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Fortunately I'm not sendtimental that makes cleaning stuff out so much easier.
Last year we put two of my mothers houses up for sale, including the one I grew up in, and put my own house of 17 years on the market. At 76 mom finally had enough of W. Washington and we purchased a place in AZ currently for her that will ultimately be my retirement home.
Mom is a "collector" and 47 years in one house managed to accumulate a shocking amount of items. I was a ruthless but necessary taskmaster and we both donated a lot of good items to various charities. She did insist on a yard sale that was a lot of work and whatever money she earned paid most of it to my cousin for helping, of course sister and I were strictly volunteers. Would have been so much quicker and simpler to have donated those items too.
Sounds like your doing it the right way OP, someone 'itches and you tell them "feel free to do take it over" -amazing how that ends that conversation.
My parents were renters and we moved more than ten times when I was growing up. My younger sister is the same but my older brother and I crave stability and have lived in our respective homes more than twenty years. The first home that I bought was a cute 1940 2 BR/1 BA with no usable garage. I regret selling it because they rent it out, neglect the landscaping, and have just replaced the beautiful red tile roof with an ugly metal roof. But the rooms were too small so hard to just add on a master suite and tearing down walls to expand rooms and reconfiguring the garage/driveway would have been very expensive.
I'll be selling my current too large home in the next few years but am concerned because older homes in my neighborhood are being torn down to make way for McMansions with small setbacks, sometimes ultra contemporary ones. For my neighbors sake, I hope this does not happen to my house.
My home was used as a rental. I rented it for about a year before i decided to go ahead and buy it
It is sort of an arts and crafts home with lots of neat details and a wrap around porch.
We fixed it up. The yard looks great. New paint, roof, garage and drive way. The backyard even has grass! It was a mudpit when i moved in, but it was a home i wanted since i was a youngster. Used to belong to the county judge. he didn't have any children of his own, and his stepkids just rented it out.
Not sure if i will stay here, but will be sad if it gets neglected by new owners.
I grew up in several homes, but the place my parents bought when I was 12 resonates as "home." I wouldn't be eager to sell it after they die, but the house is just too big and the yard too much work for me to ever want to live there.
My mother carried sentiment to an extreme concerning her home. She grew up in the neighborhood, and spent most of her adult life living in a house directly across the street from her childhood home.
However, times changed, and the "neighborhood" deteriorated into a crime-infested slum. People moved out in droves. Anyone who was able got out of there did so. All that was left was crack dealers, squatters, vacant homes, etc. But my mother insisted on staying there, saying oh, but I grew up here! Finally she was persuaded to move, after several break-ins, and she was attacked on her front porch one night. In the meantime my poor father descended into a mental breakdown living there, scared to death to even come and go.
You can only sacrifice so much for "old times sake". Acknowledge you had good times there, cherish the memories, and move on. You have to live in the present!
My mother carried sentiment to an extreme concerning her home. She grew up in the neighborhood, and spent most of her adult life living in a house directly across the street from her childhood home.
However, times changed, and the "neighborhood" deteriorated into a crime-infested slum. People moved out in droves. Anyone who was able got out of there did so. All that was left was crack dealers, squatters, vacant homes, etc. But my mother insisted on staying there, saying oh, but I grew up here! Finally she was persuaded to move, after several break-ins, and she was attacked on her front porch one night. In the meantime my poor father descended into a mental breakdown living there, scared to death to even come and go.
You can only sacrifice so much for "old times sake". Acknowledge you had good times there, cherish the memories, and move on. You have to live in the present!
Agreed.
Where I grew up is still fine for now, but I'm not that optimistic going forward. Growing up, county schools were decent - not as good as the city, but acceptable. Today, the same county schools I went to are downright bad. The county overall is aging and the population is declining. The closest city is a mess.
I don't think it will become a slum, but I can easily seeing it going from solidly middle class to working poor.
My mother carried sentiment to an extreme concerning her home. She grew up in the neighborhood, and spent most of her adult life living in a house directly across the street from her childhood home.
However, times changed, and the "neighborhood" deteriorated into a crime-infested slum. People moved out in droves. Anyone who was able got out of there did so. All that was left was crack dealers, squatters, vacant homes, etc. But my mother insisted on staying there, saying oh, but I grew up here! Finally she was persuaded to move, after several break-ins, and she was attacked on her front porch one night. In the meantime my poor father descended into a mental breakdown living there, scared to death to even come and go.
You can only sacrifice so much for "old times sake". Acknowledge you had good times there, cherish the memories, and move on. You have to live in the present!
yep! Our street used to be a nice clean orderly hispanic working class neighborhood.
Now just our side of the street is clean and orderly. Ironically the across the street neighbors are offspring of the former most "well off" occupants of the street. They just don't care. So i told my siblings - it is not a desirable place to live. I certainly wouldn't want to live there.
I don't understand how they don't notice that they are surrounded by nice clean yards. Doesn't it snap in their heads???
