Heading North to Find a Hudson Valley Home for $500,000. But Which One?

When Laurie Umanoff Goldstein and Steven Goldstein decided to move from Philadelphia to upstate New York a few years ago, it meant leaving the house they’d lived in for 40 years. Mrs. Goldstein’s perennial garden was still growing, as was the community and clientele that she’d cultivated as an artist and interior designer.

But their two children had long since left the house, and Mr. Goldstein had recently retired as a psychotherapist. And really, moving to New York was a homecoming of sorts: The Goldsteins met in Manhattan in 1972, when he was a program director at the United Cerebral Palsy of New York City center and hired her as an art teacher. They were married at her aunt and uncle’s home in Westchester a few years later.

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When Mr. Goldstein got a job in Philadelphia at a nonprofit focused on youth crime prevention, the family moved down there and settled in. Four decades later, the kids were grown up and living in the lower Hudson Valley, and Mr. Goldstein, now 82, was commuting to Manhattan two days a week to see patients at his private practice.

Moving north “was the best possible thing we could do because we wanted to be closer to our children,” he said.

He was familiar with the area, about two hours north of Manhattan, having spent summers there as a boy. His mother had opened a small antiques shop in the Catskills, and he and Mrs. Goldstein, now 76, continued to run the shop seasonally until they sold his mother’s house last year.

“He was aging, I’m aging,” Mrs. Goldstein said. “You’re living your life and doing what you want to do, and raising kids, and all of a sudden you’re like, ‘Wow, I’m older.’”

The Goldsteins started looking for a house in 2021 with a $500,000 cash budget, focusing on riverfront Dutchess County towns like Hyde Park and Rhinebeck. Their wish list included extra rooms for guests and an art studio, but they didn’t need anything as large as their 2,200-square-foot house in Philadelphia. “People asked me if I was going to downsize,” Mrs. Goldstein said. “And I said, ‘Not really. I’m right-sizing.’”

They wanted a first-floor primary suite and enough space to house their furnishings, including a newly reupholstered antique wraparound sofa that once belonged to Mrs. Goldstein’s grandmother. And they were curious about the area’s townhouse developments.

“I had lived in a house that had walls, and I said, ‘I just want it all open,’” Mrs. Goldstein said. “I wanted to experiment to see how I can make it my own and make it cozy. If we were to move into something old, you almost have to gut it. You have to paint it, you have to update the electricity.”

Among their options:

No. 1

Lauren Lancaster for The New York Times

This three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,833-square-foot house from 2004 was at the end of a cul-de-sac in a townhome community in Wappingers Falls. The living room had a vaulted ceiling, the first-floor primary suite had a walk-in closet, and there was a loft space that could be a third bedroom. A wall of windows overlooked a rear deck, and an unfinished basement opened to the backyard. Updates were needed, but the house was close to the Hudson River and a Metro-North train station. The complex offered a pool and tennis courts. The asking price was $469,900, with about $10,000 a year in taxes and a $224 monthly HOA fee.

BHHS Hudson Valley Properties

No. 2

Lauren Lancaster for The New York Times

This two-bedroom, two-bath townhouse from 1985 was in a condo complex in Rhinebeck with a pool, a clubhouse and tennis courts. Its 1,348 square feet included a sunny living room with a double-height ceiling and a wood-burning fireplace, an eat-in kitchen with dated cabinets and a washer-dryer, and two en suite bedrooms with carpeting that needed replacing. Outside, the rear deck and pergola overlooked a big yard, and there was an attached garage. Rhinebeck Village was a mile south. The price was $495,000, with about $4,700 a year in taxes and a $425 monthly HOA fee.

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No. 3

Lauren Lancaster for The New York Times

This three-bedroom, two-and-a-half-bath townhouse from 2022 was in a riverside complex in Hyde Park with a pool, a screening room and a gym. A 1,990-square-foot model offered an open floor plan with a double-height ceiling and a fireplace in the living area. The first-floor primary suite had a wall of closets, a double vanity and a small rear patio. Two more bedrooms and a storage space were upstairs. There was a driveway and a pre-planted lawn. The price was $449,900 without upgrades, with about $12,500 a year in taxes and a $350 monthly HOA fee.

Houlihan Lawrence

Which Would You Choose?

Which Did They Buy?