Property Line: A large, renovated three-bedroom home in Fairmount for $875,000
The remodeler followed the adage: “Don’t live in a house you’re rehabbing.”
Growing up in the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, Noam Kugelmass frequently lived in homes his parents were rehabbing.
From this, he gleaned two valuable lessons:
“Hire good people, not [just] your friends.”
And, “Don’t live in a house you’re rehabbing.”
Kugelmass put both these lessons to good use in rehabbing his three-bedroom, 2½ bath home in Fairmount.
And he’s using them again in the East Falls Home he’ll be moving to with his wife, Laura Efros, and their daughter.
Kugelmass, an entrepreneur in fields as varied as audio equipment and children’s entertainment, bought the house in 2005 around the time he met Efros, who manages governmental affairs for a Danish pharmaceutical company. They are moving to be closer to their daughter’s school.
He’d been living in a duplex down the street and noticed that the Fairmount house had been on the market a long time, possibly because it needed much work.
“We practically rebuilt the house,” he says, replacing stairs, transforming the kitchen, adding new rooms and bathrooms, installing walnut shelving.
“I enjoy the process of working with designers and tradespeople,” he says. “I’ve learned to project manage major construction.”
The first floor features a parlor currently serving as a living room with an upright piano, a large hall closet, powder room, and dining area holding up to eight people.
The kitchen offers stainless steel appliances, quartz countertops, and a Wolf range with convection and conventional ovens, and natural hickory cabinets for storage.
The adjacent breakfast area has bay windows and a glass sliding door leading to the patio.
The second floor includes a bedroom with a bay window, laundry room, and media room with recessed lighting.
The third floor features the primary suite, with wool carpets, walk-through dressing and closet area, and bathroom with soaking tub and walk-in shower, and an additional smaller bedroom.
All bedrooms have ceiling fans and there are two operational skylights at the top of the stairwell.
There is a dry and well-lit, semifinished basement with access to the patio.
Total square footage is 2,497.
The house is listed for $875,000 by Kyah Brown-Dinwiddie at Houwzer Realty.