The nice thing is that you go right into the kitchen,
which looks beautiful.
[narrator] Living in her tiny condo no longer works for new parents,
Erica and Shane.
So they're looking for more space in Connecticut.
I can see this being a space that everyone can hang out.
[narrator] He wants a classic cape with room to roam outside.
-You're on over an acre. -I mean, look.
-That's a lot of work. -I mean this is, yeah, but it's our work.
[narrator] She wants more space inside with a large Craftsman.
This would be for my craft room, I think.
This is a nice, big space.
[narrator] But since this is Shane's first purchase, her big plans are
making him nervous.
[Erica] This would be a really cool project for me.
-That's what I'm scared of. -[Erica laughs]
I just see the dollar signs
ticking away at that point. -You do, we know, yeah.
[door bell rings] [theme music playing]
[upbeat music playing]
-Hey! -Hi!
-So good to see you! -Good to see you.
-Hi, Pebbles! -Hi!
I am a technology teacher at a middle school.
And I'm a history teacher at a high school.
-We are brand-new parents. -Yes, we are.
[Erica] We have an eight-month-old son.
Our entire relationship, we focused on, what do we want
to do, and where do we want to go, and what time
do we want to get there?
But having a new baby, it has changed everything.
So Shane, how long have you known me
and my nephew, John?
Oh my God, it's been like, what, 20-ish years now,
something like that? -22 years, yep.
-No, it's been a long time. -Since you were a little guy.
I know.
Right now, we are living in a condo that I purchased
seven years ago by myself.
It has taken definitely some maneuvering to figure out how
to get ready in the mornings.
Seeing that we're both teachers and need to be at school,
I would like a bigger space.
This will be the first property I've ever owned in my life.
So I'm incredibly excited.
Wants, needs, and must haves, that's what I need to hear.
I love a Cape Cod style home.
I think they're beautiful, that's what I grew up in.
Usually the bedrooms that would be upstairs have the kind of
slanted roof to them, -Mm-hmm.
which I think adds a cool look as well.
As a history teacher, I would love the aesthetic of
a New England home from the outside,
but definitely modernized on the inside.
I like a Craftsman style.
I would really like a front porch, somewhere we can sit
and have our morning coffee. -Very nice.
Relax, yeah.
I think another must-have would definitely be
a bonus room for us. -Oh, yeah.
Or a basement, perhaps.
And what would you use that for?
For the children or the adults?
A combination of things, to be quite honest with you.
-Shane wants it for the adults. -Yeah, I want it for the adults.
-You know me, I play music. -Yeah, you like your music.
And I have my equipment that needs a home that's not in
the living room anymore, like we have in the condo.
-You need it off the beaten path, -I do.
so Erica doesn't have to listen to it all the time.
Of course, and then room for my computer, and then her crafting
stuff as well, though, so we need --
I have a big desk for that, and we need space for storage.
So would you be good if, say, it was an unfinished
basement, and you could finish it off?
Personally, can I finish? I cannot finish a basement.
-I have a feeling Erica's gonna be doing that. -[Erica laughing]
Listen, and I know she can, that's the thing.
She's a superstar, so I know she can do it.
I just, I don't know, I feel that it'll be an expense that
we're not quite ready for just yet.
[Erica] You know that I really want to do some entertaining
in this new home, -Yeah, I do.
so I'm looking for a kitchen that's pretty much
move-in ready, and a large dining room.
I was also thinking of a big yard if possible.
You know, I think I'm ready to have a nice big space
to take care of, -Sure.
and see if we can find something for that.
-How do you feel about that? -You saw my face, baby.
I have a question.
Who's gonna maintain that big yard?
Listen, I'm gonna do my best to maintain that big yard.
I would love a pool.
Teach Arlo how to swim,
be able to have people over at pool parties.
-Do you need to be near the beach, or? -I mean, we both grew up in
waterfront towns, but never living on the beach, -Yeah.
that would be amazing, but I know the price point there.
