Home… As real estate agents representing buyers and sellers, we get to look at a lot of houses, usually defined by an address. But we hear the term “Dream Home” used all the time, especially when our industry is represented by Hollywood or in the media. In Fact, many of the popular shows make it seem like the word “house” is shallow or uncomfortable. Since drama is what sells these episodes that must mean there is some emotional tie to “Home”.
So what is Home? We hear “Home is where the heart is” all the time. Sure it is cliche but there is just something to it. It also means that Home IS a place. But we already decided that home is emotional. So does that mean that Home is an emotional place? If emotion is “of the heart” and a house is physical maybe we can just agree that Home is the house of the heart. I guess that old saying isn’t so cliche after all.
For many, Home is where you can let your hair down. Put your feet up. Relax. Even rest and rejuvenate. Home is the place where you can really be you without worrying about the judgment of colleagues or classmates. Home is the place where you feel the safest. While I can tell you that I feel right at home wherever I am as long as Ashley is by my side, there is a feeling of ease that comes at once when we walk through the door of the house we refer to as Home.
At the time of this writing, we have only lived at our current address for about three years. So when did the house we purchased become “Home”? We have said from the very first day when we were headed there after a long day, “Let’s go home”. That was before it even felt like Home. At that time it was just the house where we kept our stuff and slept at night. How does a house become a home?
For us, it was after we began feeling comfortable there. After all our stuff was in its place and we began to develop a routine. After we had invited friends and family to join us and break bread at the dinner table. The first birthday party and lazy Sunday afternoon. That house wasn’t home until after the first argument and reconciliation. After the children had found themselves in discipline and we heard their giggles and pitter-pattertering feet echoing through the rooms once again. It’s the memories that make it Home. It literally takes time to make a house a Home.
Even though I moved from there many years ago, I can still go back to the hill where I was raised. There were 3 family Homes on that little hill. When I step onto the carport of my Grandfather’s place, I am instantly transported back to the day he brought his Skeeter bass boat home, all the fish frys with family, the first time I held my cousin’s son, Easter, Mother’s Day, Christmas, and every birthday in between. Step out back under the shade trees where we sat and shelled peas, cracked pecans, or just sat and enjoyed the shade and each other. So even after a Home is no longer where you live the status is never removed.
At AT Home Texas Real Estate, we understand that when we list your Home there is a part of it that will be yours forever. We also know that when we are house hunting, we may be looking at addresses, features, and room sizes, but you are looking at so much more than that. You know that house will one day be your Home and there is more to that than a mortgage. We get it. We love that part of our journey together with you and we will keep you informed about all the details, so you can make an informed decision all while dealing with the nuances of Home.