Ever go back to visit an old house?

[midjd]

We bought this place in early 2011, and I think I've mentioned the sellers before (old house burned down due to hoarding, moved to TX before new one was completed).

Well lo and behold, as I was outside picking some peppers this evening, up our driveway comes an older lady and two small kids. It was the seller and her grandkids. She invited herself inside (DH was watching TV in his boxers - a little awkward) and said she liked what we'd done with the place. I'm mad I missed the opportunity to ask questions about all the weird stuff we found around here! Now I will never know

Have you ever revisited a home you used to own, or a place you used to live?

I haven't, but my mom still lives in the same place I grew up (same with DH). Everywhere else I've lived is in another county/state. I can see doing a drive-by of an old house if I happened to be in town, but I probably wouldn't go inside unless it was my childhood home or something.

[Jaguar]

My oldest sister does this all the time. She just invites herself into these former homes of hers and critiques the decorating. I always stay out in the car when she's on one of these 'visits'.

[swamp]

My parents did it with the house they owned for 40 years. The people invited them in, though. 

The only other house I owned, my parents now live in, so I'm there all the time. And I like what they've done with it. 

[busymom]

I would NEVER invite myself into someone else's house, but I DID stop by my Grandma's old house once, & the owner was outside & invited me to look at her old garden.  Grandma was terrific at growing flowers.  I greatly appreciated the invitation to see the backyard, but the new owner didn't have 1/2 the flowers that Grandma did.


And NO, I would never let a complete stranger into my home.

[constanz22]

Well, I live in the house I grew up in...soooo....
I only owned one other house.  I critiqued the horrible listing photos when the woman that bought it from me had it for sale.  But, I didn't really care to go back there.  I occasionally drive by there as it's in the city I work in and my sister lives a couple blocks from there.  I'd never walk up to the door and ask to see it though!

My mom wanted to ask to look at a house her father built himself when she was young, but she always felt weird about just showing up there too...

[cronewitch]

Not on purpose but as a teen I babysat in a house I lived in in elementary school. A lady and girl asked to see my house once she wanted to show her daughter where she grew up, I did let them see the house.

[Deleted]

Yes, I went to an open house at the house I spent my first 16 years in.  I remember thinking it seemed so incredibly tiny.  I mean, I would never, ever consider buying a place that small, but growing up, I never noticed that. I found where my Mom marked my height in the closet growing up and compared my son who was along.    All in all, it was a kind of fun experience.  Sort of sad in a lot of ways though.

My Mom and all her brother's and sister's have been visiting my Grandparents old farm a lot.  They had this big old 7 bedroom farmhouse with dual staircases a wrap around porch, several decks, and a full attic with regular stairs going up.  Coolest house ever and a dream for kids, I had a massive amount of first cousins and we would all get "dumped" there for periods of time in the summers.  They were actually well off dairy farmers back in the day when family farms did well, but while big and cool, it was still an old farmhouse and not very modern or updated.  Anyhow, this couple with a lot of money (apparently) bought it about 5 years ago, totally gutted it and are turning it into a masterpiece.  They're doing all the work themselves, so it's slow going.  We go out there a couple times a year to see the progress.  They like showing it off and hearing all the stories of what happened in that house over the course of the 110 years that our family was in it.

[Deleted]

I live in the house we moved into when I was in the third grade. It is a lot different since we moved in.

i think occasionally about seeing the place we lived before then. An artist lives there now. I haven't even driven by in a few years though...

[Deleted]

My daughter lives in the house she grew up in, and I visit it fairly frequently.  I really liked my decorating choices better.  Although the Formica was harvest gold, it has almost come back in style and is real, high quality Formica.  It didn't have a mark or cut on it after thirty something years.  She replaced it with plastic granite.  I don't see that as an improvement once you actually touch it.  Ditto for some other stuff although the Pergo floors look nice.

