This college graduate knew what she wanted and made room to get it.
Denise Francis was determined to move out of her Brooklyn home and into her dream space in New York, so the 27-year-old started stashing her coins when she graduated college. After years of saving, her dreams have become real.
“…At the age of 27, I was finally able to move into that dream apartment,” Francis said, which according to CNBC Make It, is a one-bedroom loft that she pays $1,850 in rent a month.
Francis signed the lease for the apartment in July, and although Yonkers in Westchester County wasn’t her ideal location, she was satisfied with what she got for her budget in the area that’s about 30 minutes from Manhattan.
“Once I got the keys and I opened up the doors, I started doing two things: screaming and crying,” Francis said. “I was just so excited because finally I feel like I reached that milestone in adulthood where I finally have my own space to curate for me, by me to live my best life.”
Initially, Francis wanted to move out of her home where she lived her whole life as an only child, by the age
of 21. “For some reason, every year, something just kept happening. Either I didn’t make enough money, or I lost my job or I had to stop because of family emergencies. It just never seemed to work,” she said. “Instead, I used all those years to continue saving.”Long-term saving was initially a challenge for Francis as she was working part-time jobs, helping her mom cover rent, and paying other bills. After landing a salaried job and a recent promotion, she saved $20,000 by 2020, which covers about a year’s worth of rent.
“Once I reached that goal number of $20,000, I knew that I was more than ready to be financially stable to move into my first-ever dream apartment,” she said.
According to rental market data for 2023, the average rent for apartments in Yonkers is between $2,280 and $3,115.
Francis is presently juggling many roles. She’s the arts and culture director for a Brooklyn nonprofit, content creator for her LiveNaturallyLove brand, CEO and founder of her online wellness community, Self Love Organization, and a graduate student at New York University.