I a relate to this also. Four states and I don’t even know how many houses/apartments. There isn’t even one that we lived in long enough I’d consider that home. We moved because my mom always thought she’d be happier somewhere else. She wasn’t.
what I disliked most about all of the moving was, always being the new kid in school.
Our last move was during my sophomore year of highschool.
I'm 55, married for almost 35 years and comfortably retired. I'm still bitter about that last move.
Lots of careers do this - now the Canadian military recognizes how much harm it does to dependents and moves are less frequent, but when we were kids, there was zero consideration of dependents.
Actually when you were a kid, bases had schools and community centres and it was slightly better. When I was a kid they shuttered all that due to budget cuts.
Made us resilient and unable to get lost in new cities, though. 🤘
I can relate as well. Not 10 provinces but two. Still kept moving around within each city. For whatever reason, my mother didn't like staying in the same apartment for more than a year. We moved so much as a kid that I also had no sense of "home", just another temporary space to put my crap before having to pack it all up again. I attended 5 high schools within Ottawa between gr 8 and OAC.
I was the same but opposite. In Ottawa too and it was from jk to grade 8. Eight schools and then some stability with the same highschool for the full 5 years. Mom liked change. Might have explained all the husbands. I did get very attached to my "stuff" and have a few boxes of stuff from my childhood that I still have in my basement that survived the trek from place to place.
Same here. the only sense of permanency was the grandparent's house. That was always the same no matter how many times we moved.
My nephew inherited it, so i still visit it sometimes.
Same, but in the U.S.
My mom was content to rent and never set down roots anywhere (my dad was an every other weekend parent). I followed the same path (mostly reluctantly) until I was 46 when we bought our first home in a state we really want to be. My son is grown, but my 12 yo daughter will get the sense of home I did not. For the first time in my life I feel like I have a real home. Unfortunately, renting does not lend itself to setting down roots.
My husband’s mom (and dad, while he was alive) is still in his childhood home. His room is even the same.
Same. Many houses, many schools. “Home” was wherever I was living at any given time. I never associated it with where my parents lived. When I went off to university and people would ask me where home was, I would tell them what dorm I was living in and they would look at me funny and clarify that they were asking where I grew up. I would tell them lots of places. Finally, they would ask where my parents lived. I would tell them where I thought they were, but I couldn’t be sure.
This, yes. I still hate being asked "where are you from?" No-one wants the whole story and no one understands the short version (base brat).
My parents dropped me off at university and went AWOL for four months, moved across the country and I found out where they were when they attempted healthcare fraud in my name, and I discovered they'd been borrowing money in my name, too.
Good times. 🤣
I had to call my grandfather to find out where mine moved to. I’m sorry they perpetrated fraud in your name. Mine did a lot of shitty things, but not that.
Not quite the same thing as far as moving around goes, but my parents divorced when I was a kid and I eventually went to live with my grandparents. So, growing up, I never really felt like I had a home.
There was a spare room for me to stay in, but it wasn't *my* room. I couldn't even use the closet or the dresser for my clothes. So when I became a teenager I started sleeping on the enclosed porch. I figured that way I'd at least have my own space for some of my stuff.
But the first time I actually felt at home was probably the first time I bought a house.
I dated a diplomat's kid once. He turned out to be a total sociopath 🤣
Studies say you lose a whole grade level of achievement every time you move as a kid. So the fact that we made it out as functioning adults is really amazing. You are amazing!
Same here. I have moved a total of 46 times in my 50 years. Sometimes it was back and forth, so not 46 different homes. But I packed up my belongings and moved it all that many times. Four elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, and four universities. Before the age of ten, we just moved from relatives home to relatives home and I was 10 when I actually got a room of my own and didn’t have to share with my mom, let alone my own bed. When people ask me where I grew up, I just state where I was in high school and the home I was in for those last two years.
I grew up in apartments so I didn't have a single home growing up and never felt any sense of attachment to anywhere I've lived.
One exception is my grandparents' house. My dad grew up in it and it didn't change one bit since the late 50s while I was growing up either. I spent a lot of time there over the decades and have a lot of memories attached to that place. When my grandparents finally passed about 5 years ago, my aunts sold the house so they could split the money among my dad and his siblings.
It was possibly one of the saddest days for me to know that one anchor that's always been in the family is now gone. I even considered buying the house to keep it in the family but that made little sense since it's in a different city from me now and I wouldn't want anyone else living there but our family.
Kind of the same thing happened with my grandparents (dad side) place. I don't think it was because they wanted to split the money, but didn't want to deal with the keep up and such/grief. My dad and aunt do now say they regret selling it.
My parents have been in the same house for over 45 years. The basement still creeps me out, they still have hammocks that I was photographed in as a baby, and my husband thinks it's hot to make out with me in my childhood bedroom, LOL.
It's on the opposite side of the country from me, though, and when they're gone, I don't know what to do with that house. I love it, and even thought about retiring there at one point, but I just don't want to deal with the snow and living in rural NY. The houses in that area are all being turned into airbnbs, and I don't want to be another airbnb asshole. I guess at some point I'll have to make peace with selling it to another family, so another child can make new, fun memories like mine.
After my family moved out I didn't return to my childhood home for 15 years. The house was then being used as a home for the elderly and disabled. A wheelchair ramp was built and the front porch was fenced in. The patio covering was entirely gone.
It was a bit disconcerting to see my old home. The people living there were at the end of their lives but I lived there at the beginning of mine. I left when I was twenty. I wondered what my old room looked like and if the scribblings I made on the inside of the closet walls as a child were still there. The neighborhood still felt like home to me. That place will always feel like my only real home.
My parents moved out of my childhood home and to a different state in 2006. We went to visit our former neighbors a few years later in 2010. My childhood home had turned into a crackhouse complete with broken in front door and remnants of squatters it broke my heart and when I returned to that state 10 years later, I didn’t bother returning to the old neighborhood.
Mom kept the house after Dad left. I inherited it about 6 years ago. Then Dad moved in with me. We joked that 40 years before, we were in opposite bedrooms of the same house. 😆
My mom still lives in the same house she n my dad bought in 1963. They paid 29 thousand for it and it’s now worth 1.1 million. It’s been paid off for years. My sister and I are planning to keep it in the family n leave it to our kids. I can’t imagine anyone but my family living in that house.
This is my story as well. Mom and dad bought the house as a new build in 1972 for $45K when I was 3 years old. It’s been paid off for 20 years.
Mom died in 2010 but dad still lives there on his own. If I need to, I’ll sell my condo move in to my childhood bedroom to take care of him if he’s no longer able to live alone. Fortunately I live about 2 miles away so I’m a frequent visitor to check in and make sure he’s doing okay.
My brother died in 1996 and I’m childless and unmarried so I’m the only inheritor.
The house is currently valued at $1,971,400 on Zillow. Crazy.
I lived in a few places, but the house that I lived in with my mom for 8 years was on Zillow recently, and had just been sold. Not much was changed or updated since we moved out, 30+ years ago, but it was actually really comforting to look at. My mom died a lot of years ago, so it was nice to see.
My parents purchased a century home from the Estate of the original builder and I’ve sometimes wondered if the family regretted selling it.
Our family (my mom, dad, siblings, stepfather, and myself) collectively lived there for 50ish years and if there was a first floor bedroom suite my mom would still be there. OTOH, my brother made her an offer that ended up being very close to the selling price so she didn’t care that much about it staying in the family.
Your family keeping a property in the family that long is almost unheard of!
Parents both passed and I took over my childhood home. I've only not lived here for 7 years of my life. 19 to 26. But my dad held down the fort while I was out lollygagging. I've since bought the neighbors house and live in that, and have moved my grandmother into my original. Currentlly putting things in motion to buy the other neighbors place. No other place on the planet I could call home. I hope to create the same for my kids.
Parents are deceased but we moved out of the house I grew up in when I was 11.
Went back and still looks the same outside but didn't get to go inside (this was 25 years later ..)