I drove through the neighborhood where my first post-divorce house was only today.  I would never want to go inside, but I do like to remind myself why I don't still live there.  The house was in a better neighborhood than the one we live in these days, but the yard, etc. was so small.  There was about six inches between the a/c unit and the neighbors' fence.  Their deck backed up to the master bedroom window.  There was a lot wrong with it even though the location was awesome.

I did see the inside because it was foreclosed last year.  It really hadn't changed much except she added Pergo and pendant lights over the peninsula.  I thought the lights made it look busy in the kitchen.  It was a really small kitchen although it opened up to a dining area of sorts.

I used to want there to be a I USED TO LIVE THERE show on HGTV where people visited their former homes.  I wanted to show the previous owner all our improvements from ripping up the indoor/outdoor carpet in the sunroom and putting down tile to the updated light fixtures to the new countertops/backsplash and so on.  This house is so much nicer than it was.

[Deleted]

Oh yes. I think I do a drive-by of the house I grew up in every time I visit San Diego.

My parents bought the house in 1963. My parents divorced in 1995 or 1996 and my father sold the house to my brother. He lost the house in foreclosure in 2010.

It's hard to believe but I do think it looks worse than when he owned it. Weeds are waist high and I don't see any real progress.

[jencin]

Yes, I've done that.  I lived there until I was 14.  Had incredibly sentimental memories beforehand, then discovered I could let go.  The people who own it now have made some changes ... all nice ones.  The only bad thing they've done is cut down a couple of beautiful trees ... one a white birch, the other a crab apple .. both mature.  Can't imagine what they were thinking unless they didn't want leaves to rake.

I drove by another not long ago.  Lived there in the early 80s. It was occupied, but the lawn needed mowing and the front border was full of weeds.  Felt a little twinge but that's someone else's responsibility now.  (let go, Beth)

[taz157]

I've driven by old houses that I've lived in when I was in the area, but never went inside any of them.  Except for the house we just sold last month, the rest of the homes I lived in are in another state.

[Mardi Gras Audrey]

I have a few times.  I drove by the house I lived in when I was in elem school to show it to my DH (He didn't know me then obviously).  I didn't ask them to enter though.

I went to the house I lived in when I was born (til age 3) and knocked on the door.  The new folks were really nice and let me come in and see the house.  I remembered my room and my sister's room and they looked similar.  That one was kinda emotional because I met the next door neighbor who had lived there the whole time and remembered my family but wondered what happened to us (Parents divorced, Mom died, dad moved out of state with us and remarried, etc).  

[Deleted]

The family home I grew up in was sold, renovated, lost to foreclosure, trashed, re-sold, gutted and re-modeled. It is now NOTHING like the house I grew up in... and the owner is so far underwater that it is back on the market, but no-one will touch it at the price asked. I checked it out during an Open House showing... Among the many notable changes, the staircase in the front hallway had a solid mahogany banister with varnished solid mahogany turned spindles. I spent many hours as a child dusting, waxing and polishing those balusters... they were beautifully crafted and meticulously cared for, and now they're gone. The stairway was enclosed and the hallway wall removed to expand the living room. It made a much more spacious living room... but people now have to pass through that living room to access the upstairs bedrooms. Tip-toeing past snoring parents late at night has become much more risky.

[Deleted]

My sister did that with our childhood home.  I thought it was weird & would never think of showing up on someone's doorstep 10 years later saying I just wanted to wander around my childhood home that was sold to them.

I loved the layout of that home, but I'd drop into a center hall colonial open house before I'd barge into 'my old house' without warning or any relationship with the new owner!!

[sesfw]

Visited a small stone house that my g-pa and uncle built in the 40s.  Saw the present owner in the yard and talked to her a bit.  She invited us in and they have decorated it in the mid 50s style complete with black and white tile floors.  Looked real nice and I was grateful to see it.

Being in the desert the stone walls are about 10 inches thick.