Yeah, it starts, I think, at that point,
you sacrifice space for location, right? -Correct, that's --
Yeah.
Shane is the frugal one, I would say.
I agree. I definitely am.
Being a planner, being somebody who wants to make sure everything's
lined up, I see us in the realm of $400.
I'm fearful about going over that just because that's a big
price point for us to be able to lock into.
I think I'm a little bit more of a dreamer and especially as
a new mom, anything that comes my way it's just OK.
-I swear he does say mama. -No I think he says dada.
That's by accident. He looks at me and says mama.
That's by accident? OK.
Yeah, we're kind of going into, like, farmland.
-Wow. -It's a literal silo.
[narrator] They start off a little inland to see a cape on
an acre of land.
OK, so we are literally right next to cows.
[Shane] We're, so, we asked for some space here, and we got it.
-All right. -Let's do it.
-This is a huge yard. -Nah, it's not that big.
What are you talking about?
-I mean, like... -This is a lot of grass to take care of.
I know, I can't wait. It's doable.
[Shane] Traditional cape, it's nice and pretty, yeah?
-Hi. -Hey!
-Hi, good morning! -Good morning.
-Welcome. -Thank you, good to see you!
-Let's see what you think about this house. -Wow, OK!
[Erica] Right off the bat, I really like the beams on the ceiling.
[Shane] Yeah, the ceiling's nice.
Is it brown trim through the entire house?
[Vicky] The majority of it is brown trim, yeah.
-OK. -I like that.
-You like that? -It reminds me of my parents' house growing up.
I'm not a big fan of it. I like white trim.
The pictures made it seem a little bigger, I think,
in the living room. -Yeah.
-Wow, OK. -Oh!
-This is... -That's really nice.
[Vicky] Isn't it great?
I mean, compared to the living room,
this feels so new now, right?
And it's nice that it opens right into the kitchen area, too,
like, this is really... -Perfect for entertaining.
...this is really good. -Dining room table.
-Ooh. -Your giant dining room table could fit here,
no problem, right? -Yeah.
-This is awesome. -I mean...
The appliances look brand new.
[Vicky] And what would you do with that big area over there?
-I mean, first of all, the storage is crazy, but... -Coffee bar.
...you know I like my coffee.
Well, you would love a coffee bar, that's a lot
of space over there to be able to have that. -It's be nice there.
-[Vicky] Look at this. -[Erica] Nice.
-[Erica] Oh, wow. -[Shane] This is all right.
I mean, it's not a front porch like you had said,
but this is -- faces the front kind of. -Yeah.
-[Erica] Holy cow. -[Shane] Oh my goodness, look at this.
-[Erica] This is a lot of space! -I think it'd be good.
-[Vicky] You're on over an acre. -I mean, look!
-[Shane] What do you think? -[Erica] The leaves, already, that's a lot of work!
OK, but this is -- yeah, but it's our work.
I think I'm OK with that.
I know we said a pool would be awesome --
-You said a pool would be awesome. -I feel like it could fit...
[Vicky] Well you've got plenty of room to put a pool somewhere.
But I will say, the one thing I'm kind of concerned about is
just the barn.
I don't mind hearing the cows, but I'm sure we're gonna
smell the cows at some point, right? -You will smell
the cows at some point. -I don't know how I feel about that.
[Erica] That's not something you're into?
[Vicky] And then down the hallway here, you have a full bath,
bedroom, or any other use room straight ahead.
-Um...I don't know, Vicky. -Uh...
This one's looking a little dated for us here, huh?
-This is not my favorite. -No.
[Erica] I could picture some cool, like, wallpaper and some cute
little, you know, knick-knacks up in here.
This would be a really cool project for me.
That's what I'm scared of.
How do you feel about the carpet on the stairs?
I don't like the stairs at all.
[Erica] So it's kind of an oddly shaped room.
