They Traded L.A. for Rhode Island. Which House Did They Choose?
By V. L. Hendrickson
Sept. 17, 2026
After spending 12 years crammed into a 700-square-foot bungalow overlooking Los Angeles’ Hollywood Hills, Eirene Tran Donohue and Brad Martin decided to decamp for Barrington, R.I., Ms. Tran Donohue’s hometown.
“We slept in one bedroom in bunk beds with our daughter,” said Ms. Tran Donohue, a screenwriter.
The rent was cheap, and the views were beautiful, she said. But they had always planned to move back to coastal Barrington, about 10 miles south of downtown Providence, when their daughter, Tofino, finished elementary school. Ms. Tran Donohue was spending hours driving her to activities.
“We didn't really want to do junior high school and high school with a kid in L.A.,” she said.
The couple, both 49, also wanted to be closer to family, including Ms. Tran Donohue’s Vietnamese mother, Mai Donohue, who still lived in the Barrington house where she raised her seven kids. She invited them to live with her during their search.
The family of three moved east in August 2025. Because they had a place to stay, “we could be picky,” Ms. Tran Donohue said. Mr. Martin, an intensive-care nurse at the University of California, Los Angeles, continued to work there, changing coasts every few weeks.
Meanwhile, Ms. Tran Donohue was “manifesting” the ideal residence in town, although homes were selling within days of hitting the market. They wanted about 2,000 square feet — so they could have visitors and an office — with a basement that could be refinished on about half an acre within walking distance of the water.
The couple was also willing to do some work to create their dream property. That helped cut the competition, said their real estate agent, Sarah Huard of Mott & Chace Sotheby’s International Realty, who attended high school with Ms. Tran Donohue’s sister.
“Buyers today are being fed daily with imagery of homes at various price points that are completely done. Many of them lack the desire to do any work on them,” the agent said.
The couple initially set a budget of $600,000 for a fixer-upper and $800,000 for a turnkey house. But those numbers kept increasing as they got a better sense of the market.
“For anything that was $600,000, the flipper people were just too hard to compete with,” Mr. Martin said.
Here are the houses they considered:
No. 1
Ranch With Private Beach Access
Ms. Tran Donohue noticed this 2,048-square-foot ranch on a walk one day, thinking it would be a “dream” home. Three days later, she got a call from a friend in town that it was going to be listed for $699,000.
“I'm a big witch-y person, so I was like, I manifested this,” she said.
The 1952 home needed updates, but it was livable and the couple loved the layout. It had sliders off the living room that led to a deck and generous backyard, plus there was a two-car garage, another wish-list item. It didn’t have a basement, but the four bedrooms made up for that. It also allowed them access to a private beach association with a dock. Annual property taxes were about $9,695.
No. 2
Colonial With Pool and Firepit
This 1,910-square-foot colonial, also from 1952, had three bedrooms plus a den, plenty of space for the family of three. Some updates had been completed in the kitchen and bathrooms, and the lower level already had a recreation room set up. The yard was “incredible,” Ms. Tran Donohue said, offering a pool, a patio overlooking the garden and a firepit. The house was at a busy intersection, so no on-street parking was available, but there was a two-car garage. List price was $729,000, and the taxes were around $8,805.
No. 3
Fixer-Upper With a Koi Pond
Listed for $789,000, this nearly 2,000-square-foot Cape-style home was pricier than what the family would want to spend on a home that needed work.
However, it did have a detached garage and a basement that could be converted. The 1900 home had four bedrooms and two bathrooms, but the one upstairs had no plumbing. Even though the owner had been fixing it up over the last 26 years, it was still unfinished. “Every surface needed something,” Ms. Tran Donohue said. Its half-acre yard was overgrown, but had a bamboo grove and a koi pond and was a quick walk to a public access cove for swimming and boating. Property taxes were about $8,636.
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