June is National Homeownership Month

Here are some of my favorite song lyrics involving “home”...

“Home for the holidays, I believe I’ve missed each and every face..please celebrate me home”

“Home sings me of sweet things, my life there has it’s own wings”

“Come on take me away…home again”

“Could it be that I have found my home at last…home at last”

It’s National Home Ownership month and as any homeowner knows, owning a house is just more than keeping up with the maintenance, décor, the never ending projects and yard work.   It’s where lasting memories are made, some joyous and some can be painful.  Although hubby and I have owned three Brookside homes, it’s this one that seems the most special.  Hearing all the kids play in the yard on Saturdays, helping to shovel snow, hosting cookouts on the patio, lighting candles when electricity goes out, living through a kitchen renovation,  having yard sales and Christmas celebrations and prom photos and wedding preparations. I really wish the walls could talk and tell me tales of other families who have lived here since 1928.

The strong pull of wanting to own a home is more than just having a physical place to live.  It’s also wanting to create your own safe and special place, your retreat from the world…nurturing an atmosphere of love and warmth for children, family and visitors.  How many times have you said to yourself “I just want to go home!”? 

Do the emotional benefits of having a home outweigh the financial considerations???  Most renters know that paying your own mortgage is better than someone else’s. But home ownership is way out of reach for so many people, due to stagnant wages, student loan debt, the gig economy, rising prices far above inflation.  And some folks just don’t want the responsibility of owning a house.

I love being a homeowner—especially in my old 1920s neighborhood of Brookside.  It’s a wonderful location, with so much charm and workability, friendly neighbors and many locally owned businesses.  Brookside will never lose its appeal for homebuyers.

Being a Realtor allows me to help buyers find just the right home.  Often it’s not ‘the perfect house’—but usually I can feel it’s ‘the one’ for them…and they can feel it too.  The homebuying process can be exciting and stressful at the same time, spread out over many months.  In the end, at the closing table…the new owners are ready to move in and turn the house into a home.