(Please note this is not meant to offend anyone but rather educate or at least provoke thought about how a person approaches a situation)

I cannot say that I am a professional home buyer by any extent but I have now bought 2 homes (which I still currently own both of them still) but a thought came to me after the purchase of my second home and seeing that the reaction of the neighbors to the changes I made to the homes soon after my purchase. That is the cause for my question, Is you new house really yours? More in the eyes of others.. It is already understood that once you buy a new house, you are going to do things to make it feel like home to you. Things that include: Paint, landscape, plants. yard decor (my wife says plumbing fixtures and broke down cars are not yard decor), and so many other things.

I know upon buying our first home, the house had been neglected, the worst was the landscaping. There were TAM bushes all around the house with extreme amounts of overgrowth and a huge lilac bush square on top of the main sprinkler system. ( I will get pictures up as soon as I can) Our first move was to remove any bushes that were not salvageable and trim the ones that could be. In the process of doing this, several people made the comments that “those were their favorite plants” or “the last home owner loved that plant so much”. Not to upset anyone but I really did not care, it was our house now and there were things that I felt needed to be done. I do recall at one time discussing this with my wife and mentioning “if it is their favorite bush, why do they not have one of their own?”.  When we bought our most recent house my wife and I got several of the same comments.. Now  a comment like this coming from someone that is already a friend may be taken differently than that of someone that does not know you all that well. Then again, I do not recall any of the friends making comments like that, so, no biggy.  I will not go into great detail but there were several comments about “how would my mother-in-law (who we bought the house from) allow us to make the changes we did?”. I think it all too funny how quickly people forget that when there is a change of owner ship, everyone makes some changes to the house. Some are bigger than others but they are still done.. As we purchase a house, the natural need it so make that house become a home, not just a any home but OUR home.. I know the other night on the way home from an activity, as we approached the house I had a strong sense of being HOME. I cannot tell you the importance of that feeling after a solid year of feeling like nothing in our life was a long term situation. I was once told that a home is just a place to hang your hat, how false that really is. A Home is a place that a person can be themselves, a place that they can relax after a long day, a place to invite friends and family to for the intent of having a good time, a place of peace and above all a place that the spirit can dwell, bringing that, so needed level of peace to our lives. In all you do, make your house your home! You live there, you live with the way it was built and the way it looks more than anyone else..