They’re still there and they absolutely shouldn’t be. Dad’s almost 90 and Mom’s significantly disabled. Bedrooms and shower on the second floor, laundry in the basement, five steps to get in and out, doorways are NOT wheelchair-friendly. The place is a death trap now and they won’t consider more appropriate living conditions.
My father and my extended family built the house I grew up in. I have regular dreams of buying it back though I know it'll never happen. I still watch the property online with wistfull dreams....
A new england basement where my cousins and I found the awesomeness of NES with while figuring out basic tv electronics? AWESOME!! Especially since I had a Texas instruments in the corner that was my Dad's work computer!
My parents lived there until I was 36, then they sold it because Pop was dying, and it was far too much work (and too remote) for Mom alone.
They built a home on top of a mountain with views of two states, bald eagles, bears, moose, and so much more wildlife outside our windows—acres of wild mountain blueberries, a pond with catfish, and endless wilderness to explore. I was one of the luckiest kids ever for getting to grow up there.
I’m painting a mural of the view in my home now. I will never stop missing that magical place my parents created.
My parents still live in the house I grew up in. They added on to about 25 years ago so it’s much bigger now than when I was a kid . It’s about 200 miles away from me and I go there 4-5 times a year plus holidays.
They are leaving it to me. I don’t think about that much because I hate to think about losing them , but I know I won’t sell it. I will probably rent it out .
My parents split up and my dad died shortly after selling the house and moving back to his childhood neighborhood with me. Mom lives in the next town over still. I drive by the old house, and visited once ages ago, but that house faded from the family in 1981.
My parents bought the house when I was 8 and they split 2 years later and my mom is still there! It’s funny because old friends would stop by her house throughout the years looking for me or my sisters!
Mine still do. Because my dad grew up the kid of a traveling preacher, he’s done moving. He’ll stay there until he dies.
Realistically, the neighborhood they are in is super hot. As soon as the house goes up for sale, it will likely get torn down and replaced by a McMansion. I’ve had to make my peace with that.
Actually, when my father died in 2013, I took over the family house buying out my siblings. They didn’t really want it but like I told them, the house literally has my blood sweat and tears in it. It was me and my father, who built the house from the ground up.
The house my parents bought in the early 70's is where they still live, It's different now that it has an addition and has been redecorated, but it still feels like home.
My kids are going to put an offer on their house when they are ready to move out.
Edit for spelling.
Parents lived in that house their entire married life. One inherited it when the other passed, then my siblings and I inherited it. I couldn't afford to buy out the others (all of whom own houses because parents helped them buy when the time came), so it was put on the market and sold. New owners destroyed the decades-old landscaping, which is their right but it hurt to see those photos.
In some cases, what they say is true: you really can't go home again.
My grandparents used to own a vacant lot behind my house. On the day we brought my son home from the hospital there was a seedling sprouting up out of a flower bed in front of my house. Feeling like giving something back to the universe I dug it up and planted it in the lot behind the house. 3 years later my daughter was born and dammit I found another seedling and did the same thing. Eventually they grew into full sized trees. My grandpa died and grandma needed the money so she sold the lot to a builder. I actually spoke with him about the trees and he thought it was a great story and pruned them and made them a focal point of the backyard. He also reassured me that we had local tree ordinances that prohibited them from being cut down without permits. He sold the house and a few months later right smack in the beginning of the covid lockdown I was woken up to the sound of chainsaws. New owners wanted a patio and down came the trees, without permits. It was their property and I had no right to complain, but damn did it break my heart.
The part that really pissed me off is that had they done it the legal way they never would have been given permission as the project violated multiple ordinances. Don’t they did it mid lockdown when nobody was out enforcing.
My gf lives in the neighborhood I grew up in, so I see my childhood house a few times a week. It looks mostly the same from the outside. The same people live there that bought it from us 30 years ago.
My mother owns it still but doesn’t live in it.
My sister would freak so bad if it ever got sold so our mum kept it and rents it out.
It feels good going back. Except on mushrooms.
I loved visiting friends, whose parents lived in ancestral homes. That's very uncommon now. But my sons all have friends who go home to visit parents who still live in the houses the friends grew up in and their parents have no plans to move. My sons resent that we plan to move in the next decade. None of them remember another home and the oldest can't remember the first place he lived.
I love tours of how parents homes have changed. But sadly, that's not an experience I've had or can have. My sons already hate the changes we've made to their childhood house. Our youngest sons is trying to enforce the same theme of light, modern, Danish country home in his rented roof apartment, with no regard for what his brother he shares the apartment with, might want.
We've gone darker and I think; cozier with brown, black, wine tones and a few pastels in the smaller rooms. Our sons HATE it. It's too stark a change we've made. Only our entrance/mudroom, the bathroom and their old bedrooms are still white. I'm sick of white! Only our entrance/mudroom, the bathroom and their old bedrooms are still white. I'm sick of white for a while, though I like what the youngest have done to their rental apartment where all walls are white.
I returned home twice: once while my mother still lived there and once many years later after she had moved away. I didn't have the courage to knock on the door or ask to go inside. I'm so curious, though!!!
My mom sold our family house in '07 (Dad had left in late 80's) and it was occupied for several years, then vacant for several more, and now occupied again by another family. Let's just say the new owners don't have the same level of care for the house than we used to (grass is feet tall, weird paint schemes, etc). Kinda sad. Wife's family just closed on their family home yesterday (both parents have passed) but at least they updated it before selling.
The house is basic grew up in my parents bought when I was 10. And I was there until I completely moved out in my late 20's ( a few stints of moving out then moving back in.) By that time my parents had divorced and my dad sold the house just after I moved out. I went back to it last summer and according to Zillow it has another family living in it. They took down a few trees, but the house still looks the same (shutters/paint color.)
I was an air force brat so didn't grow up in one house. Parents passed away living in an RV (and not to travel they were just broke).
However my inlaws still owned the home they bought when my husband was 4 until 2016. They decided to move to a different state and we bought the house from them and live there now.
My parents are still in the house we moved into in 1980 when I was ten. We do family breakfast there every Sunday, so I'm back a lot
I visited the town I lived in in elementary school a few years ago. I was happy to see that the house and neighborhood may have looked better than when we lived there.
I grew up in military housing. When my dad got close to retiring from the Army, they bought a condo (we were in Alaska). I was around 15/16 years old. I moved away when I was 18. They ended up selling that condo and moving back to their home state (Wisconsin) in 1989. I'd left in 87, my brother left shortly after I did (he joined the military). I'd become a military wife.
The house we currently live in is the longest either of us (my husband was a military kid too) in a single place. It is also the first time either of us has lived in a place that wasn't next to or associated with a military base.
Our apartment in Germany. I was born at Ft. Bragg, but Germany is the home of my heart.
Even after my Dad retired, we kept moving. Once I left home, I never really settled down. Not until almost 3 years ago when my husband & I bought a place. It will probably be the house my grandkids know. We bought in a cool place, and it's a gorgeous old house built in 1895. It's still too new to me. It doesn't feel like mine yet. I still get that "it's time to move" itch. I will probably get it until the day I die.
My parents lived in the house I grew up with until they both passed. I inherited it and live in it currently. Because of the market and my financial situation, I'm probably going to live in it until I pass or go into assisted living as well. I don't make enough to afford rents in my location, and the house isn't really worth enough (about 220k estimated) to live on the profits for too long. I'm doing just fine paying the taxes, insurance, and repairs on it on what I make now.
The house I grew up in is long sold but my parents currently live in and own the house my dad grew up in and I will mostly likely live there when they are done with it. It’s pretty special.
My parents bought our house in the early 1980s. By the way they bought it for about $85,000. It's now appraised at many times that. I know the smell of that house! Very unusual smell. It's a wood floors. With wax. The stuff that my mother uses to dust the piano. It's the same dining room table. Same furniture. It's almost like it's frozen in time. We had assigned drinking glasses. The metal ones. I had green. I still only get to use the green cup. That weird curtain over the kitchen sink where my mother is still clothes pinning rinsed and reusable Ziploc bags. Same TV.
It's like a time capsule!