Kind of grew up in a room very similar to this, and I love
the slant of the wall, I think, or the ceiling, is really cool.
-[Erica] You like that? -It makes it unique.
It's New England, Cape Cod-style home, right?
Typical New England Cape.
Yeah, I'm not used to that at all, so I'm a little worried
being, you know, six feet tall and having slanted ceilings,
what this is going to limit to what we can put here. -[Vicky] Yeah.
-I want you to see this. -Oh!
-Oh my god, what? -A barn door in your house?
-A half door? -They call it a half Dutch door.
-OK. -That's crazy.
So that way, if Arlo's up here, you can lock this, because it
does have a lock on it. -That's kind of cool.
That's baby proofing that's already built in?
It's already built in as a gate.
[Vicky] This will make you feel better about the downstairs bathroom.
-Hey, all right, there's my white trim. -Wow.
[Vicky] What do you think of the shower?
[Erica] The tiles are beautiful, but we have an eight-month-old
who needs a bath.
The only tub in this house is downstairs.
Oh, it is downstairs.
Are you going to like this bathroom as much when you have
to carry our 23-pound son up and down the stairs?
It is going to be a bit of a pain to have to go up
and down with him so often on the stairs.
-I mean, we don't have stairs in the condo right now. -At all.
So this is a really nice-sized bedroom.
-OK, this feels big. -Maybe this could work for the two of you.
[Shane] This is, like, the primary bedroom up here.
-Yes. -This is fantastic.
-So it is an unfinished basement... -A basement.
[Shane] OK, is there, uh --
...but lots of potential for both of you.
[Shane] All right, so we have potential, OK.
-[Vicky] Erica's craft room. -OK.
Shane's music room across the hall there.
To be able to redo a basement and get some more living space
out of it, that's something I would absolutely be happy to
have us invest in.
You don't agree with that at all, huh?
No, I don't, it's not that I disagree, but you've mentioned not
wanting to do any renovation projects upon moving in,
and now he wants to refinish the basement.
That's a big project.
[Shane] I like the space, both inside and out, not having homes on
top of each other.
And the basement, it was beautiful, and I know that
we can finish it. -[Erica] I love the kitchen.
I knew right away when we walked in this house that
Shane was going to love it because he grew up in
a Cape Cod, but once you get upstairs,
those slanted ceilings are not something that I'm looking forward to.
That's something that is not my style.
I would be interested to see if we would just bump up
the budget a little bit and see if that would give us
exactly what we want.
I know Shane doesn't want to do that.
I just see the dollar signs ticking away at that point.
You do, we know, yeah.
[narrator] But when he sees what more money can get them,
he might be swayed.
Oh my gosh.
How far from the beach is this?
The area that it's in's got to be maybe about five minutes or so at the most.
-You know that's very exciting for me because I like -Yeah.
to spend my days reading by the beach in the summer.
[narrator] This place near the water has Erica's Craftsman charm.
But Shane has doubts.
[Shane] What I'm not totally thrilled about,
and I don't want to fall too in love with something, because
it is listed at $419,900. -I am totally OK with it,
if that means we're going to get everything we want.
Has a backyard I'm excited to see in person there.
I just want to see like how big it is, what is the landscape
kind of like, the houses are not too close together.
-Wow. -Wow, this is a very...
-This is a steep driveway. -It is a steep driveway.
Wow.
I do like the exterior, actually.
It's a really cute house, yeah.
-The color is really cute. -I like the color a lot in person.
[Erica] I like this.
I like the planter boxes and the shutters, too.
-[Shane] Go ahead. -[Vicky] Hi, guys!
-Come on in. -Hi, how are you?
-Nice to see you again. -Good to see you, too!
-How's it going? -Very well.
[Erica] My initial thoughts of the kitchen are, this is quaint.
It's got character.
I'm not a super big fan of the red counter.
I don't know how you feel about that.
I don't hate it as much as maybe I should.
Yeah?
