Kaitlin and I stopped by her childhood home today. Her parents upgraded literally months before she left for college, and it’s only a few minutes from where her parents live now. For years she’s wanted to go knock on the door, hoping the current owners would be welcoming enough to invite her to walk down memory lane.
It happened today.
As luck would have it their kids were off school for some reason, and the mom was home. I waited in the car, smiling with pride because I’m not sure I’d have the courage to do it. Even Kaitlin needed some pushing as she came running back to the car after briefly knocking. I gave her a hard time she went back; they answered.
The value of a house can never account for the value of a home.
It’s easy to forget this if you’re heavily involved in real estate. It’s easy to forget that tenants can develop emotional connections, memories, and affection for where they live.
Of course the opposite can also be true.
I believe there’s non-quantitative value in offering the best, most attractive house possible so people develop a positive emotional connection with it. The idea is they take better care of it, stay there longer, and hopefully feel some sense of pride.
I’m happy Kaitlin got the chance to relive some memories today. If someone comes knocking on your door, hoping to reminisce, I hope we all choose to be human.