When Charles Roberts and Debbi Calton-Roberts set out to find a home in Hudson, N.Y., they had to be mindful of some new family members: their chickens.
They hadn’t planned on the chickens. A couple of years ago, after Ms. Calton-Roberts retired from her career as a radio host in Philadelphia, she and her husband, a professional guitarist who goes by Chip Roberts, set their sights on a new home in the Hudson Valley. They wanted to buy something in Hudson, the small but bustling riverfront city in Columbia County, but were priced out amid the pandemic frenzy.
“For people who were supposed to be staying in place, we were very busy during the pandemic,” Ms. Calton-Roberts, 68, said. The couple had barely taken a beat since moving their 32-year-old son, who is high-functioning on the autism spectrum, into an apartment in Atlanta.
But they regrouped and settled on a house in the town of Coxsackie, about 15 miles north, where prices were more reasonable. It had a country porch, as well as a big garage to house his music gear and her stained-glass workshop. (She also hosts a weekly online radio show, which she records from home.)
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To Mr. Roberts’s delight, the 1.6 acres came with an established flock of hens. “That sold me on the house,” he said. “They’re so much fun.”
But while Mr. Roberts, 71, grew attached to their new pets, Ms. Calton-Roberts felt isolated. And their son, who had come to live with them during Covid lockdowns, struggled in the rural location, too. “He was going crazy,” she said. “It was hard to find a place that would even deliver a pizza.”
It wasn’t long before she admitted that her heart was still set on Hudson. The couple had previously owned an investment property on Columbia Street, in the heart of the city, but it needed work so they had sold it. (“Sure wish we had held on to it!” Ms. Calton-Roberts said.)
And they still had plenty to do in Hudson: Mr. Roberts’s band, Cowboys in the Campfire, rehearses there, and Ms. Calton-Roberts does volunteer work in town. So the couple renewed their search last year, armed with a budget of $600,000 and a short wishlist: a first-floor bedroom, a yard for a chicken coop and an easy walk to Hudson’s main drag, Warren Street.
The median sale price in Hudson is about $587,000, according to Realtor.com, but most homes in that range are fixer-uppers, said the couple’s broker, Dina Palin, of Houlihan Lawrence.
With a vibrant arts community and an Amtrak train station, “Hudson is its own market, and it’s very highly desirable,” Ms. Palin said. It would be a challenge to find something that suited the couple’s needs.
Among their options:
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