I think it's kind of interesting.
What do you think of the scallops here?
-I actually like the scallops. -Yeah, it's kind of cute.
I don't know if I like the green,
but I like the scallops.
- [Erica] Oh, I like this. -[indistinct]
Wow, I do like this a lot, actually.
This is nice.
[Vicky] You have your wood-burning fireplace with a raised hearth,
the beautiful built-ins. -[Erica] These built-ins are great.
I can imagine all of my books up on these shelves.
Yeah, honestly, you'd probably fill them all.
And I love the brick fireplace. It's just a huge room.
I can see this being a space that everyone can hang out.
We already have space for some of his toys.
And I do like that it opens to the dining room.
-Here's your dining area. -OK.
I don't know, dining nook here is a nook.
-It's a nook. -It's kind of small.
-I mean, I do really like -- -The built-in?
Yeah, I like this. This is super charming.
-We have a wonderful sun porch. -Oh, yeah.
-[Shane] Wow. -[Erica] This is a great bonus space.
-This is cool. -This is an awesome space out here.
[Shane] It's a really big yard.
-Wow. -This is incredible.
[Erica] I mean, there's enough room to put a swing set,
a sandbox, even maybe a pool sometime in the future.
[Shane] Yeah, and there's a fire pit, too, and then this amazing
patio for entertaining, right? -[Vicky] Look at this.
[Vicky] So this is what would be considered the primary.
-[Erica] OK. -[Shane] Oh, wow,
this is actually a pretty -- -[Erica] Decent size.
[Vicky] Second bedroom. Nice size.
-[Erica] Oh. -[Shane] This is cute,
I like the color. -[Erica] This is cute.
Wow.
Arlo could live in here already.
I was gonna say, Arlo would love...
-This is actually a really beautiful size to the room, too. -Yeah.
[Vicky] So here's the third.
This is another nice size room, also, with a lot of uses.
-[Erica] Oh, yeah. -[Shane] Wow.
-And full bath there. -All right.
[Shane] It's in good shape.
And then also having a tub on the main level.
So, I mean, right next to his room, so that's convenient.
OK, I think you're gonna really like this space.
-Come see this. -OK.
-A huge, full-size bathroom. -[Shane] Oh, my goodness.
[Erica] Oh, wow, I love the tile on this floor,
you know I do. -I know you, this is --
[Erica] Oh, wow.
-This is really big. -It's huge, yeah.
[Shane] Oh, my goodness.
The only thing I'd do down here is some paint color because,
you know, this is not my style, but that's a quick change.
-And then look at this space. -Oh, my gosh.
-Crafting, music. -OK!
This is literally -- this is perfect.
Look, it goes all the way down over here.
And this is the finished basement.
-I know, it's what he wants! -[Vicky] And lots of closets.
Yeah, I was gonna say, there seems to be a ton of
storage down here, which is great.
Yeah.
[Shane] Having grown up in the area, and I know this area very well,
and I know that this price is obviously above what we were
hoping, I'm guessing there's probably not much wiggle room.
There's not going to be any wiggle room.
Not in this area.
From here, you're literally five minutes to the beaches.
-I know, yeah. -The town beaches are beautiful.
We're going to have to react quickly, and you may even have
to go over ask.
I know that concerns you, but this house does have a lot
of what we're asking, so maybe this is worth the investment.
[narrator] With Shane and price in mind, Vicky finds a less
expensive place.
For this market, that's pretty good.
Baby woke up at 5 AM again.
I was up two times before that, so.
-Ah, you beat me to it every time, I just sleep through. -Mm-hmm.
[narrator] New parents Erica and Shane are headed to a Cape Cod, a little
far from the beach, but it has four bedrooms and a good price.
-It's only $349. -I know.
I was waiting for you to pick up on that one.
For this market, that's pretty good.
-It is tight down here. -Tight.
-What do you think? -It's not bad.
-Yeah, it's, uh -- -Kind of boxy.
