After they met in early 2021, it didn’t take lengthy for Rahul Barua and Winnie Wong to determine that they have been in it for the lengthy haul. By mid-year, they have been already searching for a spot to dwell.
“We met later in life and we simply knew we have been going to be a factor,” mentioned Mr. Barua, 40, director of local weather finance innovation at Salesforce. “After solely like three or 4 months of being collectively, we began.”
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The couple, based mostly in Los Angeles, initially regarded for a house in Southern California. However when a wildfire ravaged an space the place they’d not too long ago been tenting, doubts started to creep in. That summer season, they visited the East Coast on a highway journey by the Hudson Valley, Vermont and Connecticut. It was Ms. Wong’s first time in Connecticut, however Mr. Barua had grown up in West Hartford, Conn., the place his dad and mom nonetheless owned a rental property.
The home was in tough form, so Mr. Barua and Ms. Wong tackled the venture themselves, dwelling in the home whereas refurbishing it.
“For 3 to 4 months, we spent each single evening, each single weekend renovating whereas we labored our full-time distant jobs,” mentioned Ms. Wong, 41, a former freelance movie producer and now the advertising and communications director for a nonprofit that helps modern artists.
When the work was full, Mr. Barua’s dad and mom gave them the home to handle. It wasn’t large enough for them to dwell in completely, however it did give them a way of what central Connecticut needed to supply — bucolic environment, houses they may afford, and loads of outlets and eating places to get pleasure from.
“We thought we’d be right here for 3 months,” Mr. Barua mentioned. “We’d renovate, get a tenant in, and transfer again to L.A. After which, throughout that point, we’re like, ‘You recognize what? That is nice.’”
The couple started searching for a home with a light-filled, intentional design and loads of house for visitors — in addition to for his or her German shepherd-husky rescue canine, Momo — on a considerable piece of land in a pure setting. They began with a large funds vary of about $400,000 to $700,000 and requested Michael Truong, a Realtor with eXp Realty, to assist them match a quantity with their priorities. Additionally they had the luxurious of time — they looked for the higher a part of three years.
“As soon as I received a greater really feel for what they really are searching for, then I may advise them higher,” Mr. Truong mentioned.
This three-bedroom, three-bathroom, midcentury trendy house was designed by Robert Carroll Might, an apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, and constructed right into a hillside in West Hartford. It was listed at 1,832 sq. ft, however that didn’t embody the basement degree, which was small and had a mismatched all-white design, however did supply a family-room house and an additional en suite bed room. Upstairs, the glassy facade, open ground plan, vaulted ceilings and huge coated porch gave the home an expansive really feel, whereas wooden paneling, stone and different pure supplies related it to the outside. The 1.16-acre lot featured a sloped driveway that could possibly be perilous within the winter. The value was $699,000, with annual property taxes of round $14,350.
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