East Haddam House, Bought For Value, Now Loved
Posted on July 6th, 2011
Della Hamburg did not love the contemporary cape in East Haddam the first time she looked at it.
The extreme angle of the roof was “bothersome,” said Hamburg, a sales consultant at a shoreline Toyota dealership.
But her two grown children, with whom Hamburg would be living, liked the nearly 1,800-square-foot home on just over an acre. Her agent, Mick Marsden, thought it was the best value in Hamburg’s price range.
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Hamburg eventually made an offer on the house, but only after looking at 24 other houses and the cape two more times. She still didn’t love it, but she knew Marsden, of Page Taft Real Living, was right about the value. Hamburg closed on the house in April, paying $280,000. That’s $20,000 less than the asking price and nearly $45,000 less than the price at which the home had originally listed.
“It was a strictly financial thing,” said Hamburg, 59.
Only after she moved in did Hamburg’s feelings about the house begin to mellow. The open floor plan soon grew on her. The layout, she realized, was well suited to her needs. The spacious loft with full bathroom provided her with a private bedroom suite. On the first floor, her son and daughter each had their own bedroom and a second full bathroom to share.
Hamburg also came to appreciate the soaring cathedral ceilings and large, wooded yard. The house she had rented in Clinton after her divorce was nice but was on a noisy street used as a cut-through to I-95. The ranch house she owned with her ex-husband in Old Saybrook backed up to a marsh. The view was great, but the town had become unaffordable in the 29 years since they bought it.
Settled into her new home, Hamburg again felt peace and serenity, she said. It was quiet, like her old home, but in a town where she could live comfortably on one income. The openness of the living room, dining area and kitchen makes it easy to mingle with her children and entertain guests, yet the house is large enough for everyone to have privacy.
“It’s a house meant to be lived in,” said Hamburg. “For us, it works perfectly.”
Hamburg is the first buyer he’s had fall in love with a house after buying it, said Marsden, who met Hamburg while having his car serviced and who happens to live around the corner from her new house. Buying the home was a way to again put down roots and start traditions, Hamburg said.
“I am looking forward to Christmas,” she said.
To share your own home buying story, please call 860-241-6462, or e-mail editor Kevin Hunt at khunt@courant.com
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