-It's a Cape. -It's very plain.
-And no porch. -No porch, of course.
-Oh, hi. -Hi, guys.
-How are you? -[Erica] I really like these floors.
-[Vicky] Beautiful, aren't they? -[Erica] Yeah.
[Shane] It feels very clean, very new, right?
[Erica] Yeah.
Well, the nice thing is I go right into the kitchen,
which looks beautiful.
-[Vicky] Nice and new feeling, right? -I do -- yeah.
-[Shane] I mean, this is... -[Erica] This is nice, I like the gold hardware.
[Erica] And I like the white with the white counters.
[Shane] Looks like the washer-dryer situation is right here in the kitchen.
There may be room for it somewhere upstairs in one of the closets.
-OK. -Oh!
This railing's pretty modern looking.
I do really like this railing, as opposed to the blonde one on
the other side.
[Shane] Oh wow.
-[Vicky] One, two, three closets in one room. -[Erica] What?
-This is strange. -Very odd shaped room.
-It is. -That's a little hiding spot back in the corner.
[Erica] Interesting shaped closets too. That's a very, like...
-With the dormers. ...yeah.
[Erica] We need a lot of space.
You know how much stuff we have.
Yes, you do have stuff.
Does this house have a basement?
There's no basement and no attics, so you're really
relying on this closet space.
-Your full bath, all refinished. -Oh, this is pretty.
-[Shane] Oh wow, this is actually -- -Yeah, decent size.
oh, this is bigger than I thought it was gonna be, yeah.
-Bathtub up here. -Yeah.
[Vicky] And over here would be your primary bedroom.
It's a little bit bigger than across the hall. -[Shane] Oh!
OK, yeah, there's not that weird spot
back over here, it seems, right? -Yeah.
Everything feels clean, it feels new and up-to-date.
Everything's also exactly the same color and exactly
the, you know, like, same floor, same color. -Yeah.
Paint is cheap, you --
She's a little upset we're not going to be able to renovate
anything because it was all done already.
I can feel that, yes.
Here's your washing machine hookup right in here.
So if you did want to move it out of the kitchen, it can go
right in here.
Oh, wow. So this is nice.
I was gonna say, whoever redid this knew that
I liked gold.
Yeah, I was gonna say, the gold is all
accented everywhere for us. -Yeah, this is cute.
I like the tile, and at least, like, the hardware
and the lights and stuff, that gives it a little bit of character.
-That's true. -Yeah.
This is the smallest of the two bedrooms down here.
-[Shane] Wow. -[Erica] This is bigger than I thought.
This being the smaller of the two, would be a great home
for your guitars and his desk. -How'd I know?
This one's a bit bigger than the one across there.
-Wow. -This would be for my craft room,
I think -- this is nice big space.
I can imagine just nice crafting desk, but this is big
enough that we could have his toys in here too.
we can share the space that way.
It's good to have the option to have multiple bedrooms,
too, down the line, just in case. -Absolutely.
-Smaller than I was hoping it was going to be, yeah. -Wanted? Yeah.
[Erica] I just was hoping for maybe a pool in the future.
Yeah, to even have this to work with,
we don't have that in the condo right now. -[Erica] Oh, absolutely.
-This is a beautiful thing. -I do like the basketball hoop.
I mean, it's kind of old, but it would be nice to have
a basketball hoop. -It gets the job done.
-[Vicky] It's a little high for Arlo, too, right now. -Yeah, right now.
So it seems like they didn't just replace a lot of the stuff
internally, but they also... -[Vicky] Changed the exterior.
[Erica] They did some work on the outside, as well, yeah.
[Shane] It's all quite new, which I think is a great trade-off for
what we're looking for.
I know, obviously, some projects would have been
great for you to be able to put your stamp on it,
but the amount of money that we're probably gonna save in
the process if we went with something like this. -Yeah, compromise.
[Vicky] Exactly.
