“I didn’t want to compromise on that for the place where I will live for many years,” Mr. McLaughlin said. “I was seeing the Upper East Side from 65th to 75th Street or something like that. I thought: If only I were looking at another unit in the building.”

A listing in another six-story co-op, this one on Newtown Road, sounded promising. According to Google Street View, the building was surrounded by shorter ones. The apartment, listed for $330,000, was on the sixth floor.

As Mr. McLaughlin had hoped, every window had a view of Manhattan. There was a hallway for his bikes. In the living room, he could create a seating area around the television as well as a dining area with a table for six, just the right size for playing board games with friends. The owners had redone the kitchen and bathroom.

Image Matthew McLaughlin and his bicycles in his hoped-for hallway. Credit... Michelle V. Agins/The New York Times

The building is “farther east than the more happening part of Astoria, and it’s not as close to tall buildings, which is what gives it the nice view,” said the selling broker, Maria Aidonis of Aidonis Realty in Astoria. Mr. McLaughlin’s offer of $315,000 was accepted. Monthly maintenance was to be around $530.

But the deal ran up against the difficulty of obtaining a mortgage in a building with an owner-occupancy rate of about 50 percent. And his credit score came in at a surprisingly low number. He couldn’t figure out why, until he realized he had put a big dental bill on his credit card. He paid it off immediately, and a later reckoning found his credit score much improved.

Meanwhile, with the deal in limbo, Mr. McLaughlin went to see a nine-story condominium, Newtown Tower on Newtown Avenue. The one-bedrooms there had great views and balconies, but less closet space than he wanted. And they had the no-hall layout that he found so inconvenient.