Rockville native Brian Gottlieb and wife Rachel Timmons had called a lot of places “home” before buying their first house in Washington’s family-friendly, Metro-accessible Cleveland Park neighborhood last month.
The couple met in Oregon during college and spent several years in Beijing, where Brian worked as a business analyst.
“With the exception of the house I grew up in, I’ve lived in apartments most of my life. In Beijing, everyone lives in new high-rises, and Rachel and I rented there as well,” Brian said.
The couple returned to the United States in 2006, eventually settling in Silver Spring.
“Brian and I have been together over 12 years and [we] came to D.C. often to visit his family,” Rachel said.
They found the Washington area was centrally located for the things they liked to do. “We love taking road trips, and Washington is a great jumping off point for traveling in the mid-Atlantic,” Brian said.
Homebuying was not on their mind, however, when they embarked on a three-month cross-country bike trip last summer. While peddling, they talked about a definitive location to call home.
Then they happily discovered they were expecting their first child — and things got more focused.
“At the end of the bike trip, we decided to make D.C. our permanent home and rented a two-bedroom condo, but with a kid on the way, things changed. It seemed like a good time to buy a house,” Brian said.
They immediately ruled out condos. “We like to entertain, and having a space with a yard was a priority,” he said.
Their wish list was detailed and included a Metro-accessible location, good schools, multiple bedrooms, a yard and an open floor plan for entertaining.
“And move-in-ready,” Rachel added. “With the due date just around the corner, we didn’t want to spend time dealing with renovation issues.”
Like many first-time buyers entering the market, Gottlieb said they turned to the Internet to conduct preliminary research.
“The Internet was a really great tool for us as first-time buyers. We discovered what was out there and costs,” Brian said.
Spying an open-house sign in their Woodley Park neighborhood, he checked out the property and met Long & Foster agent Cheryl Kurss.
“I was filling in for a colleague at that open house when Brian came in,” Kurss said.
“Cheryl asked a lot of questions about what I was looking for and seemed knowledgeable about neighborhoods where we were looking,” Brian remembered.
“Brian and Rachel were very smart and thoughtful. And very focused. More so than other first-time buyers I’ve worked with,” said Kurss, who put together a list of homes for the couple to see.
“The first house we saw is the one we bought,” Rachel said. “We looked at other listings, came back the next day and made an offer. It all happened at dizzying speed. I knew when I stepped inside this was a place we could call home.”
The three-story, redbrick four-square was built in 1922. Spread out over more than 3,000 square feet, the freshly renovated house features five bedrooms, four baths, a finished attic and a two-bedroom, attached in-law suite.
“It’s just two blocks to the Metro. We were really lucky to find a house so quickly that had everything on our wish list,” Rachel said.