It's an old-school neighborhood, right?
-It is, but you are on a cul-de-sac, which is nice. -Yeah.
It's been on the market for a few months now...
-Oh, OK. ...so we may even be able to negotiate the price even more,
and in a tight market like this,
it's a good thing. -All right.
[narrator] New parents Erica and Shane can't wait to move out of
her condo into a bigger place, if they can pick one.
[Erica] I know we both really like that Cape in North Branford.
[Shane] Yeah, kitchen's all newly done.
[Erica] It's like my dream kitchen.
[Shane] I know you like the exposed beams.
[Erica] I do like the exposed beams.
I'm still a little worried about the yard.
[Shane] It's a big yard, but I think I can take care of it.
I know you don't want to take care of the yard,
but I'm excited for it.
[Erica] I know the basement's unfinished,
but it has a lot of potential. -Yeah.
I'm just worried, again, how much is that gonna cost us?
[Erica] That ranch in Branford felt kind of homey and charming.
And I know that kitchen was not exactly what we're looking for,
but I think the living room kind of makes up for it,
that awesome space. -Yeah, I love that yard.
You can see a swing set out there, sandbox for Arlo.
I'm really excited that that house is only a couple of
minutes from the beach as well, because you know I like taking
trips there in the summer.
[Shane] It did have a lot of things that we need.
The basement's finished.
Is it worth going above that asking price?
So that's what I'm a little unsure about.
[Erica] There's that renovated Cape in East Haven.
Kitchen is bright, white, completely brand-new appliances.
[Shane] I was going to say, it is beautiful, there's no doubt about that.
It's very clean, very new looking.
[Erica] I was shocked, actually, at the size of those
bedrooms downstairs.
They were really big, but no attic, no basement.
I guess the plus to this whole thing is the home being listed
as low as it is. -Mm-hmm.
There's probably some wiggle room in there.
[Erica] Yeah.
That's a driving force right there.
Yeah.
[doorbell rings]
-Hi, baby! -Hello, Mama.
Are you ready to do your craft project today?
Let's see what Mommy has for us.
We picked the Cape Cod in North Brantford.
[Shane] This house gives us plenty of space on the inside and outside
for a growing family.
The layout is perfect for us for entertaining.
So it really just made sense for us.
[Shane & Erica] [gasps] Yay!
Your perfect footprint.
I really love how the kitchen extends right into
the dining room.
That space is by far my favorite in the house.
Before, in the condo, we were having dinners
in front of the TV.
But right now, we are cooking all of our meals and having
dinner at the dining room table.
What's really nice is we're able to walk Arlo around as
he's learning how to walk.
And the dining room actually has a lot of space for us to
just go right around the table a few times.
And he loves it.
-Can you see Mama? -Hi, baby.
[snickering]
Our new living room is nice and cozy.
The light paint against the dark beams makes it feel
really charming, almost like that Craftsman style.
-Let's turn around. -OK.
[Shane] I am very excited for all the property space
that we have.
One thing I was worried about was living next to a farm
and what smells might linger on over here.
But frankly, it hasn't been anything that I've noticed,
and Arlo loves to look out his window at the cows eating
in the morning time.
I was initially concerned being able to care for an entire acre
of land, but Shane has convinced me that he is going
to do just that.
Let's hang it up.
Let's hang up your new picture.
[Shane] The plan here is in the next couple of years, get that
basement finished, get a couple extra rooms out of it.
I think that needs to happen before we have any more kids.
I agree.
[Erica] I'm excited to get my hands on the bathroom
and make it my own.
-Go help Dada. -Can you help me?
We initially put in a lowball offer at $350, but there were
multiple bids on the house, so we ended up paying $375.
They really wanted a family to love the house as much
as they did. -Ready? Oh!
To be able to have our own property where our family can
grow, this is what we've always wanted.
-Bye. -You're leaving already?
You don't want to help hang up clothes?
See ya.