Peter Kostmayer and Doug Hirn often had just a few pals across the metropolis who owned second houses in fairly locations. Not being outside varieties, they weren’t certain if it was one thing they needed to strive.
“We thought it seemed like a number of work,” mentioned Mr. Hirn, 48. “We additionally didn’t understand how a lot we might use a second place. Attending to and from one house to a different may be difficult.”
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Shortly after they met on-line in 2004, Mr. Kostmayer, 78, and Mr. Hirn moved into Mr. Kostmayer’s West Village condo, which he’d purchased the earlier yr after serving seven phrases as a United States Congressman from Pennsylvania. In 2021, once they bought married, the couple moved to Brooklyn, after which to a three-bedroom rental within the Two Bridges neighborhood on the East Aspect of Manhattan.
Steadily, the thought of getting extra outside house grew on them. “New York in August is sizzling,” mentioned Mr. Kostmayer. “You may’t actually open the home windows. So we thought it will be good simply to get away once we needed to.”
They began fascinated about a modest-sized home for round $700,000, ideally within the neighborhood of a city with a direct practice line to Manhattan, good eating places, and no Hamptons-like site visitors or social scene. The couple, who had been keen to spend one other $150,000 on renovations, had been searching for privateness and a spot that had appeal or that they might make charming.
“We favored the thought of getting land, type of a buffer round us that we might have a look at,” mentioned Mr. Hirn, a lawyer.
The couple scouted areas in Pennsylvania and the Hudson Valley. Then Mr. Hirn’s Zillow search redirected him to Litchfield, the Connecticut county that hugs New York’s japanese border.
All of the sudden, the alternatives appeared countless. “Actually, if somebody had mentioned, ‘Why don’t you look in Litchfield County?’ we in all probability would have thought we couldn’t afford it,” mentioned Mr. Hirn. “However we had been pleasantly stunned by the choices we had.”
For steerage, they contacted Dave Fairty, a dealer with Regency Actual Property in Watertown, Conn. “Most of my shoppers are sick of the Hamptons scene,” Mr. Fairty mentioned. “The L.I.R.R. commute and the crowds are horrendous. We don’t have that.”
After spending a while exploring the world, Mr. Kostmayer and Mr. Hirn fell in love with the surroundings. In addition they favored the under-two-hour commute from Grand Central, and that they might park their automotive at a practice station for $500 a yr.
Mr. Fairty took the couple to 3 Litchfield cities: Kent, New Milford and Cornwall.
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