Ilan and Marsha Stern’s purchase in DeKalb County fulfilled Marsha’s longtime dream to own a home and saved the house from potential demolition.
After finishing programs at Tulane University in New Orleans, the couple moved to Atlanta. Working with Judy Soden of Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage, the Sterns’ desire was to settle inside the Perimeter, near Georgia Tech and Emory University’s School of Medicine, to reduce their commutes. Having at least four bedrooms and a large enough yard to plant a vegetable garden and fruit trees were priorities.
Ilan, 32, who grew up in Marietta and is a research physicist at Georgia Tech’s Research Institute, and Marsha, 28, a physician in a residency program at Emory, talked about their cul-de-sac home in the North Druid Hills area of Atlanta.
Q: What did you want in a home?
Marsha: We wanted something that we knew we could grow into, something that was large enough that if we had a child in the future that we wouldn't feel cramped. We wanted to be in a quiet area, with not too many homes close together and still had the accessibility to shopping.
Q: What appealed to you about where you purchased?
Ilan: What we loved about North Druid Hills is it has that hybrid feel of urban and suburbs. We're sitting on about three-quarters of an acre here, which is so rare intown Atlanta, yet we're 10 minutes away from the Highlands and 10 minutes away from Lenox and 12 minutes away from downtown (Atlanta). It's just really a very convenient location for us.
Q: When did you see the home you bought?
Ilan: This is one of the first houses that we looked at. Immediately Marsha loved it. I was not crazy about it. I knew it was a lovely house and it had that feel that a really happy family lived here. It's one of the few 1960s houses (in the area) that had a two-car garage. But the things I envisioned — the big, open two-story family room — this was a more traditional house where there was separation between the formal living, dining and family rooms. Marsha was able to see through the way it had been staged in a much more contemporary style, with oversized furniture that made the whole thing feel a bit smaller. We ended up coming back and we brought my parents to get a second opinion. We were able to see the things we would do. We saw the big deck, garden and backyard, and I said, "I think this is really the house for us."
Marsha: This house is just bigger than I think anything I thought was within our grasp. Other homes we were looking at three bedrooms, two baths. I felt like that was something we would have grown out of pretty quickly.
Q: Did you face competition?
Ilan: There was (one other offer). The sellers (had been) actually in a very similar situation that Marsha and I were in. He was a physician that was just beginning his residency here at Emory (when they bought the home). His wife was a lawyer and beginning her career. Two professionals coming in here young — it sort of resonated with them. We found out later that one of the offers was actually a developer. The house next door was for sale. The developer intended on purchasing this and the next house, and putting up three and four houses on these large lots.
At a glance
Ilan and Marsha Stern’s home, built in 1964 in DeKalb County’s High Haven neighborhood, has five bedrooms, four baths and about 2,500 square feet. They bought the Atlanta home in July. Homes in High Haven are listed in the mid-$300,000s.
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