When Beth and Brandon Sheafor decided it was time to downsize in Helena, Mont., they wanted to change their suburban lifestyle, too.
The Sheafors had moved to Montana’s capital from Ohio in 2010 and built a five-bedroom home in a new residential neighborhood for themselves and their two daughters, then 8 and 5. Mr. Sheafor, 60, started a job as a biology professor at Carroll College, near Helena’s downtown. Ms. Sheafor, 54, is an instructor in the anatomy and physiology lab in the same department.
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Ms. Sheafor, originally from California, and Mr. Sheafor, originally from Colorado, had moved to Ohio for postgraduate work in 1997. “Ever since we got there, we wanted to be back West,” Ms. Sheafor said.
Helena can get very cold and snowy, she said, but Mr. Sheafor was accustomed to it, and the couple liked that there were more sunny days in the Montana winters than in Ohio.
But their parcel, on a wide 10,000-square-foot corner lot, required a lot of “scraping and shoveling,” Mr. Sheafor said. After their daughters left for college, the Sheafors didn’t need as many bedrooms, or want as much yard work.
The couple also wanted to leave driving behind. A new home within 15 minutes of the core of Helena’s downtown district would be ideal, so they wouldn’t always have to get in a car to go shopping or out to eat. “We never walked anywhere before,” Ms. Sheafor said.
They were particularly interested in Helena’s historic Mansion District, which Mr. Sheafor called the city’s “most desirable neighborhood.”
Beyond its historic homes and tree-lined streets, the neighborhood sits at the bottom slope of Mount Helena, with easy access to walking trails and some of the city’s busiest streets — including Last Chance Gulch, now Helena’s main drag, and the spot where prospectors first found gold in 1864.
The couple still wanted at least three bedrooms, including one with enough space to comfortably contain a home office, as well as two full bathrooms, a garage (preferably big enough for two cars), a spacious kitchen and storage for all the cooking gear and cookbooks they’d collected over the years.
“One of the big things was a workable kitchen,” Ms. Sheafor said. “He cooks, and I bake.”
Their budget was about $600,000 — the amount their broker, Deb Whitcomb of Berkshire Hathaway, predicted they’d get for the sale of their existing home. It would also keep their monthly payments at about the same level. The couple were also willing to pay for some upgrades on a less expensive home.
This three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,929-square-foot house from 2008 was LEED Platinum certified, with a rooftop garden, solar panels and radiant heating. The design was rustic but modern, with custom flourishes including two mezzanines that peeked over the living room, a German wood stove by the entryway and a hand-built wood staircase. The primary bedroom was on the first floor. The large, open kitchen had an island and built-in cabinets, but there was no basement for extra storage. Glass doors opened to a lush garden, a small storage shed and a two-car garage. The house, concealed by huge blue spruces, was across the street from a center for mental health and a mile from downtown businesses. The price was $569,900, with about $4,580 a year in taxes.
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