#51 Learning Your Home


Almost all would agree:  Structures and their surrounding property have “Personalities!”  Those personalities reflect many factors that reach all the way back to the original architects and designers, through all the owners and residents – each leaving their marks, over time.   Some perfect external examples might be how individuals groom their landscapes, or how they decorate to celebrate holidays! 

Your home’s personality has been seriously influenced by weather patterns, various extraordinary occurrences, geography, and even by its neighbors!    Much of your home’s personality was intentionally bestowed – its contours, materials, paths and landscaping.  And, over time, both gracious modifications and troubling realities have left their marks.

It’s important to understand the new responsibilities that are related to the overall condition of your new home.  When a homestead becomes someone’s new home, it’s important to learn that home – its realities, both wonderful and wanting.  Those realities are directly connected to your energy, time, money and satisfaction!

Much of your decision to buy a particular house and grounds is influenced by the parts of its personality that are most obvious.  Outside?  What is the orientation relative to the sun’s path?  Are there wildlife issues?  What are the drainage considerations?  Are there “neighboring property” issues such as shared fencing, easements and such?  Inside?  Search out possible patterns of wear, water leaks, odd floor plan characteristics and window/sun orientations.  Internal systems should be tested for age, function and performance; learn everything from efficiency to the sounds they broadcast when in use!

Home personalities vary greatly with regard to their age.  Each reflects the styles and trends of the time when they were built.  And those times and trends usually signal characteristics typical of their category.  Sometimes that bodes very well, sometimes not!  The very old – vintage, if you prefer – reflect the lifestyles of people of their era, as well as the appointment “capabilities” of the era!  That can be quaint, or that can be a real set of annoyances!  You may have included some responsibility stipulations in your purchase agreement that relate to repairs or upgrades to a very old property.  Learning the truth about older structures should be high on your list – not necessarily a negative, just things to be handled!

Newer houses (but, not brand new) have very different “personalities.”   They have compliance characteristics that are specific to newer home building specifications.  Different from older homes, newer have been subject to much more control and many contemporary rules and regulations.   Getting to know your newer new home may be a bit more comfortable just because it is closer to your own era!   It will still present its own idiosyncrasies that will reveal themselves as you move in -- and settle in.  The potential of the house itself, the neighborhood and the region will present both positive and negative challenges.  For one thing, newer homes (that are not custom homes on larger tracts of land) are usually built closer to the other homes in the neighborhood.  Sound, light, pets and maintenance become larger issues when there is less space between properties.  Learning your part by learning the characteristics of your new home can make all the difference for you and your family – both internally and externally.

Now that you are moved in and getting settled, it is inevitable to investigate, look and listen to the heartbeat of the new environment.  It will speak to you about all its secrets!  Its personality will begin to change as you make your own marks on its space and structure.  The changes you make become part of its history – older or newer – as your home now!

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