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Cat Greenleaf finds solace close to the water.
She and her husband, Michael Rey, left their brownstone in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, six years in the past and moved to a home in Sea Gate — “a magical little gated group,” Ms. Greenleaf mentioned — on the western tip of Coney Island.
“Transferring to the ocean was so profound and restorative for our household that we wished to share it with as many individuals as we might,” she mentioned. “I questioned: Who wants the water probably the most? Individuals who frolicked dwelling in cages appeared like place to begin.”
So she linked with the nonprofit Osborne Affiliation, which helps people who find themselves leaving jail, and made it her mission to purchase and rehabilitate distressed waterfront properties and provide them to low-income tenants who qualify for a backed Part 8 hire voucher — if attainable, individuals who had been previously incarcerated.
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Ms. Greenleaf, 51, has at all times been an intrepid home hunter. She and Mr. Rey, 53, a producer for “60 Minutes,” married 20 years in the past at Brooklyn Borough Corridor. “I didn’t need a marriage ceremony — I wished a home,” she mentioned. They now have two sons who’re 12 and 14.
For a dozen years the household lived in that Cobble Hill brownstone, the place Ms. Greenleaf would sit out entrance and tape her tv discuss present, “Speak Stoop.”
They purchased their first distressed property a yr and a half in the past, upgrading a row of three bungalows on Metropolis Island within the Bronx.
“Actually attention-grabbing oddball properties exist in New York,” Mr. Rey mentioned. “The aim is to search out these waterfront gems to share the expertise of the water. We nonetheless want to herald hire and handle our prices, so it is sensible to be working with Part 8.”
They’re making a nonprofit to additional their work, calling it the Restorative Housing Orgazination.
Final fall, Ms. Greenleaf was prepared for her subsequent venture. With a finances of round $450,000, she started searching for a waterfront home in want of transformation, ideally an outdated one which had stood the check of time. It needed to be freed from moisture, mould and severe structural harm. She budgeted round $15,000 for upgrades, though she knew that renovating is at all times unpredictable.
She hunted all through the boroughs, wherever there was water, and scoured on-line listings every day.
“I drive round watery neighborhoods,” she mentioned. “I meet brokers and discuss to folks on the road. When deal comes up, I wish to soar on it.”
Among the many choices:
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