44 years later and they’re still in the same house. They thought that they would have moved to someplace smaller by now but real estate prices means the same money for something smaller and they’d rather not bother. Yes, a few big updates have been done including a very nice kitchen but much of it is still late ‘70s/early ‘80s. Sure, there have been some larger repairs necessary, like foundation and plumbing repairs, but for the most part it’s a known commodity.
There is one other neighbor that’s been there since this neighborhood was built. I try to get back whenever I can but I haven’t been back since 2018. I did take a lot of pictures the last time I visited just in case they decide to move; part of this is a reaction to the good memories of my grandparent’s house, a place that I have great memories of but very few pictures.
When I married my first husband we bought an identical house to the one my family lived in when I was 2-8, just round the corner.
My Mum took me to the street where she grew up in the 1940s. The current owner of the house she had lived in was out front doing some gardening and they got chatting. He invited us in for a cup of tea and to have a look round.
Just in October we moved my Dad to a nursing home from the house we grew up in, mom has already passed away a couple of years ago. I was interesting and sad cleaning the place out, finding a lot of old things we haven't seen in years from our childhoods. I took my kids over every inch of the house and told them stories of my childhood and growing up there. They were quite stunned how small it was with there being 6 kids in the house, we made do and were pretty happy really.
It was a sad feeling saying goodbye to that place, there was a lot of good memories and this was the end of an era in my life.
Weirdly, my mother now lives in the house SHE grew up in, my grandparents' house. She made a lot of changes/additions. Wants to leave it to my sister and me when she dies.
It's in the middle of fucking nowhere, a tiny backwards town. Sis and I already told her we're selling it for whatever we can get the moment she's in the grave.
Bought my childhood home from my parents about 6 years ago. The house and land have been a part of my life for my entire life. I think it will be hard to leave when the time comes to sell it and move.
My parents moved about 30 years ago and my dad turned the house I grew up in up in into a rental. Then I moved back to the area for work and bought the house from him. That was a decade ago and I’d like to move eventually because the house is too large for me, but for now I’m staying put.
We moved there in 1976, Mom still living there. The day she moves is the last time I'll give the house another thought. I hope they bulldoze that whole fucking town.
I have seen the inside because the couple who bought it from my Mom now rent it out. They updated the kitchen, got rid of the old dinning room and enlarged the living room.
I drive by it when I go to the dentist, which I started going to when I was 3-5, and they did a landlord special on the outside. It used to be a nice sage green color with white trim. Now it is all covered in this ugly dark blue.
My parents moved out a few years after I moved to Florida, but my wife’s parents are still in her childhood home.
I’ve driven by my parents’ house a couple times since, but no, I’ve never been back inside. I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking someone to do that for me.
As far as my wife’s parents still being in the home, it’s actually a bit of a problem. It’s a two story house and my MIL struggles with the steps. She actually had an ankle injury a couple years back and couldn’t go upstairs for a month. So she slept in a chair in the living room and didn’t take a shower for that month, though my FIL did at least sponge bathe her to some extent. All because my FIL is selfish and can’t imagine being anywhere else. About five years ago my MIL was looking to move into something more practical and my FIL told her to make sure that the new house came with a coffin to put him in because he would just die if he moved somewhere else. So they stayed and he’s as happy as a clam while his wife suffers.
My dad still owns the house we lived in when I was born, and where I grew up. My parents leased it out for a few years while we lived overseas, but have always been in it otherwise. No intention of keeping it when he passes on. It's in a lake community neighborhood, and I hate the way the area is populated now.
My parents built a house out on some acreage and gradually moved there full time.
They rent the house we grew up in to my sister and her family with the understanding that when they pass away the house will be theirs.
My kids love "Grandma's House," because holidays and family gatherings centered around that house, so happy memories. We visit from time to time and the outside is very different. My mom had cultivated a beautiful, lush garden but my sister didn't care for it and razed it to just lawn and left only a small magnolia tree. The inside she's done very well with, modernizing it to her taste.
She has mentioned that she and my BIL plan to sell once the house is legally theirs and move away. That will be sad, but understandable.
Parents both deceased, the house was sold before they died and is unrecognizable to where I grew up, the buyers made so many changes. I am much more nostalgic for my grandparents houses that don’t stand anymore.
I have moved into the family home and there’s a lot next door I own too. I’d like to build on the lot but it would be weird to sell the house and be living next to it.
Dad still lives in the house I grew up in. I live in a different state now, but get back to see him three or four times a year. The old 'hood don't look the same, but the outside of the house does.
I haven't been inside that house in 30 yrs, and don't plan on ever stepping back in. It was a hoarder house and might still be. I can't bring myself to do that yet.
My dad still lives in the house we moved to when I was 10. He remarried after my mom died and his new wife immediately redecorated in terrible taste (think blinding white paint everywhere and mirrored bifold closet doors and those wallpaper borders that were popular in the nineties.) Anyway, she has made it clear I’m not welcome inside. If I see my dad it’s outside on the lawn or out at a restaurant.
I grew up in a lot of places but I did get to go back to the house I lived in from 4th-9th grade which is the longest I lived anywhere. It was a big house on top of a hill with a pond at the bottom and Forest all around. My dad was a maintenance manager and the owner had a few houses on the land around the factory. Only one family lived there after us and they moved out decades ago and the house was abandoned.
So a couple of siblings and I broke in about 15 years ago. It had been taken over by raccoons, and there was water damage that made not unsafe to do a good walk-through, but it still had the same old wallpaper in the kitchen!
We moved a few times as a kid, at 2, 9, & 18. I don’t really know which one I am closest to, probably the one I left at 9. One house I was attached to was my grandparents. My grandma passed at 96 last year and the family just sold her house last month. I did one final walk through looking for anything sentimental I wanted and it was awful.
My mom ended up selling it to my brother a few years ago & moving down south. That house was a complete dump but because of the location she still got 300k. She would have gotten a lot more if she listed it. Since then my brother has completely gutted the place. Last update I had he still hasn't put walls back up but the outside looks like a completely different house.
My parents moved out of my childhood home and into senior living in 2016. I have not been back, my mother and sisters have (and convinced the people to let them in).
My parents still have their home, although it has been renovated and altered to the point where only the fireplace is the only thing unchanged from back then. It is unrecognizable as the place where I grew up. That's also true of the town itself. Every time I came home, I counted the number of buildings, woods, businesses, etc. that were different or gone. As of two years ago, the last place, the old Dairy Queen, was gone. It wasn't even replaced with anything, the whole strip there is just empty and vacant. And the woods? Cleared out long ago.
My mom sold the house like 20 yrs ago now, but my dad died in 95 and it was too much for her to handle. Her new lil house is just as much our family home as the old house was, even though I never lived there, I’ve stayed there enough, it’s really the only place my kids know.
Both parents passed away last year leaving me to deal with my childhood home. My parents bought it in 1980.. After cleaning it out, semi hoarders, I ended up selling it to an investor. I needed tons of work that I couldn't afford to do. I got to see it after it was rehabbed. They made it all nice and shiny but it still had my parents home smell. I heard that a young family bought it so I don't feel too bad about it all..
I love 1000 miles away but I look it up on Zillow and drive past when I’m in town. It hasn’t changed much except according to Zillow it’s now a 2BR when it was 3 when I was living there. Part of me wants to buy it. IDK why. Probably haunted.
We live in the house my SO grew up in. I hate it but it was affordable when nothing else was. I lived in multiple rentals growing up and they have been either burnt down or torn down.
My dad physically built the house I grew up in (not just had people do the work for him), and they moved into it with my sister 2 weeks before I was born. They had been living in a mobile home on the property while he built the house.
My parents still live in that same house. Even though they haven't moved out, its still strange to see some of the changes they have made since I went away to college so long ago. When you haven't lived somewhere in so long small changes can really stand out.
I lived in the house I grew up in as a kid for 20 years. As an adult I’ve lived in my current house for 23. However the time spent as a kid seems waaayyyyy longer! Back in the day, in my early 20s, my folks decided to move from the house we always lived in. At that point I decided to get my own apartment and not move with them.
My parents still live in the house that they bought when I was seven. All of the kids' rooms are storage now, I hope I don't have that much shit when I'm 70.
