Like many empty nesters, Rachelle Roth wanted something smaller with fewer maintenance issues than the big house she had been living in for 25 years in Bethesda, Md. “I was one person in a 3,400-square-foot house, and I was using about 200 square feet,” says Roth, 68, the owner of Urban Country, a decor shop in Bethesda. Roth instructed her real estate agent to pinpoint her search to Somerset, an incorporated town in Chevy Chase, Md., that has its own mayor, town hall, swimming team, batting cage and official anthem. Roth’s agent found a unit in the Somerset House condominium complex — which technically is not in Somerset because of a de-annexation of the land that the condos stand on, but it was close enough. “I like the community,” Roth says, “It’s on 19 acres with tennis courts, a gym, exercise classes, swimming pools — it feels like a resort to me.”
Condo renovation achieves resort-style living
