Home building reality

Meet our newest Reality Home Building family – the Albanos. Chuck and Simone are both retired from the Coast Guard. They have been married for 17 years and made their home in Essex, Connecticut, in a very old house that they have spent their entire married life renovating from top to bottom. “We essentially rebuilt the house,” Chuck said. “We took it from the worst house in town to one of the best houses in town, but it took a lot of time and work.”Like many people who live in colder locales, the motivation to build a new home was based on a desire for a more temperate climate. After 17 years of brisk New England winters, Chuck and Simone decided they had had enough. Besides the cold temperatures, with both of them at retirement age they were also concerned about accessibility and mobility during the winter months. “We had property in Vermont where we always thought we’d build a home when we retired. It was beautiful with a great view of the mountains, but it also had a 900’ driveway that would have to be plowed in the winter in order to get in or out,” Chuck said. “I got to thinking, ‘do I really want to be plowing that driveway when I’m 70 years old?’ We could easily become housebound and it just didn’t seem like a good situation or a recipe for enjoying our retirement.”