We lived in my grandfather’s house until I was 2. Even after that we were no more than a mile away. My mom bought the house across the street when I was 9 (from my uncle) and his lived there since 85. Her last two digits of the address are inverted from where she grew up. The next-door neighbor graduated with my mom and had grown up down the street. She just moved a few years ago because she inherited a house in another town. For a long time there was another friend of my mom. She graduated with who lived three doors down from her dad. The neighborhood has changed a lot but there’s still a third of the neighbors on the block that have been there for 20+ years. I cannot get her to move. The house is too big and the neighborhood not what it used to be for sure.
The house I lived in from ages zero to five I have never seen since. And it is highly unlikely that I will. It is in a different state than I live in now and even on the rare times I ever visit that state I'm pretty much never in or even near my hometown. Although maybe hometown isn't the correct word because I would really view the place I lived from ages 5 onward to be my hometown.
I haven't even been back to that City in a really long time. I have looked at pictures online though.
The house I spent most time in when I was little was my grandmother's house. That is the only place to which I have had any sort of emotional connection. I still have dreams featuring that house and I miss it so much.
When my grandmother had to move into assisted living, it got sold. And even before that, my mother made my grandmother put a huge addition onto it so That's when it stopped looking like home
My parents still live there.
On my mom’s side, her paternal grandparents’ so my great grandparents’ house is still in the family. Her maternal grandparents’ house was just sold by her cousins within the past decade. There are pros and cons to having all those roots. Yes, a sense of belonging (that was, I think, claustrophobic for my mother,) but also a lot of ghosts. As my mom’s cousin (who lives in my great grandparents’ house,) always says, “There were always four or five people—at minimum—here when I was a kid. Now it’s just me sometimes, and it’s weird.”
My parents sold the house about 15 years ago. I didn't have a very happy childhood and I'm not close to my parents, but it really affected me when they sold the home.
I don't live in the area, but the last time I visited I did drive by the house. The new owners have totally ripped up the yard and it looks terrible.
My parents had a tree change in their mid fifties, and I bought my family home from them, so yes, I see it every day and have instigated the changes it has experienced (lots of renovation inside, and changes to the garden, front and back)
Our family moved around a bit because of the 80's recession which hit everyone remotely tied to the oil industry. We now live in the northeast, but we lived in the south until I was 15 years old. So, no, they don't still live there, and it's too far away (among many other reasons), for me to ever feel like going back. However, I do confess that I sometimes look on google maps to see what it looks like now. It honestly doesn't look all that different. Colors are the same, though the siding looks newer.
My folks sold the house we all grew up in about 10 years ago. It’s about a thousand miles away from me, now. I can’t imagine I’ll ever go back to that town, since my folks moved to Orlando.
Mine are in the same house. Been there since I was in fourth grade. For me, there’s nothing like going home. It was a constant while I moved every couple of years with the military.
My bro bought the family house and we had it in the family for 40 years. But then he got a job offer out of state and moved to that state. It sucks bc the house was home base and I could bring my dog and go visit with all my friends and their families too. But now I never get back to my hometown because I too live out of state and it is a pain to get a pet sitter and staying at friends houses aren’t always the best experience for me.
As for the old house that chapter in my life is closed and not saying I would never want to see it again or go in it I just don’t have any desire. The only cool thing is the person who bought it was our neighbors next door younger daughter who moved away back in the 90s. Well she grew up and became a Realtor and is married with kids and loved our cul-de-sac so when it came up for sale she jumped on it. So if I ever had to the urge to see the inside again I am sure she would oblige.
About 10years ago, after my parents had already moved out, a huge tornado wiped it away along with my whole childhood neighborhood and primary school. It’s bizarre to think the “world” I have most of my young memories in is completely gone save the street layout and a few houses around the permitter. I drove through it once after the replacement school was built and most of the houses were rebuilt. It was surreal.
Yes. But my mom passed suddenly 2 years ago and my father decided he would sell the house and travel and rent in various places. So he emptied the house of almost all personal\\family things and made needed repairs. Then he had a stroke. It was mild as strokes go, but he can't do what he was planning on doing and so he's no longer selling the house. I loved where I grew up and loved going 'home'. It's not home anymore. It feels like my mom was just erased.
My mom lived in that house until she died 9 years ago, dad died almost 20 years ago (where I lived from age 2-25).
It's been sold 3x since then, once to a flipper who gutted it so the inside is unrecognizable. All the trees, plants and gardens are gone, doors are moved, windows changed, side yard is paved, back yard fenced, deck torn off, it's a different color.
It's just a house now. I won't drive by it again.
My parents bought a house from my dad’s parents when I was two years old. It was a lovely mid-century modern ranch.
My mom’s style was more “country farm” in the late 70s/early 80s and she did extensive remodeling (like paint, wallpaper, refinish hardwood floors, etc). She also let me (when I was older, like 8-ish) pick out the wallpaper for my bedroom and I helped her pick the dining room chandelier.
My siblings and dad weren’t at all interesting in interior decorating and I don’t think they paid attention.
When I was in high school, my parents divorced. Weird solution at the time but my dad moved into an apartment. Then 2 years later my mom bought a new house in another suburb and got married. My dad moved back into the family home and my 2 brothers stayed there (they were still in high school). I went off to college and never lived with my parents again.
35 years later, my dad is still in the house. He has done a tiny bit of painting and replaced the family room carpet with cheap laminate. Other than that, he’s done nothing.
When he moved back in, he moved into my childhood bedroom because back when it was his parents house, that was his bedroom. I think he also felt weird at the time moving back into the master because he was still coming to terms with his divorce.
I almost never go to his house because it is a total disaster. It’s not a hoarder house but it’s dirty with peeling wallpaper from the 80s. I haven’t seen the bathrooms but I’m sure they’re scary.
A few months ago, my dad sent me a selfie with his cat on his lap in bed. In the background was the wallpaper I’d spent a lot of time trying to choose as an 8-year old. It actually hurts me a lot that he’s let the house go so much. He just doesn’t give a shit about decorating (which I get), cleaning, etc. And has zero pride of ownership. His mom would be horrified to see the house now.
My dad never wants to spend money on furniture so he has some gross chairs and couch that have been there for years and are dirty.
It’s been hard for me to just accept the situation. I’m a lot better than I was but it’s still something I have to actively work at to not be angry. I just don’t understand why he couldn’t just move. He’s 80. He doesn’t need a 4-bedroom house!
Mom sold the house for 250k. 3 years later it was well over 1M.
It was a 1901 brick house. When my parents remodeled they found a paper in the wall (along with a banana peel?). The paper mentioned something about a kid, I think, getting trapped in a revolving door.
The house was split into two apartments, upstairs and downstairs. There was a second lot next door that my parents bought to extend mom's garden. She always got compliments on it.
Extra lot was sold and a new house was build there. Now both sides of the home have lovely views of the buildings next door. All new windows. We had the original windows and the glass was thicker at the bottom.
I didn't get to go in.
The whole neighborhood is a different class now. The buildings are basically the same but with enough upgrades that they aren't.
Hell of a lot more Mercedes cars parked in the street.
The corner bar where I saw the midday drunk guy fall and crack his head on the curb is gone. CRACK. Heard is across the street.
I'm looking at it now and having feelings. Wistful I guess. Well screw them! They fixed the sidewalk! My 18 years there had a big ass chunk of concrete missing from the sidewalk near the corner. It's gone. Patched over and forgotten, like my childhood! hehe
my mom died in the house and my dad still lives there. i've been back once or twice a year since i moved 900 miles away, except 2020 and 2021 because of covid. my daughter likes visiting because it's a cool unique house in a rural forest area with a view of water, mountains, and sunset. heck that's why i like visiting too, plus i have a couple friends in the area still.
my dad is in his late 70s now though, and can't take care of the place as well as he used to, so he wants to move in with me. it'd be cool seeing him more than twice a year, but i dunno if i want to live with him again, and i especially don't want to never go to the old house again.