And then there is the childhood home of the most succesful business person in town - he won't fix it or get rid of it. At least the yard isn't overgrown but still. It is falling apart and its not like he doesn't have the money.
But then he lives down the street from me in a nice new home, but terrible landscaping - such as none. What the heck.....Don't people like to be surrounded by nice things
I do remember one man telling me he didn't care what his yard looked like as long as his indoor space was comfortable and clean. He would just block out the rest in his mind. Yuck.
Everyone agreed. No one wanted it. It needs work. Parents are deceased. Oldest sibling was living there.
Was re-habbing it, but he had issues. He had money, but issues = . So he never finished.
He is now in a nursing home. Paperwork was filed etc so we can go forward with the sale. As is. I think it will probably go to a flipper or slum lord.
After some dilly dallying, i went ahead and said i would spearhead the sale effort. No one else was stepping up. Even though they were all gung ho in cleaning it and selling items from it. When it came down to the real deal - nope.
So I'm the lead and then what happens. I'm accused of not caring about the familial home. Yea - whatever
What the heck is all i can say. I'm just taking charge to what all agreed.
If they were so sentimental - why not move in or something. What a pain.
They will be happy when they get that money!
I would not be the least bit sentimental. I also don’t care about one red cent of anything left over. None of us do.
My parents built our family home in 1971 on 5 acres. Their plan was to split the property 3 ways, giving one section to me and another to my brother, assuming that we'd live here forever and raise our families here. Brother stayed, but I opted to move out of state. Since my mom died in 2016, I have spent a lot of time here with my dad.
Long story short, one of the bathroom faucets sprang a leak last week and ruined the vanity, so Dad is building a new one. We decided to ditch the double-sink set-up in favor of a single, more contemporary sink. I made an offhand remark that keeping the plumbing intact for the second sink would be something the next owner might appreciate, if they have kids. He bristled at that, thinking I mean to sell it once he's gone. Unless something changes, I plan to live here in retirement, so I assured him that wasn't the case, that I was referring to the owners who get the house once I'm gone.
"Oh, you mean Kid1 or Kid2?" he asked. Um, not exactly, Dad.
I know that my children have zero interest in this place. They have no real emotional attachment to it, nor do they plan to even live in this state, so I know they'll sell it and pocket whatever they can get from it. More power to 'em, I say.
Dad seemed offended when I told him this. I don't get the thinking, but it's definitely an issue, not only with the house but with everything in it. It might be a different story if there was this long, rich history of family, extended family, tradition, etc., but our parents raised us far away from the other branches of the family. It's just a hodgepodge of stuff (crap, really, since they didn't take good care of anything they owned). When it comes time to clean out the place, I'll be calling for a huge dumpster and a work crew.
My parents built our family home in 1971 on 5 acres. Their plan was to split the property 3 ways, giving one section to me and another to my brother, assuming that we'd live here forever and raise our families here. Brother stayed, but I opted to move out of state. Since my mom died in 2016, I have spent a lot of time here with my dad.
Long story short, one of the bathroom faucets sprang a leak last week and ruined the vanity, so Dad is building a new one. We decided to ditch the double-sink set-up in favor of a single, more contemporary sink. I made an offhand remark that keeping the plumbing intact for the second sink would be something the next owner might appreciate, if they have kids. He bristled at that, thinking I mean to sell it once he's gone. Unless something changes, I plan to live here in retirement, so I assured him that wasn't the case, that I was referring to the owners who get the house once I'm gone.
"Oh, you mean Kid1 or Kid2?" he asked. Um, not exactly, Dad.
I know that my children have zero interest in this place. They have no real emotional attachment to it, nor do they plan to even live in this state, so I know they'll sell it and pocket whatever they can get from it. More power to 'em, I say.
Dad seemed offended when I told him this. I don't get the thinking, but it's definitely an issue, not only with the house but with everything in it. It might be a different story if there was this long, rich history of family, extended family, tradition, etc., but our parents raised us far away from the other branches of the family. It's just a hodgepodge of stuff (crap, really, since they didn't take good care of anything they owned). When it comes time to clean out the place, I'll be calling for a huge dumpster and a work crew.
My sister and BIL live on 50 acres or so. They bought it - not something that has been in the family for years
I guess he thinks they might come back to live there. Nope they have one child two grandkids. Those grandkids live in places like NYC and Washington DC. Might not want to come back to rural south texas.
I will keep the house I grew up in ONLY if we want a house up here in wintery NY and would move into it.
It's bigger than our "starter home".
Otherwise it will be sold.
I have a property I inheritance from my grandmother, but it will probably be sold eventually too.
I am happy my cousin owns grandma s house in the north, the one I grew up visiting Grandma in, but I'd sell it too if it were mine.
I was attached TO THE PEOPLE, NOT the building s. Now that grandma is gone, and dad will be soon, I'm definitely not attached to the properties.
Not even attached to my house, except in that I live here now.
My OH is very attached to old property of loved ones, but fortunately does not want my FILs house.
Good luck selling, clemencia.
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. So he never finished.
