While many New Yorkers were busy leaving the city at the beginning of the pandemicmwplay888, Hallie Morrison and Seth Frader-Thompson did the opposite: They doubled down on urban living by buying a townhouse in Brooklyn.

“A co-worker said, ‘What, are you crazy? Nobody’s buying real estate right now,’” said Mr. Frader-Thompson, 44, the chief executive of EnergyHub, a company focused on smart-grid solutions. “I was like, ‘That’s why we’re buying.’”

ImageHallie Morrison and Seth Frader-Thompson at home.Credit...Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

At the time, the couple lived in a two-bedroom co-op apartment in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn, with Mr. Frader-Thompson’s son from a previous marriage, Sam, now 14. They had already been looking for more space, but were discouraged by a mix of tight inventory, apartments with high common charges and bidding wars on townhouses.

“We liked the neighborhood and were looking for possibilities,” said Ms. Morrison, 39, a landscape architect at Nelson Byrd Woltz Landscape Architects.

ImageThe home was previously cut up into four separate apartments. Ms. Kim took down numerous walls to open it up and convert it to a family home with a rental apartment on the garden level.Credit...Nick Glimenakis

We are having trouble retrieving the article content.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.

Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

Already a subscriber? Log in.

Want all of The Times? Subscribe.mwplay888

• The
• mwplay888
• during
• Pandemic
• Renovating