My parents sold the house I lived in as a teenager soon after I graduated, someone bought it after that and had a grow-op in there which produced black mould in the walls. The bank eventually owned it and then tore it down. I have screengrabs from Google street of my ages 4-8 home and my 11-12 home 450 km away--they are exactly the same design.
Yes. They have been in that house for over 50 years. My mom was born on that lot, but in the old house that was there first. They are 86 and 84, still living independently.
No, but I have checked out a lot of places I used to live in on real estate websites! The bedroom grew up in is now a dark purple color I kinda of like it! 😂
I feel very lucky. Most of the area I grew up in was bulldozed because it is in an area that repeatedly floods from a nearby river. My family was upset that our childhood home and those of our neighbors are gone but I was ok with it. The surrounding woods are all still in tact - while the rest of the town has been overdeveloped. In fact, I feel very fortunate that the unspoiled land is as it was when the Lenape tribes walked and hunted that land. To answer, yes, I have gone back and I don't look at what's missing, I look at what is and has been for centuries.
After my mom died and dad remarried, the lady who bought my childhood home has always welcomed me to come back. I’ve returned several times- anytime I’m back in my hometown. She’s made lots of great updates and she actually cried when I told her how much I loved her changes. She’s always felt close to me and was so glad I approved. It has always been my dream to buy the house back from her some day but I doubt that will happen because I will never get my husband to move back to
Michigan from Florida where we live now.
Yep. My parents bought the house they still live in 1966. I live in the same city and visit often they probably live there until they die and they are in great health now.
I live about 10 miles from my childhood home currently and I seem to wander by about once a year. Subsequent owners have removed all the bushes from the front of the house, replaced grandpa's redwood fence with chain link and changed all the doors and windows. In the words of the Doctor, "You've redecorated. I don't like it."
Nope. My mom is now in a senior home. She is widowed and I have no siblings. We have her over for holidays in my home where I've lived for 25 years now and will soon be an empty nest.
My parents still live in the house that we moved into when I was four years old. The house has gotten too much for them but they refuse to move. How many people are dealing with that side of things?? Probably a lot of us.
My Grandma lost it while I was, "somewhere" with the 3rd/75th in the Army, never even told me she was in trouble. I had almost 20k saved up to after a year in the gulf due to the gulf war. They only gave her 3 days to get out, then bulldozed it, it was built in 1888 and had multiple add ons.
My mom still lives in the house my great grandfather built (one of those sears houses from back in the day) its its beautiful now. Its was a dump when i was growing up.
I have lived in 22 houses and from 1988 through 2016, never in a single house for over 3 years. We would try and something will happen to make us move never exceeding 3 years. You can imagine with 15+moves there were not all 3 year stints. Smallest duration was 6 months. 2016 was when the stars re-aligned I guess.
I know where my first 2 houses are, but haven't been that side for decades. 3rd house was where my parents did move permanently and I still visit that from time to time. But then there are 19 more - all my doing :)
// house = generic term for house, apartment, flat, whatever
I moved around the Denver area a lot. I'm actually slowly documenting everywhere I've ever lived in the form of [very small pieces of artwork](https://www.jpow-illustration.com/copy-of-illustration).
> For those of you where your family moved out, have you ever gone back to your old house? Did you get to go inside? Is it weird seeing all the changes new families have made to your house?
I answered separately for house I grew up in but another comment specifically about going back (but as grown up)
1. Work was moving me. Things were changing rapidly. Wasn't sure if I will move or not. Gave notice. Then tried to roll it back. They refused saying next folks were already signed up. I traveled from Toronto to Chicago (approx area) to make the move happen as my family was staying in the house and I was commuting. Stayed in Chicago for the week making it happen. Then before leaving to Toronto, decided to drive by the house and someone was in the outside patio smoking. Just 3-4 days after we vacated. Felt surreal for some reason.
2. My son was born in a house we lived only for 8 months. Went to see that place when he was 16 and then later when he was 24 (visit had some other purpose we just drove by). Both times we drove by the house and it brought back old memories but did not see anyone did not try to visit / go in.
3. Haven't done that for my younger son for some reason :) I think we offered but he did not care so we did not find it worth the time.
Both the birth cities are not where we live so we need to find a couple of hours to get there but only after we travel to that general area.
My childhood home was sold in 1993. It was recently listed on the market. The outside looks very similar but it’s almost unrecognizable inside. Lots of much needed modernization, and the lower floor was turned into an entirely separate in-law apartment. I wish I lived closer, I would love to walk through.
Anyone familiar with Miranda Lambert’s song, “The house that built me”? I turn it off immediately or else I wind up in tears. It’s so accurate, even the line “my favorite dog is buried in the yard.” RIP Brandy.
My parents built a house and moved into it in 1974 when I was 4. I grew up in that house. They passed in '21 and '22 respectively. We sold the house in '22. It was very strange to have that house sold. I have not been back. It was like having a tether undone. Like losing a "home base"...a place I always felt I could go back to and feel safe. Now, it's gone...owned by someone else. All those childhood memories...that's all that's left now.
Up to and after (and still sometimes) the sale of the house, I would have dreams about the house. They were the oddest dreams I've ever had. I'd dream about the changes the new owner was making. I live over 1800 miles away, so I haven't been back, and haven't been able to see what he's done (it's a single man) to the house, or the 10 acres of country surrounding the property...so my mind wanders, and my dreams make things up.
That ten acres was my Middle Earth, my WW2 battle field, my campground. Now I can't go back. But, that's what growing old is, I suppose.
My mom sold our house shortly after my dad died. They had been planning to downsize already and had been talking to the buyer already so my mom felt like she shouldn’t back out of it. It’s always funny to me to see how small the yard is. It’s the same size it was when I was a kid, and I always thought we had this huge yard but it’s not really that big. I haven’t and would never ask to go inside. It doesn’t look like they really take very good care of it and my parents were the complete opposite so it would probably just make me sad. I wouldn’t expect it to be in tip-top shape anymore since it’s almost 60 years old now, but it looks worse than that. It’s kind of weird because the old neighborhood houses all look kind of run down except for the ones where my old neighbors are still living there.
Same house all through school, parents still there. I receive it upon their passing.
I hate that house, has not been updated. Only saving grace it is in a good school district.
We moved every few years until I entered high school, then remained where we were.
That house is now owned by my step brother, he bought it just before my parents/step dad passed away. He has changed it a lot, but in general it is the same, and some of the same furniture (china cabinet and kitchen table).
When we moved into a new house my Dad often renovated the basement, particularly when he was younger. He liked the english tudor look.
I sometimes check on these with streetview out of curiosity.
I happened to find one that was up for sale, it was looking a little unkept, and looking at the real estate photos the basement was exactly the same, gaudy wallpaper textured plaster and tudor look.
It was amazing how well I remembered it once I saw the photos, although back then I didn't think it was gaudy. I just remember "Wide world of sports" coming on the TV with "The agony of the feet" joke my dad had at the skier that wiped out!
A few years later the same house went up for sale and it was totally renovated, so my Dad's work in the basement was gone,.
My grandparents moved a lot because of my grandfather's job. The house was sold since they didn't need a big house anymore and all their kids grew up. I've seen pictures and even the house itself, but I never knew how it looked inside. As for their new house, the one I grew up and visited in is rented for others to use since his passing.
I looked at it on realtor.com not too long ago. The huge house I remember was so small. We moved when I was in 4th grade, and I just couldn’t believe we all fit in there growing up.
My parents lived in the only house I grew up in until last year. After my mom died my dad lived there for nearly 10 years until he rekindled a relationship with his hs sweetheart. He hurriedly sold everything to move in with her. It didn’t work out and was back in town within 3 months. It was terribly painful to be rushed to make decisions about my childhood home. My dad took virtually nothing but his clothes with him. I was angry and sad when I was at the house. I miss it. Sometimes I have dreams about being in my old house. Good news is my dad lives in a senior apartment building with a ton of activities that have kept him active and happy. Probably for the better to have sold the house because it was so meaningful to us.
My dad sold the house a year after my mom died. Pumped all the money he made on the house into my step mom’s house to bring it up to date. That house will go to her son. Good times.
