$2,000 | Roosevelt Island

James Starace, 49, and Tanya Starace, 40

Occupation: Mr. Starace is an actor and a waiter at John’s of 12th Street in the East Village. Ms. Starace is a senior manager at a global packaging company in Midtown.

Their children: James, 11, Luca, 9, and Eliana, 5

Mr. Starace first applied for affordable housing in 2004: “We knew we were going to get married and I knew I wanted to stay an actor.”

Restricted sale: Per their purchase agreement, the Staraces are limited in how much they can resell their apartment for, and buyers must also meet certain income limits.

Acting jobs: Last year, Mr. Starace had a small role in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming film “The Irishman.” “My role was nothing glamorous, but it was like a dream come true — to be on set with three legends I’ve always wanted to work with,” he said, referring to Mr. Scorsese, Robert De Niro and Joe Pesci.



Like many buildings in the Mitchell-Lama program, the Staraces learned shortly after they moved in that theirs was reaching the end of its affordability agreement with the city, and negotiations to convert the building to a co-op had been underway for some time. If residents voted to go co-op, the Staraces and other tenants would be able to stay in their apartments as rent-stabilized tenants, but they would not be able to move to a different apartment; some units would also go market rate.

The Staraces felt that the conversion presented a tremendous opportunity. The “insider” price for their apartment, set at 35 percent of market rate, was $243,000 — a deal they knew they’d never see again. And if they bought, they’d be able to make improvements — like adding a shower to the half-bathroom — that would help better accommodate a family of five.

But they decided that they’d only buy if they could work out a monthly payment that was similar to their rent. They didn’t know if they could afford the down payment to make that possible — or find a bank to give them a mortgage in the allotted time period.

“It was cheap, but it’s still New York real estate,” Mr. Starace said of the purchase price.

When the math worked out, they were delighted. While their rent had been $1,875 a month, their monthly mortgage and maintenance fees add up to about $2,000 a month.