I found my childhood home for sale last week. It was the house that I grew up in from the age of 3 months until I was about 14 before we moved to a smaller home when my parents downsized (my sister had moved out) because they got tired of cleaning it. It was a pretty big house.
That was many decades ago, some time in the early 90's.
The real estate pictures showed that the house has gone through some pretty massive updates...not surprisingly since the last one I remember was in about 1981 or so, and even then, that was only the kitchen. I'm sure it's been through several updates over the years since before this one. But the bones were mostly the same and I recognized it. It was the first time since we moved out that I'd seen inside.
I was going to try to arrange a viewing with my sister just to see the place again, but it sold (for >$100,000 over asking at that) inside 12 hours of the listing going live.
So, a realtor friend suggested I sit down and write a letter and mail it to the current homeowners and ask them to leave it on the kitchen counter on closing day for the new homeowners. The letter would be a polite introduction, an explanation of the story (this was my childhood home, etc etc), some historical pictures (inside and out) to prove we're not just blowing hot air out of our *****, and a polite request to visit the house on a day of their convenience.
We did have an interaction with the current owners about 5 years ago (it was a long story) and although it was polite, it was short. My sister did ask at the time if we could "come by for a coffee perhaps" and we never got an invite.
So this seems like our next best opportunity.
If you were the ones buying a new house and got such a request from someone who lived half a lifetime ago in what is now your new place, would you find it weird? Would you allow it?
That was many decades ago, some time in the early 90's.
The real estate pictures showed that the house has gone through some pretty massive updates...not surprisingly since the last one I remember was in about 1981 or so, and even then, that was only the kitchen. I'm sure it's been through several updates over the years since before this one. But the bones were mostly the same and I recognized it. It was the first time since we moved out that I'd seen inside.
I was going to try to arrange a viewing with my sister just to see the place again, but it sold (for >$100,000 over asking at that) inside 12 hours of the listing going live.
So, a realtor friend suggested I sit down and write a letter and mail it to the current homeowners and ask them to leave it on the kitchen counter on closing day for the new homeowners. The letter would be a polite introduction, an explanation of the story (this was my childhood home, etc etc), some historical pictures (inside and out) to prove we're not just blowing hot air out of our *****, and a polite request to visit the house on a day of their convenience.
We did have an interaction with the current owners about 5 years ago (it was a long story) and although it was polite, it was short. My sister did ask at the time if we could "come by for a coffee perhaps" and we never got an invite.
So this seems like our next best opportunity.
If you were the ones buying a new house and got such a request from someone who lived half a lifetime ago in what is now your new place, would you find it weird? Would you allow it?