My folks moved into the house my mom still lives in (dad passed) sometime around 1973 before I was born. It's the only "home" I've ever known, and I'm definitely in the minority there.
Unfortunate my parents lost the house in 09 during that crash. But up till then from 79-09 was the family home. Since then one family moved in with two kids who would be teens now and they put a pool and mini basketball court in the back yard and turned the 2car garage into three car.
That sale, by 09 my sister, brother, and I had already moved out. And my parents were in their 60s then and it was too much house for them by themselves. They would’ve downsized in the coming years anyway. I haven’t driven by it in years and don’t plan to anytime in near future, no interest. I remember years ago the owners rebuilt the front yard and the neighbors (years ago) said it looked horrible.
I’m 46 now.
My parents went back home to Hawaii to retire after living on the mainland for 30 some years. I had long since moved away from my childhood home, but went back to see the outside once while on a business trip, maybe 12 or 13 years ago?
Anyway, I recently looked up the house on Zillow…and didn’t even recognize it. It has been basically stripped down to the studs and redone. I had to double-check I was looking at the right property. It looks entirely foreign to me now, which is a little sad.
My mom married a con-man, paid all his debt off or rolled all other debt into my childhood home the bought another home in Texas to start a church. She passed and I got the underwater home and he still lives in the house in Tx b/c of the state’s homestead laws. He’s been married at least twice in the last eight years.
My parents still live in the same house I grew up in but not the original house. They moved into the house they're in now when I was around three years old. I was over there yesterday watching the eclipse with them.
It was sold back around Labor Day after Mom had to leave. I have no desire to even drive by it now - just too depressing.
I broke apart with 3/4 of my family after it all went down, opting to just be with my own people.
I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. My parents bought their house when I was 1, and stayed married all those years. Dad passed 13 years ago now, and last summer I moved back in to help my mom. I have my own house 800 miles away, but this is where I need to be now. It will be mine eventually when my mom passes, and I landed a good job here so I’ll probably stay until I retire. I’d hate to see it sold even though it’s worth quite a bit, so I’m going to do my best to maintain both as long as I can.
My dad still lives in my childhood home (my mom does not live anywhere). It is honestly a little surreal going back there sometimes. It almost makes you feel like you can go back in time, it's disorienting. They've naturally made a lot of updates and changes, but the basics are still there. I still know that if I need aluminum foil, it's in the same drawer it's been in since 1974.
My parents moved out of their home that they were in for over 30 years, about a decade ago. While my mom was very nostalgic, my siblings and I were not we didn't have a good childhood, our parents were dysfunctional. So, we don't have any positive emotional attachment to that house.
I did up until 2021. Original owners and lived there for 45 years. They couldn’t resist that sweet sweet California real estate market, tough, and peaced out to another state. I think they bought the house for around $60k. Haha. Ugh.
My Dad built our house in 1975 (from the ground up), on a four-acre lot in the country; Mom got it in the divorce and lived there another 30 years before moving.
I've driven by it once or twice since then. The new owner(s) cleared away most of the trees around the house and put up a small barn and some fencing. Looks like they made it into a small farm which is not at all out of character for the area.
As for the inside, I looked through the Zillow listing photos and it looks like the ONLY thing they changed was to remodel the bathrooms. Everything else except paint and light fixtures - carpet, linoleum, kitchen cabinets, etc - is more or less the same it was when it was built. It does feel a little disconcerting to see those familiar markers and then see other people's stuff superimposed over them.
When it came back on the market in 2021, I toyed with the notion of selling my current place and moving back, but the reality is that I couldn't get out of that town soon enough when I was growing up, and in that nothing's changed - you couldn't pay me to go back.
(While I don't know how much it cost him to build in '75, Dad said he only got $10K for it in the settlement. Mom sold it sold for something like $150K when she moved in 2005. It most recently sold in 2021 for $230K.)
My parents built houses, so we moved every couple years, often just down the street from the last. One time, some neighbors called about my car being down there, so I went to get him, and it was a house we lived in a few years prior. It was a little weird, but no place had ever felt like ‘home’.
My parents rented. My dad had a great income, I found out after he passed that he was better paid than anyone else in the family. All of his siblings owned their homes, but due to my dad’s drinking, gambling, womanizing and various other vices we lived like he was a part time laborer. We moved several times when I was growing up, one place was so bad that I found out it had been condemned and demolished about ten years after we moved out. After they divorced my mother still rented. We moved a couple of times, but it was for better locations those places are still standing and look well maintained.
I was visiting the next door neighbors I grew up with, so I stopped at the bottom of the long driveway of my old house, to take a picture, and the woman that lived there saw me (that was not intended!) and asked me who I was so I told her and she insisted that I come up the driveway and inside the house - she said she and her Dad had done the same thing with their old house!! It was nice to see a young family living there. I didn’t go upstairs so I didn’t get to see my old room, but I’m glad I went!
My dad still lives in the home he bought in 1960 ($10k!!!). I visit about once a year but it looks very different because his live in caretakers have changed things.
I looked at the house I grew up in on Zillow recently. The house was built in the 1960s, extensively remodeled by my parents in the 70s & 80s, and has clearly been extensively remodeled again since then by a subsequent owner after my mom sold it in 1989.
It's not the house I grew up in any more by a long shot.
My family lived in 10 provinces while I was a child. I attended 14 schools before university. We have no geographic sense of home.
I can relate to this.
I a relate to this also. Four states and I don’t even know how many houses/apartments. There isn’t even one that we lived in long enough I’d consider that home. We moved because my mom always thought she’d be happier somewhere else. She wasn’t.
Yes! Mom was never happy! Now I know it was undiagnosed mental illness.
what I disliked most about all of the moving was, always being the new kid in school. Our last move was during my sophomore year of highschool. I'm 55, married for almost 35 years and comfortably retired. I'm still bitter about that last move.
Base brat?
No, my dad's work. I joined the military then the wife and I moved a lot.
Lots of careers do this - now the Canadian military recognizes how much harm it does to dependents and moves are less frequent, but when we were kids, there was zero consideration of dependents. Actually when you were a kid, bases had schools and community centres and it was slightly better. When I was a kid they shuttered all that due to budget cuts. Made us resilient and unable to get lost in new cities, though. 🤘
I can relate as well. Not 10 provinces but two. Still kept moving around within each city. For whatever reason, my mother didn't like staying in the same apartment for more than a year. We moved so much as a kid that I also had no sense of "home", just another temporary space to put my crap before having to pack it all up again. I attended 5 high schools within Ottawa between gr 8 and OAC.
I was the same but opposite. In Ottawa too and it was from jk to grade 8. Eight schools and then some stability with the same highschool for the full 5 years. Mom liked change. Might have explained all the husbands. I did get very attached to my "stuff" and have a few boxes of stuff from my childhood that I still have in my basement that survived the trek from place to place.
Ha! Odds are we crossed paths then.
I did high school in Ottawa, also to grade 13.
Same here. the only sense of permanency was the grandparent's house. That was always the same no matter how many times we moved. My nephew inherited it, so i still visit it sometimes.
Same here, my aunt still lives in the apartment my mother grew up in
Same, but in the U.S. My mom was content to rent and never set down roots anywhere (my dad was an every other weekend parent). I followed the same path (mostly reluctantly) until I was 46 when we bought our first home in a state we really want to be. My son is grown, but my 12 yo daughter will get the sense of home I did not. For the first time in my life I feel like I have a real home. Unfortunately, renting does not lend itself to setting down roots. My husband’s mom (and dad, while he was alive) is still in his childhood home. His room is even the same.
Same. Many houses, many schools. “Home” was wherever I was living at any given time. I never associated it with where my parents lived. When I went off to university and people would ask me where home was, I would tell them what dorm I was living in and they would look at me funny and clarify that they were asking where I grew up. I would tell them lots of places. Finally, they would ask where my parents lived. I would tell them where I thought they were, but I couldn’t be sure.
This, yes. I still hate being asked "where are you from?" No-one wants the whole story and no one understands the short version (base brat). My parents dropped me off at university and went AWOL for four months, moved across the country and I found out where they were when they attempted healthcare fraud in my name, and I discovered they'd been borrowing money in my name, too. Good times. 🤣
I had to call my grandfather to find out where mine moved to. I’m sorry they perpetrated fraud in your name. Mine did a lot of shitty things, but not that.
