The first offer they made was for a two-bedroom duplex of 1,200 square feet at Warehouse 11 on North 11th Street. The five-year-old condominium building was a block from McCarren Park. The apartment had a balcony on the lower level and a terrace above. The top floor was a bedroom open to the downstairs that they felt would need to be somehow enclosed, but the outdoor space “really lured us in,” Ms. Porter said.

The asking price was $1.275 million, with monthly charges of around $1,100. The couple made a low offer, and it sold to another party for $1.35 million. Their disappointment was edged with relief. “We had to educate ourselves,” Ms. Porter said. “It was a good exercise.”

They fell for a Havemeyer Street one-bedroom, a duplex with around 1,500 square feet and a landscaped patio. The asking price was $1.395 million, with monthly charges of under $500. The sellers “had perfect taste, parallel to our own,” Ms. Porter said. “It was the first apartment that felt like a home.”

The upper level, which was on the ground floor, included a large living area that could be reconfigured to accommodate one or even two bedrooms. The master bedroom was not ideal — subterranean and dim — but “we figured we could architect it out and make it work,” she said.