Midwest Minute - January 29, 2012

More than Just a House

I had been invited to come and discuss listing their home.  Her husband had told me on the phone that his wife of fifty years had cancer, and the outlook was not good, so they had decided to move into the city to be closer to the health services she needed.

To say the meeting was uncomfortable would be an understatement.  Don’t get me wrong.  After 23 years in health and human services, I have spent many hours with families in difficult circumstances.  But this time she just sat in the living room with her back to us, refusing to participate until it came time to sign the listing agreement.  He got up and wearily left the room.

I knelt down beside her and noticed the tears.  For a few minutes we just held hands; then we talked.  About how their three children had been raised there.  The beautiful garden out back where her daughter had her wedding pictures taken.  The pleasure she got from the abundant light that came in even on a winter day.  How worried she was about leaving him alone; “he couldn’t boil water for tea!”

What can one say at a time like this?  Only that I would do my best to find a family that would respect the home and build their own memories there; and we did.

It would be so easy in our work as Realtors to just think of lot sizes, structural features, and location.  In fact, that is how we estimate value.  But so many times, there is so much more than that.  It’s the single woman who proudly learned how to install tile in her bathroom and kitchen; despite being told by an abusive ex that she had no talent for anything. 

The young couple who fixed up the extra bedroom for a nursery; painting it yellow for an expected daughter, only to bring a husky young lad home.  Laughing about it now as they packed to move to a bigger house to accommodate their third child.

The city girl who grew to love country life more than the farm boy she married learning to ride horses, raise sheep, and spending more time outside than in.  The immigrant family that saved every nickel to buy their first home then laughing about how they had no money for furniture when they moved in, sleeping for months on the floor.

I could relate having built my first living room bookshelf from planks and cinder blocks (don’t laugh most of my friends used beer cases instead!).  In fact, back in the early days our marriage, we had a black and white television with wallpaper on the sides given to us by a neighbour.  He had planned to throw it out when he bought his first colour one. 

It’s always more than just being a house. 

Vern McClelland is an associate broker with RE/MAX of Lloydminster and a partner with The Midwest Group.  If you have questions or comments on this article or other real estate matters, he can be reached at 780.808.2700, or through the website www.wesellmidwest.ca

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