In Litchfield County, a new type of buyer is emerging, one for whom the term 'second home' no longer applies. These are the 'co-primary' buyers—individuals and families who are splitting their time between a city residence and a country property, but with the country property serving as a true home base. According to Bill Melnick, a luxury real estate specialist with Elyse Harney Real Estate, this shift is evident from the very first conversation with a buyer.
“When you start the search, buyers lay out their requirements and how they’re going to use the house,” Melnick said. “You can tell pretty quickly who is buying a weekend place and who is buying a co-primary.” This distinction shapes every aspect of the home search, from the towns considered to the features prioritized and the budget allocated.
The co-primary buyer is not looking for a simpler version of their city life; they are seeking a parallel version. That means full kitchens, finished bathrooms, reliable internet, and, in most cases, two dedicated home office spaces. “Often you need two home offices if they’re a couple,” Melnick explained. “Both owners may be on Zoom calls, even if they’re going to an office regularly.”
Buyers are finding creative solutions to meet this need: guest rooms configured as swing spaces with pullout sofas and desks, finished basements transformed into office floors, and accessory structures like barns and guest cottages outfitted as separate workspaces. The appeal of a detached office—a building you walk to and then leave at the end of the day—has proven strong among those who have spent years working from a dining room table. Properties that cannot accommodate two working adults without significant construction are increasingly passed over, as the home office question has become a qualifying criterion rather than a nice-to-have.
The co-primary buyer also approaches town selection differently. For a weekend buyer, a twenty-minute drive to a grocery store is a minor inconvenience, but for someone spending half the week in the county, it becomes a logistics problem. Co-primary buyers place higher priority on proximity to everyday services like food stores, pharmacies, and restaurants. Another significant factor is proximity to the Wassaic Metro-North station, the last stop on the Harlem line in New York State, which offers a roughly two-hour ride to Grand Central. For households where one partner commutes to the city two or three days a week, the driving distance to that station can determine which towns make the list. “The closer to the train, the better,” Melnick said. “Theoretically you can be dropped at the station for a six or six-thirty train and be at your desk by eight-thirty or nine.” Towns within a comfortable drive of Wassaic carry a quiet premium for this buyer, one that may not appear in comparable sales data but is consistently reflected in buyer preferences.
Co-primary buyers are also willing to spend more, and they do so deliberately. The property must function at the level of a primary residence, meaning a higher amenity threshold and a lower tolerance for renovation projects. These buyers want to move in, be on a Zoom call, and have their children enrolled in school without a construction project running in the background. “They want to feel like they’re not sacrificing,” Melnick noted. “Often it’s even more than what they have in the city, because you have the space.” At the top of this segment, the buyer who has effectively made Litchfield County their primary base while maintaining a city apartment is often trading up from an earlier weekend property. The first house was a weekend place; the second is the one they actually live in, and the budget reflects that.
This trend is reshaping the Litchfield County real estate market, as more buyers seek homes that can truly serve as a primary residence, even if they still maintain a foothold in the city. For sellers and agents, understanding the co-primary buyer's needs is essential to meeting the demand of this growing segment.