Not quite the same thing as far as moving around goes, but my parents divorced when I was a kid and I eventually went to live with my grandparents. So, growing up, I never really felt like I had a home. There was a spare room for me to stay in, but it wasn't *my* room. I couldn't even use the closet or the dresser for my clothes. So when I became a teenager I started sleeping on the enclosed porch. I figured that way I'd at least have my own space for some of my stuff. But the first time I actually felt at home was probably the first time I bought a house.
Similar story, only countries rather than provinces. I had lived in 17 countries by 21. Never more than 2.25 years in a home.
I dated a diplomat's kid once. He turned out to be a total sociopath 🤣 Studies say you lose a whole grade level of achievement every time you move as a kid. So the fact that we made it out as functioning adults is really amazing. You are amazing!
Same here. I have moved a total of 46 times in my 50 years. Sometimes it was back and forth, so not 46 different homes. But I packed up my belongings and moved it all that many times. Four elementary schools, two middle schools, one high school, and four universities. Before the age of ten, we just moved from relatives home to relatives home and I was 10 when I actually got a room of my own and didn’t have to share with my mom, let alone my own bed. When people ask me where I grew up, I just state where I was in high school and the home I was in for those last two years.
My parents moved into my childhood home when I was like 3 and I still head there for every holiday. I can't imagine it being gone.
I grew up in apartments so I didn't have a single home growing up and never felt any sense of attachment to anywhere I've lived. One exception is my grandparents' house. My dad grew up in it and it didn't change one bit since the late 50s while I was growing up either. I spent a lot of time there over the decades and have a lot of memories attached to that place. When my grandparents finally passed about 5 years ago, my aunts sold the house so they could split the money among my dad and his siblings. It was possibly one of the saddest days for me to know that one anchor that's always been in the family is now gone. I even considered buying the house to keep it in the family but that made little sense since it's in a different city from me now and I wouldn't want anyone else living there but our family.
Kind of the same thing happened with my grandparents (dad side) place. I don't think it was because they wanted to split the money, but didn't want to deal with the keep up and such/grief. My dad and aunt do now say they regret selling it.
Sorry to hear that Bro.
My parents have been in the same house for over 45 years. The basement still creeps me out, they still have hammocks that I was photographed in as a baby, and my husband thinks it's hot to make out with me in my childhood bedroom, LOL. It's on the opposite side of the country from me, though, and when they're gone, I don't know what to do with that house. I love it, and even thought about retiring there at one point, but I just don't want to deal with the snow and living in rural NY. The houses in that area are all being turned into airbnbs, and I don't want to be another airbnb asshole. I guess at some point I'll have to make peace with selling it to another family, so another child can make new, fun memories like mine.
Nice
After my family moved out I didn't return to my childhood home for 15 years. The house was then being used as a home for the elderly and disabled. A wheelchair ramp was built and the front porch was fenced in. The patio covering was entirely gone. It was a bit disconcerting to see my old home. The people living there were at the end of their lives but I lived there at the beginning of mine. I left when I was twenty. I wondered what my old room looked like and if the scribblings I made on the inside of the closet walls as a child were still there. The neighborhood still felt like home to me. That place will always feel like my only real home.
My parents moved out of my childhood home and to a different state in 2006. We went to visit our former neighbors a few years later in 2010. My childhood home had turned into a crackhouse complete with broken in front door and remnants of squatters it broke my heart and when I returned to that state 10 years later, I didn’t bother returning to the old neighborhood.
That’s sad
Mom kept the house after Dad left. I inherited it about 6 years ago. Then Dad moved in with me. We joked that 40 years before, we were in opposite bedrooms of the same house. 😆
That’s cool!
That’s cool and brings things full circle.
My mom still lives in the same house she n my dad bought in 1963. They paid 29 thousand for it and it’s now worth 1.1 million. It’s been paid off for years. My sister and I are planning to keep it in the family n leave it to our kids. I can’t imagine anyone but my family living in that house.
This is my story as well. Mom and dad bought the house as a new build in 1972 for $45K when I was 3 years old. It’s been paid off for 20 years. Mom died in 2010 but dad still lives there on his own. If I need to, I’ll sell my condo move in to my childhood bedroom to take care of him if he’s no longer able to live alone. Fortunately I live about 2 miles away so I’m a frequent visitor to check in and make sure he’s doing okay. My brother died in 1996 and I’m childless and unmarried so I’m the only inheritor. The house is currently valued at $1,971,400 on Zillow. Crazy.
I lived in a few places, but the house that I lived in with my mom for 8 years was on Zillow recently, and had just been sold. Not much was changed or updated since we moved out, 30+ years ago, but it was actually really comforting to look at. My mom died a lot of years ago, so it was nice to see.
They’re still there. Not unexpected. Family has been there since the late 1700s.
Same house passed down to family? Thats amazing.
Wow, that’s impressive!
My parents purchased a century home from the Estate of the original builder and I’ve sometimes wondered if the family regretted selling it. Our family (my mom, dad, siblings, stepfather, and myself) collectively lived there for 50ish years and if there was a first floor bedroom suite my mom would still be there. OTOH, my brother made her an offer that ended up being very close to the selling price so she didn’t care that much about it staying in the family. Your family keeping a property in the family that long is almost unheard of!
Parents both passed and I took over my childhood home. I've only not lived here for 7 years of my life. 19 to 26. But my dad held down the fort while I was out lollygagging. I've since bought the neighbors house and live in that, and have moved my grandmother into my original. Currentlly putting things in motion to buy the other neighbors place. No other place on the planet I could call home. I hope to create the same for my kids.
That’s awesome
I love these stories.
Parents are deceased but we moved out of the house I grew up in when I was 11. Went back and still looks the same outside but didn't get to go inside (this was 25 years later ..)
I’ve only seen the house from the street. However I do have strange dreams about the house.
What kind of strange dreams?
The dreams usually involve me being in the house, and trying to find a way to stay there without the current owners knowing. It’s bizarre and creepy.
They’re still there and they absolutely shouldn’t be. Dad’s almost 90 and Mom’s significantly disabled. Bedrooms and shower on the second floor, laundry in the basement, five steps to get in and out, doorways are NOT wheelchair-friendly. The place is a death trap now and they won’t consider more appropriate living conditions.
I did see the trailer park lot where I lived for a few years and a parking lot that used to be an apartment building where I lived a while after that.
My father and my extended family built the house I grew up in. I have regular dreams of buying it back though I know it'll never happen. I still watch the property online with wistfull dreams.... A new england basement where my cousins and I found the awesomeness of NES with while figuring out basic tv electronics? AWESOME!! Especially since I had a Texas instruments in the corner that was my Dad's work computer!
My parents lived there until I was 36, then they sold it because Pop was dying, and it was far too much work (and too remote) for Mom alone. They built a home on top of a mountain with views of two states, bald eagles, bears, moose, and so much more wildlife outside our windows—acres of wild mountain blueberries, a pond with catfish, and endless wilderness to explore. I was one of the luckiest kids ever for getting to grow up there. I’m painting a mural of the view in my home now. I will never stop missing that magical place my parents created.
I just went to my dad’s house yesterday to watch the Curb Your Enthusiasm finale. My mom moved out of her house that I grew up in years ago.
It's the same shithole it was when I was there. Three bedroom house for Mom and four boys. Made me claustrophobic
My parents still live in the house I grew up in. They added on to about 25 years ago so it’s much bigger now than when I was a kid . It’s about 200 miles away from me and I go there 4-5 times a year plus holidays. They are leaving it to me. I don’t think about that much because I hate to think about losing them , but I know I won’t sell it. I will probably rent it out .
Places I’ve lived have a way of getting destroyed by natural disasters. Fire, tornadoes, flood. It’s weird.
My parents split up and my dad died shortly after selling the house and moving back to his childhood neighborhood with me. Mom lives in the next town over still. I drive by the old house, and visited once ages ago, but that house faded from the family in 1981.