[thyme4change]

I drive past our old house all the time, but have never knocked, or even stopped.  We did peek in the windows when it was vacant.  It was one of those houses that was foreclosed on several times, and bought by various investors who were going to fix it up, but went belly up before they got any work done.  We saw a sign that said it was going up for auction.  We peeked in the window and it was stripped - no kitchen, no flooring, nothing.  It ended up selling for $40k at the auction.  

[marvholly]

parents never owned anything before 1979 but I still (rarely) pass the 2 flat they rented when I was 19.

Bought our first house in 1973 and current place in 1976. A couple times/yr i do pass the 1973 place BUT I have never been back inside. Saw the same drapes for YEARS and as of a couple years ago the same shed was still in the yard.

[Deleted]

When I was about 17 years old I happened to be over at me grandparents house. After leaving I tried to find the house that I spent my first 7 years of life in. I don't know if I found it or not. The neighborhood had grown a lot plus I didn't remember the address.

Our old house from 10 years ago we drive by every now & then (house hasn't changed at all). We really drive by to see a tree that we planted. We picked well on that tree (fast growing) & it now supplies a lot of shade for the house. I wish that we had thought about that before we planted here. Three years ago we planted one in the front yard & it was about 6 ft at the time. I will have one hell of a long life if I can live to see that sucker reach 10 ft (I think that it has grown 1 inch in 3 years).

[skubikky]

Went back to the garden apartment in Queens that we grew up in.  It was a small 2bdrm with a patio backing up to a path and some woods.  In 1959 when my parents and I(18 months old) moved in, my Dad built a small patio with flagstone and a picket fence.   It was still there a few years ago when I went back.  I didn't knock on the door but it looked nicely maintained.  I understand that it is a condo now.

[Sharon]

The house that we lived in from when I was in first grade through 6th grade was having an open house so DD and I stopped.  The realtor was very kind about letting us wander around and asked questions about how the house used to look etc.  My parents still live in the house they moved to after that one.

[resolution]

The lady that grew up in our current home still comes by once a month to put flowers on her dog's grave. He's buried in our yard. She won't come inside, although I have invited her several times. I have brought her some old photos that we found inside the walls when we remodeled.

[toomuchreality]

I have driven by the house I grew up in lots of times. I don't live far from it, and my sister lives about a block away from it. But I have never even stopped my car. If the outside is any indication of the inside, I don't want to see it. It didn't look like it was being very well maintained on the outside.

Once when I was passing out newsletters for the mgr, at the apts I live in, I stopped at the apt I lived in, previous to the one I'm in now. Another time, I saw the inside of that same apt, because the renter at the time, wanted to show me her pet.

I wouldn't be too freaked out, if a previous tenant stopped by, I don't think. It would depend on the person, and what they said. The guy that lived in my current apt died, so I'd be pretty freaked out if someone said they were him!

[steph08]

My parents live in the same house that I grew up in. DH's parents live in the same house that he grew up in, so we visit our old homes all the time.

I did live somewhere different from birth until 4 years old, but I never considered that "home" because I barely remember it.

[sheilaincali]

My sister bought a house from me.  I've obviously been in there several times since I sold it to her.  She made changes that I thought were unnecessary.  Her husband hated mowing around landscaping so he pulled out nearly all of the trees and re-seeded the landscaped beds with grass.  Plus she painted my son's bedroom pink for my niece.  That's when I realized it wasn't my house anymore.  She moved and it's for sale now but when it sells I won't go back to it. 

I drive by the house I grew up in from time to time but haven't ever had the desire to stop in and see the inside.

Question-  maybe it's just me.  My parent's old house that we grew up in was "Home" they built this big new house about 10 years ago and that place just isn't Home to me.  At the old house we'd just walk right in but now I ring the front door bell and wait for them to answer the door.  It's a beautiful house but frankly I miss that old split level that I grew up in.
So my question- Does anyone else feel that way?  Did you parents move after you left the nest and now the new house just feels foreign to you?

[resolution]

I started calling ahead of visits and knocking and waiting at the front door when I moved out of my parent's home. My mom hates people just dropping in without notice. My dad hated me knocking when we had a perfectly good door bell and he finally got me switched to the door bell.

