Memories of Home: Why Homeownership Should Still be the American Dream

You have probably read the statistics that say that the younger generation of Americans have no desire to own homes. Being younger, the majority of what they have seen in their adult lives involves negativity and tragedy in the housing market – people losing their homes, underwater and unable to pay their mortgages, left with no equity and thus no way to refinance. They have seen prices drop and neighborhoods abandoned, new construction halted and the rental market hit all-time highs. No wonder they don’t want to buy!

I feel sad that the idea of homeownership has deteriorated, not just because I am in the business of finding the right home for people, but because I have children and want them to understand the value of a home. It is not just a place where we keep our things, but rather is a place where we make memories, spend time with family and friends, seek shelter from the cruelties and challenges of the world. A home is a safe harbor, a place where we can be ourselves.

I thought I would ask a question of some friends and family members, and also on Facebook, to see how important homes are to people, so I asked, “What is your favorite memory of the home you grew up in?” Here are some of the responses:

• Family holidays – they were always at our home and I loved them. My mom cooked all day and the house smelled so good and was so festive

• Playing outside at night with all the neighborhood kids…

• Sleep over parties in our huge living room! We’d have sleeping bags everywhere and [my brother] would come out in the middle of the night and mess with all of us. Fun times 🙂

• Playing Charlie’s Angels around the apartment building complete with groovy sunglasses and mom’s purse. We were SO grown up!

• Playing in the middle of the street with the other neighborhood kids, w/o any fear whatsoever, having good fun, and they had to go home when the street lights went on !

• The way the whole house smelled when my mom made her homemade marinara sauce – she cooked it all day and we would come in from playing outside and get to dip big pieces of bread in it

• Playing in our basement…climbing trees…making tree houses…and catching craw daddies in our creek.

• Walking home from high school to eat lunch and watch soap operas before going back

• Having my cousins and family over on the weekends for swimming and barbeques

• Our backyard treehouse! All the neighborhood kids came over to play in it

• Having our birthday parties in our yard – one year we had a petting zoo and pony rides, and lots of times we had jump houses

• Two of my closest friends lived next door and across the street – we would always be over each others’ houses, sharing clothes and hanging out

• Doing doughnuts in our circular driveway (not a safe thing, looking back!)

Our memories of home shape who we are. Try to think of your childhood, and I bet that your home plays a big role in the memories you have – your friends, school, family, pets, holidays…the list is endless. Please share your favorite memories from home here, to add to the many reasons why a home is so much more than just a house. I hope the American dream of homeownership will once again become one that our children not only will be able to realize, but will desire.

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