I've been thinking about the concept of "home" a lot lately. What constitutes a home...to me or to others. Over the years I've had many houses, and each one has been home to me. It's never been the structure around me, but the feelings inside.

As a Real Estate agent, I have clients ask me to help them buy or sell their home. It is this mindset that can make the process more difficult. It may seem like a small thing, but if our clients can view the transaction as involving a "property" instead of their "home," they will approach it differently.

Let's start with the sellers. If they view the process as selling their home, they are more likely to take offense...at low offers, at request for repairs, for early occupancy. Items that if viewed dispassionately could be solid negotiating points.

What about our buyers? What do they see when they walk into a house? It's filled with other people's things and memories, so it can be hard to mentally replace with their own. They can picture granite counters and travertine floors....but the pictures, the kids, the pets? not always! And this is what makes a home. Buyers need to try to remember that they will take this structure and it will become what they put into it....home.

Houses, condos, even RVs (I'm seriously wondering about packing it in and buying an Airstream....I'll get over this by-the-way)....all these are merely structures and properties. Vessels to use in creating "home" and if we can help our clients understand this, I think the transaction can be viewed less passionately and proceed more smoothly.

 

 

 

KAREN FIDDLER
Dre no. 01494165
Broker/Associate
HÔM SOTHEBY'S INTERNATIONAL REALTY
M 949.510.2395
Karen@SothebysRealtySoCal.com
HÔM SOTHEBY'S logo

 

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36 Comments on Finding Home

20 Most Recent Comments Displayed Show All

JUL
03
875,866 Points 18 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

I guess we each have an idea of what makes a house a home.
7:50pm • #17
1,178,330 Points 87 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

When the buyers walk through the door they take their first steps in to their house. As they live there, they create memories, and put their spirit into the house, it makes the transition to a home. The family and love is the element of the transition.
7:51pm • #18
1,938,374 Points 391 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Ah, Karen!  The Airstream thing?  I had a client who sold her big stone house here in DC and bought an Airstream.  Then she took off with two German Shepherds, three cats and her beany baby collection  We haven't seen her since!
8:04pm • #19
988,695 Points 6 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master
Patricia has me chuckling above. The comments can become quite amusing in our posts.
8:38pm • #20
552,656 Points 9 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Karen:

I hope you are better.  I have had a few homes and while I love each one, the house I am in now is where my heart is.  This is where my daughter grew up and my husband and I started our business, where we have lived for many years.  This is where are memories are stored.  Memories, both good and bad, are an important link to our past.  While buying an airstream may sound inviting it is a decision that should be quickly.  My husband is constantly talking about buying an airstream, but I know he loves he creature comforts. 

9:28pm • #21
506,987 Points 153 Featured Posts Outside Blog Hit Router Called Shot Master

Karen:  Seems like we want buyers and sellers to view their home differently.  We want buyers to attach themselves to a potentially purchased property.  Envision themselves living their, making it their "home".  Sellers?  We want them to view it as a property.  Dis-engaging themselves emotionally from the life they have known within the walls of what will no longer be their home.  In reality, memories are our "home" once we leave one structure and go to another.  And we can pack them easily, move them quickly ... and they surround us forever ... 

Give yourself time ...

Gene

 
9:47pm • #22
1,363,759 Points 42 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Karen - I think that if the sellers can detach from the home, it will be easier for them to sell their home for many different reasons.
10:25pm • #23
1,357,193 Points 130 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Karen, So good to see you! We buy and sell houses or properties and make them into homes!
Margaret 
10:36pm • #24
JUL
04
1,670,271 Points 138 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Glad that you are posting.  As the saying goes, "Home is where the heart is" which means much more than an area to a real estate agent.. the heart knows when it walks in the door.
5:23am • #25
669,566 Points 74 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

I love the way you explain this Karen.  A home is not the structure, but what we make of the structure.  Well said.              
5:25am • #26
187,783 Points 6 Featured Posts Hit Router Attended Rain Camp

"Finding Home" is the GPS Real Estate branding statement for many of the reasons you outline. Thank you for quantify a sometimes ineffable concept.
5:31am • #27
415,116 Points 5 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp

I once heard, and cannot remember where, that a house is what you are selling and a home is what you are buying.
7:00am • #28
998,663 Points 108 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

A home does not become a home to me until I grab a sledgehammer and bash in a few walls. We're all different. Just like kids used to tease me in grade school and call me a gypsy because I'm part Hungarian. Today, I'd say what's it to ya, buddy? I know what you mean about the hair.

But on finding home, I always ask sellers why they bought the house because that's the reason a buyer will make it a home. I use that reason in my marketing.

 
7:09am • #29
860,548 Points 70 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

I see all the greats gathering here and chiming in. I just thought it a great place to hang out
7:26am • #30
200,770 Points 5 Featured Posts

I like your perspective and I think it does make a difference when working with sellers especially.  Regardless, it's not good to get attached to our home or things...many in our city have been discussing that after so many homes were burned by the fire.
11:03am • #31
1,138,296 Points 91 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

HOME is where you want to come at the end of the day. It's not just a property.
6:51pm • #32
569,349 Points 45 Featured Posts Localism Sponsor Outside Blog Hit Router Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Without love, it's just a house. Memories make a home. When a buyer makes the decision a specific property, they realize that it is there that they can create the memories. Keep your chin up, it will get easier with time.
8:16pm • #33
234,908 Points Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Karen -- glad to see you able to put such a great post together, with everything else you are dealing with in your life.  Blessings and strength to you in the coming days.
8:33pm • #34
JUL
06
301,008 Points 7 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp

It is good for you to delve into such deep introspection and yes, I think you will get over the "Airstream" thing. Indulge yourself and by the way, your post is excellent and so true.
7:56am • #35
OCT
30
176,489 Points Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp

I always phrase it that the sellers are selling a house and the buyers are purchasing a home.
8:46am • #36

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