HAVAYA is the work of Hava Kelman — designer, developer, and founder.
The name comes from the Hebrew word havaya — "to be." Hava grew up in Israel, and the word stayed with her: it's the spirit behind everything HAVAYA touches. Homes in New York City. Vacation properties upstate. Ground-up developments designed to be lived in fully, not just looked at.
Hava spent twenty years in tech, building products and businesses, before she realized the work that brought her most alive was the work she was doing on the side — buying homes, reimagining them, and creating spaces people didn't want to leave. HAVAYA grew out of that quiet realization, and today it spans three things she loves doing equally well:
Designing homes for people who want their space to feel like them — warm, considered, layered with vintage pieces, local craft, and the kind of details you only notice the second time you walk through a room.
Operating getaways upstate — curated vacation homes that guests return to, recommend to friends, and, more than a few times now, end up buying. Several HAVAYA homes have been sold this way: a guest checked in, fell for the place, and walked out as the owner — fully furnished, fully managed. It's a quiet kind of proof that the homes do what they're meant to do.
Developing new properties — including a ground-up build in Saugerties — bringing the same eye for design and hospitality to projects from the studs up.
Every HAVAYA home sits at the intersection of three things: thoughtful design, smart financial decisions, and a feeling you can't quite put your finger on but know the moment you walk in. That feeling is the whole point.
Hava lives in NYC with her husband Ehud and her two lovely daughters. She collects hot air balloons — small ones, mostly — as a reminder that the best things happen when you stop trying to control every gust of wind and start trusting the lift.
She'll tell you the hot air balloons aren't just decoration. They're a reminder of what she's building toward, one home at a time: a place where you land, and love it.