The Golden Bachelorette star Joan Vassos has revealed why she and her fiance Chock Chapple have yet to secure their “love shack” apartment in New York City.
Joan and Chock began their search for an apartment in New York City late last year after their engagement aired on The Golden Bachelorette’s November 2024 finale.
According to Joan, she and Chock found the place of their dreams in December — but things didn’t work out.
“I’m so bummed about the place,” Joan told E! News.
“That place was perfect, and the guy took it off the market. We put in a bid along with other people, and he took it off the market. Nobody got it.”
Joan said the way things played out were “really bizarre” and unfortunate.
“So that was really sad because that seemed like a really good place,” Joan admitted.
But Joan has hope her luck will change once winter ends and flowers start blooming again.
“The inventory is pretty low, and I’m really picky about where I want to be, like what feels comfortable to me,” Joan explained.
“It’s not like we don’t have a home to live in. He has a home, I have a home. We have probably too many homes.”
Joan currently resides in Maryland near her family, while Chock lives in Kansas.
“So getting a place in New York — although it’s something we’re dying to do and we want to be there — finding the right place is more important,” Joan shared.
“So I think we need to wait till the inventory in the spring gets a little more open and there’s some more places to look at because right now there just aren’t that many.”
Although Joan and Chock are currently dating long distance, she said their relationship is strong and thriving.
Joan also said she and the insurance executive have been able to see each other pretty frequently. The pair apparently don’t go more than two weeks without meeting up or visiting one another.
“We’re pretty conscious about making sure things are scheduled, and we look pretty far down the road,” Joan explained of how she and Chock are making things work.
“So a lot of things have been happening kind of organically. We have opportunities that people are flying us to places, or we’re flying to places to do things for opportunities that we’ve gotten because of the show.”
Joan reiterated how The Golden Bachelorette has enabled the pair to travel quite a bit, and she is grateful to the show for making her life a lot of fun.
Chock previously shared an update in January about the couple’s ongoing search for an apartment in New York City.
“We did find one that we really liked, and it was in SoHo. That’s where Joan really, really likes the area,” Chock revealed during the January 8 episode of the “Bachelor Happy Hour: Golden Hour” podcast.
“I wonder if it’s because of shopping — Gucci and all of these other places — I really don’t know,” he quipped.
The podcast’s co-hosts, Kathy Swarts and Susan Noles, pointed out how Joan enjoys the finer things in life, including designer labels.
“But in Soho, we found a place that we really liked,” Chock said.
“We put a soft offer on it, and then we just heard back this afternoon, just a couple of hours ago, that the owner is going to take it off the market.”
Chock sounded a bit deflated over the loss, but he noted, “We’re going to continue to look. We’ll find something!”
After going public with their relationship in November, Joan and Chock said the New York apartment they were looking for would end up being a convenient meet-up location for them.
Joan and Chock revealed to People late last year that they’d like to find a place with at least two bedrooms so their friends and family can visit.
Joan said she believes this home away from home will be a “great place for us to really continue getting to know each other and in a totally different place, a place that both of us have always wanted to go.”
Joan apparently views her future in New York City as a very exciting new chapter in her life.
“It’s going to be a little bit of an adventure and having an adventure in this stage is kind of unique and so really feeling super lucky that we get to do this together,” Joan added at the time.
Both Joan and Chock have always wanted to live in New York, and Chock pointed out how his kids “absolutely love” the city as well.
“They’ve got friends there and we were there. And I’m in their life. We’re all kind of fun and it’s all good,” Chock gushed.
In November, Chock clarified how this NYC apartment is going to serve as an escape for The Golden Bachelorette couple — and not as a permanent address.
“We’re going to be going back and forth between Kansas to Maryland and to New York. We’ll have a full-time place in New York and whenever we get the opportunity, we’re going to be there,” Chock explained.
Chock and Joan also teased on the “Bachelor Happy Hour” podcast late last year how they also have a lot of traveling in store for 2025.
“We’ve got four big trips coming up in 2025, so it’s going to be a busy year! And that’s just what we’ve got [lined up] for now,” Chock gushed to Joe Amabile and Serena Pitt.
Joan and Chock shared how they’ll be traveling to Africa, France, Spain and the Caribbean.
“We have time and we have resources now. Chock isn’t retired, but he can leave his business and it runs pretty well without him, as long as he has some oversight,” Joan said.
“And I have taken a leave of absence and so I’m currently not working. We can now concentrate on our relationship, and I feel that’s really important in the beginning.”
As far as wedding planning goes, Joan and Chock have said they’re in “no rush” to tie the knot.
But during a late 2024 appearance on “The Viall Files” podcast, Joan and Chock revealed how they’d like to have a televised wedding in order to include Bachelor Nation.
Joan and Chock also revealed that they could imagine themselves getting married in 2025 or early 2026.
