Robert's Roost Personalized: A Family Home Remains in the Family
Robert's Roost Personalized: A Family Home Remains in the Family
Recently, I commented on an excellent blog entitled: “LOVE LETTER TO A SPECIAL HOME” by Margaret Rome, May I encourage all to read Margaret’s post. http://activerain.com/blogsview/4648761/love-letter-to-a-special-home#18981766
Margaret suggested I share my story in the Rain. Thank you, Margaret. The subject was in response to the oft offered mantra to DE-PERSONALIZE THE HOME. I went through months of that with my mother when we first talked of putting my parents’ home on the market. Dad had Alzheimer’s, and required constant care. Mother is a retired RN, and had promised him that she would not put him in a nursing home. A promise than my brother and I agreed to. With the loving help of our wives, children, spouses and significant others (including one of dad’s sisters and her husband), we honored that commitment. Both my brother’s and my business suffered, but never once had we needed dad that he was not there for us. Knowing all we know now, we would do the same.
Our youngest brother had been murdered as dad’s illness was being diagnosed. That house was Mother’s channel to reality and her past. It was also the familiarity dad needed, so we traveled to and from their home three times each day for about seven years; but when extra trips became the norm, we purchased a house within three hundred feet of my wife’s and my home. Within six weeks Daddy was gone. Mother did not want to change things about the house Daddy built, so some of the family lived there a while.
A tornado damaged the property, and family members made repairs. There is so much "to do" about de-personalizing a home that I think Margaret’s unique approach stand out and wins hearts. When I prepared my parent's home for sale, I prepared a brochure introducing my dad's dream for that home. I focused on the extra love and effort that he put into it as a master craftsman. I referred to it as "Robert's Roost" because dad was an early riser and loved the view out across the wooded hills at sunrise. My son and I had helped him cut the timber, mill the logs, pour the concrete, set the trusses, etc.
When my son and family moved back to Nashville, they decided to buy it, and so it remains in the family; but I believe "Robert's Roost" is such a part of our family, to now four generations, and they have turned it into a wonderful warm place to gather. It is the home Dad would have love. I had never considered that personalization would keep the house in the family. The kids have done so much to make it their home that now it is part of my family’s past and future. I love to visit there. By the way, it was a conversation I had with my son about possibly making a Bed and Breakfast out of the place that moved us in the direction of his buying it for his own family and reasons.
When encouraging sellers to de-personalize the home, there may be times when one should be understanding and seize on an opportunity to be unique in both approach and presentation. I currently am helping a cousin prepare her home for sale after the unexpected death of her husband. She is responding well to the things her brother and I have addressed to her; but it is where she lived for thirty years with him. She is going through something so much more than changing a wall color. I am prepared for the real possibility that she may change her mind and stay in that home. I am more comfortable in what Margaret shares about a seller doing a Love Letter to a House, and I thank her for making me think about the idea.
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