“I was aware I was going to have to downgrade in size” to end up in a coveted neighborhood, with a place filled with “charm and a feeling of authentic New York,” he said.

Mr. Papier soon found that a price in the $2,000s for a one-bedroom was unrealistic. He figured he could find a nicer two-bedroom in the mid-to-high $3,000s. If need be, he could rent the second room to a friend.

In a nondescript postwar condominium in TriBeCa, a two-bedroom was available for $3,900 a month. But the ceilings were low and the building plain.

The location was less than ideal, too. Mr. Papier hesitated about being just two blocks from busy Canal Street. “Canal Street is so crazy it is like Times Square or Broadway or something, it is so intense.”

On the Lower East Side, a renovated two-bedroom in a building with a roof deck and a gym was almost $4,000. “It was pristine,” Mr. Papier said, but small in every way. “The staircases were tiny, the closets were tiny, you open the door to the bedroom and immediately walk into the bed.”

And it was on the top floor of a six-story walk-up. “That is a lot of money to have something that is an inconvenience to you,” said Mr. Papier, who travels often, lugging suitcases. “If it is a dream apartment, you can suck it up,” but this was not.