Residential real estate is an emotional industry. Rarely are decisions to buy or sell made for purely financial reasons. Families grow or diminish, jobs change, new adventures are contemplated. Real estate is all about life cycles. Our homes hold memories of the lives we live in their shelter. Beyond the paint colors and tile choices, your home is resplendent with personal touches. The rose bush you received on your birthday is planted in the garden. The children's growth rate gets charted on the door jamb. Your best friend has left a paw print in the concrete of the front walk.
Our homes leave a reciprocal impression as reflected in the patterns of our daily lives. We avoid the squeaking floor boards in order not to wake our partners. We know just what pressure to use when turning the shower nozzle in order to stop the drip. We instinctively find the light switch when entering a dark room. My favorite cinematic reflection of this is in It's a Wonderful Life (with apologies for referencing a Christmas movie in April) when an ecstatic George Bailey kisses the banister finial when it predictably falls off in his hand on the way up the stair. "Oh, look at this wonderful old drafty house."
This explains why it is often so hard to pack up and go. A home's mojo can also cast its spell on incoming buyers. Worse, smitten buyers in our marketplace are often forced to compete against other anonymous buyers.
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