Entertainment
Loving a House From Afar, and Then Tearing it Down
A Pennsylvania couple left tech jobs to devote their time to renovating and selling homes. This dream project, however, won’t be put back on the market.
Growing up in Bryn Mawr, Pa., Andre Golsorkhi always admired the houses along tree-lined Rock Creek Road. “It’s a fairy-tale street,” said Mr. Golsorkhi, now 45. He would gape at the homes and gardens. “From the day I got my license, I was driving up and down this street.” For years, he lived in the urban heart of Philadelphia, where he worked as an executive of tech startups, but never forgot Rock Creek Road. Even when he met Autumn Oser, an interior designer who worked on physical spaces and experiences at Google, he took her for a drive.
“When we first met, he took me back to where he grew up,” said Ms. Oser, now 38. “We drove down this street, and he told me that he always wanted to live there.”
But for many years, it was little more than wishful thinking. After marrying in 2014, Mr. Golsorkhi and Ms. Oser bought and renovated a string of homes in Philadelphia, and realized they were good at it. Each time they finished one home, it seemed, someone wanted to buy it.
“People actually came knocking on the door,” Mr. Golsorkhi said, offering prices they couldn’t resist.