I admit I was unhappy that they sold my childhood home even though I had already moved out. They are in their third home since that move, and I am getting used to this one but it's not home like the original one was. Really nothing has duplicated that "at home" feeling for me; not the house I bought on my own nor my husband's house that I live in now. 

[zibazinski]

Yes, and I have lived n so many it makes for quite an experience. Sadly enough, no one cared for those homes like my parents did. My first home on my own was so tiny now but then it was huge. Of course I only had my high school bedroom set in it. Anyone visiting me brought their own chairs!

[Deleted]

Aug 22, 2013 8:35:18 GMT -5 sheilaincali said:

Did your parents move after you left the nest and now the new house just feels foreign to you?

Yeah, but I got over it- they've moved several times since I got out of the house and I particularly loved the one they lived in in a suburb of Buffalo (Orchard Park). They retired to Myrtle Beach- not a bad destination!

Anyway- great question by the OP. Three of my answers:

1. House I grew up in- I went back to the home town for a 40-year HS reunion so I drove by. Dad (now 82) helped my great-uncle, a general contractor, build it. When we moved out in 1964 there were 2 adults and 5 kids living under one roof, with one bathroom and 3 BRs. It was a nice, spacious lot backing up into woods, though, on a cul-de-sac. Great place to grow up. A later owner put on an addition but the front was pretty much the same. I talked with the current owner- he'd bought it when it was in foreclosure and had had to do a lot of work on it. I didn't ask to go in.

2. Maternal grandparents' house, same town, same visit- on a main drag, but an architect's original so it had some nice features inclucing a balcony off my mother's BR and a "solarium" (a room that was mostly windows), where they kept the TV. Not in great repair, and they'd put up a giant fence around the back that obscured everything. I had to hold my camera up over my head to get a picture. The magnificent lilac trees that were the biggest I'd ever seen (smelling lilacs still brings me back to that place) were gone.

3. DH grew up poor in a tiny house with no indoor plumbing and one bedroom in KC. His mother lived in it till about 1990 and he sold it for $1,100. (They'd added a bathroom long before that, of course). When we moved here 10 years ago we drove by it. There were tenants living in it. Wonder what they pay in rent.

[Wisconsin Beth]

Aug 21, 2013 20:08:50 GMT -5 jencin said:

Yes, I've done that.  I lived there until I was 14.  Had incredibly sentimental memories beforehand, then discovered I could let go.  The people who own it now have made some changes ... all nice ones.  The only bad thing they've done is cut down a couple of beautiful trees ... one a white birch, the other a crab apple .. both mature.  Can't imagine what they were thinking unless they didn't want leaves to rake.

I drove by another not long ago.  Lived there in the early 80s. It was occupied, but the lawn needed mowing and the front border was full of weeds.  Felt a little twinge but that's someone else's responsibility now.  (let go, Beth)

You used to live in our house?  lol. 

My parents still live in the house I grew up in.  We used to drive by my paternal grandparents houses up North but it was too painful to see the downturn the farmhouse took after they moved closer to the city.  Junker cars all over the yard, etc. 

Last summer when I was taking the kids to dcp, an SUV was pulled up in the alley.  A woman got out and said she'd grown up in this house and she and her brother had been wondering if the handprints they made were still in the slab by the light pole in the alley.  They are.  She asked if they could have it.  I said sure.  The handprints are still there.  I think the cement will break if they try to move it.  I don't know if she changed her mind or was lying or what. Don't care either.

[Deleted]

One of my sisters bought my parent's house. The outside looks the same as always but they have completely redone the interior. They completely changed the layout of the kitchen and it looks like a different house! 

My uncle lives in the house that he and my Dad grew up in, so we still visit it once or twice a year.

We drive by the house my Mom grew up in whenever we go back to my hometown. It was in pretty rough shape for a few years, but the current owners fixed it up and take very good care of it. We checked out the photos online when it was up for sale, but we have never gone up to the house to ask if we can take a look around.