Can a couple with West Coast tastes and a sense of history find a house in Connecticut that satisfies both? Absolutely, say Derek and Joyce Hyde, a pair of fortysomething professionals who closed last month on a home in East Hampton that is a rare blend of old and new. 

The core of the 3,200-square-foot colonial was an overgrown shack of a sea captain's house built around 1850 but meticulously restored and added onto by the previous owner in 2007. The newer, 2,200-square-foot portion of the house includes a state-of-the-art kitchen, master suite, great room, mudroom and attached two-car garage. 

"The only parts that are really original are the upstairs guest bedrooms," said Joyce Hyde, executive director of the Glastonbury Wellness Center and Healthtrax, "but even those are updated in this interesting combination of old and new." 

The Hydes were living in Southern California and moved east to find new jobs. Joyce lived most of her life in California, but Derek, a claims manager with The Hartford, was born and raised in East Hampton and has two brothers still living there as well nieces, nephews and many friends from high school and college. 

When their yearlong house hunt began, the couple looked at just about everything, including land, trying to figure out what they wanted, said their agent, Mick Marsden of Page Taft GMAC Real Estate. 

Coming from Orange Country, the couple figured they could afford waterfront. When they realized they could not, they refocused their search on other properties. All told, Marsden said he showed the couple about 48 properties in what seemed like every town in Middlesex and Hartford counties. In the end, they narrowed their choices to two: a house in Glastonbury that needed work but had a gourmet kitchen, pool and nice backyard, and the house in East Hampton, which didn't have a pool but was priced right and was move-in ready. 

"It was hard to pass up, but it would have taken too much work to feel comfortable," Joyce said of the Glastonbury house. "For the same amount of money, we could get a completely done house." 

By the time they made their offer, the house had been on the market for 325 days and the asking price reduced several time. The Hydes paid $530,000, $45,000 less than the lowest list price.

"They got a tremendous deal," said Marsden. "This is one of those cases when it was a buyer's market, and they scored."

— Loretta Waldman, Special to The Courant





EAST HAMPTON FACTS:

• Population (2008): 14,651

• Median single-family home sales price (Jan.-Oct. 2009): $230,000

• Median condo sales price (Jan.-Oct. 2009): $170,000

• Number of single-family home sales (2007): 162

Less than $100,000: 4

$100,000 - $199,999: 19

$200,000 - $299,999: 67

$300,000 - $399,999: 51 

$400,000 or more: 21

• Number of new housing permits in:

2008: 34

2007: 71

2006: 85 

2005: 134

2004: 158

• Housing stock (2007): 5,207 units; 84 percent single-family

• Owner-occupied dwellings: 76 percent

• Housing stock age, pre-1950: 27 percent

SOURCES: Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development; Connecticut Economic Resource Center; The Warren Group