200) in midtown Manhattan. In San Francisco, it comes to about US$350 (RM1,200).
Newspapers here devote much space to home ownership. Every Thursday, the New York Post will feature dwellings that have been recently sold.
For example, it reported that an 88-square-metre two-bedroom unit in East Village fetched US$785,000 (RM2.7mil). The original asking price was US$849,000 (RM3mil), and it had been on the market for six months.
Another newspaper carries a weekly highlight of couples who have searched for and found their dream place.
The New York Times, in featuring selected homes that are on the market, would not just list the price, size and monthly maintenance fee but also the pros and cons.
A one-bedroom apartment in Upper East Side, for instance, is going for US$765,000 (RM2.6mil).
“Pros: There’s plenty of storage space. The bathroom has been carefully renovated to maintain the original pre-war look. Cons: Maintenance (US$1,464, or RM5,100) is a bit high, although it does include gas and electricity.”
It’s home sweet home only for those with fat bank accounts.