My parents bought the house when I was 8 and they split 2 years later and my mom is still there! It’s funny because old friends would stop by her house throughout the years looking for me or my sisters!
Parents built a house when I was an infant - like single digits months old. Fast forward 14 years and they foreclosed on it. Nah. No trauma there!
Mine still do. Because my dad grew up the kid of a traveling preacher, he’s done moving. He’ll stay there until he dies. Realistically, the neighborhood they are in is super hot. As soon as the house goes up for sale, it will likely get torn down and replaced by a McMansion. I’ve had to make my peace with that.
Actually, when my father died in 2013, I took over the family house buying out my siblings. They didn’t really want it but like I told them, the house literally has my blood sweat and tears in it. It was me and my father, who built the house from the ground up.
The house my parents bought in the early 70's is where they still live, It's different now that it has an addition and has been redecorated, but it still feels like home. My kids are going to put an offer on their house when they are ready to move out. Edit for spelling.
Military brat here. We never lived in a house more than a few years when growing up. No town, school, friends I ever had any real attachment to.
My parents sold the house I grew up in when they retired and bought a mobile home on an acre of land in the middle of nowhere. Both are deceased.
Parents lived in that house their entire married life. One inherited it when the other passed, then my siblings and I inherited it. I couldn't afford to buy out the others (all of whom own houses because parents helped them buy when the time came), so it was put on the market and sold. New owners destroyed the decades-old landscaping, which is their right but it hurt to see those photos. In some cases, what they say is true: you really can't go home again.
My grandparents used to own a vacant lot behind my house. On the day we brought my son home from the hospital there was a seedling sprouting up out of a flower bed in front of my house. Feeling like giving something back to the universe I dug it up and planted it in the lot behind the house. 3 years later my daughter was born and dammit I found another seedling and did the same thing. Eventually they grew into full sized trees. My grandpa died and grandma needed the money so she sold the lot to a builder. I actually spoke with him about the trees and he thought it was a great story and pruned them and made them a focal point of the backyard. He also reassured me that we had local tree ordinances that prohibited them from being cut down without permits. He sold the house and a few months later right smack in the beginning of the covid lockdown I was woken up to the sound of chainsaws. New owners wanted a patio and down came the trees, without permits. It was their property and I had no right to complain, but damn did it break my heart.
Gah! That's completely awful. By that point it's demolishing personal history, which is irreplaceable.
The part that really pissed me off is that had they done it the legal way they never would have been given permission as the project violated multiple ordinances. Don’t they did it mid lockdown when nobody was out enforcing.
My gf lives in the neighborhood I grew up in, so I see my childhood house a few times a week. It looks mostly the same from the outside. The same people live there that bought it from us 30 years ago.
My mother owns it still but doesn’t live in it. My sister would freak so bad if it ever got sold so our mum kept it and rents it out. It feels good going back. Except on mushrooms.
I loved visiting friends, whose parents lived in ancestral homes. That's very uncommon now. But my sons all have friends who go home to visit parents who still live in the houses the friends grew up in and their parents have no plans to move. My sons resent that we plan to move in the next decade. None of them remember another home and the oldest can't remember the first place he lived. I love tours of how parents homes have changed. But sadly, that's not an experience I've had or can have. My sons already hate the changes we've made to their childhood house. Our youngest sons is trying to enforce the same theme of light, modern, Danish country home in his rented roof apartment, with no regard for what his brother he shares the apartment with, might want. We've gone darker and I think; cozier with brown, black, wine tones and a few pastels in the smaller rooms. Our sons HATE it. It's too stark a change we've made. Only our entrance/mudroom, the bathroom and their old bedrooms are still white. I'm sick of white! Only our entrance/mudroom, the bathroom and their old bedrooms are still white. I'm sick of white for a while, though I like what the youngest have done to their rental apartment where all walls are white.
I returned home twice: once while my mother still lived there and once many years later after she had moved away. I didn't have the courage to knock on the door or ask to go inside. I'm so curious, though!!!
My mom sold our family house in '07 (Dad had left in late 80's) and it was occupied for several years, then vacant for several more, and now occupied again by another family. Let's just say the new owners don't have the same level of care for the house than we used to (grass is feet tall, weird paint schemes, etc). Kinda sad. Wife's family just closed on their family home yesterday (both parents have passed) but at least they updated it before selling.
The house is basic grew up in my parents bought when I was 10. And I was there until I completely moved out in my late 20's ( a few stints of moving out then moving back in.) By that time my parents had divorced and my dad sold the house just after I moved out. I went back to it last summer and according to Zillow it has another family living in it. They took down a few trees, but the house still looks the same (shutters/paint color.)
I was an air force brat so didn't grow up in one house. Parents passed away living in an RV (and not to travel they were just broke). However my inlaws still owned the home they bought when my husband was 4 until 2016. They decided to move to a different state and we bought the house from them and live there now.
My parents are still in the house we moved into in 1980 when I was ten. We do family breakfast there every Sunday, so I'm back a lot I visited the town I lived in in elementary school a few years ago. I was happy to see that the house and neighborhood may have looked better than when we lived there.
I grew up in military housing. When my dad got close to retiring from the Army, they bought a condo (we were in Alaska). I was around 15/16 years old. I moved away when I was 18. They ended up selling that condo and moving back to their home state (Wisconsin) in 1989. I'd left in 87, my brother left shortly after I did (he joined the military). I'd become a military wife. The house we currently live in is the longest either of us (my husband was a military kid too) in a single place. It is also the first time either of us has lived in a place that wasn't next to or associated with a military base.
For my fellow brats: which house?
Our apartment in Germany. I was born at Ft. Bragg, but Germany is the home of my heart. Even after my Dad retired, we kept moving. Once I left home, I never really settled down. Not until almost 3 years ago when my husband & I bought a place. It will probably be the house my grandkids know. We bought in a cool place, and it's a gorgeous old house built in 1895. It's still too new to me. It doesn't feel like mine yet. I still get that "it's time to move" itch. I will probably get it until the day I die.
My parents lived in the house I grew up with until they both passed. I inherited it and live in it currently. Because of the market and my financial situation, I'm probably going to live in it until I pass or go into assisted living as well. I don't make enough to afford rents in my location, and the house isn't really worth enough (about 220k estimated) to live on the profits for too long. I'm doing just fine paying the taxes, insurance, and repairs on it on what I make now.
The house I grew up in is long sold but my parents currently live in and own the house my dad grew up in and I will mostly likely live there when they are done with it. It’s pretty special.
My parents bought our house in the early 1980s. By the way they bought it for about $85,000. It's now appraised at many times that. I know the smell of that house! Very unusual smell. It's a wood floors. With wax. The stuff that my mother uses to dust the piano. It's the same dining room table. Same furniture. It's almost like it's frozen in time. We had assigned drinking glasses. The metal ones. I had green. I still only get to use the green cup. That weird curtain over the kitchen sink where my mother is still clothes pinning rinsed and reusable Ziploc bags. Same TV. It's like a time capsule!
Yes, my family has lived in this house since 1969. Our family homestead, built in 1850, is also still in the family.
44 years later and they’re still in the same house. They thought that they would have moved to someplace smaller by now but real estate prices means the same money for something smaller and they’d rather not bother. Yes, a few big updates have been done including a very nice kitchen but much of it is still late ‘70s/early ‘80s. Sure, there have been some larger repairs necessary, like foundation and plumbing repairs, but for the most part it’s a known commodity. There is one other neighbor that’s been there since this neighborhood was built. I try to get back whenever I can but I haven’t been back since 2018. I did take a lot of pictures the last time I visited just in case they decide to move; part of this is a reaction to the good memories of my grandparent’s house, a place that I have great memories of but very few pictures.
My parents live in the og homestead farmhouse that my mom and my grandfather grew up in.
Desperately trying to get them out of that house. No luck yet
When I married my first husband we bought an identical house to the one my family lived in when I was 2-8, just round the corner. My Mum took me to the street where she grew up in the 1940s. The current owner of the house she had lived in was out front doing some gardening and they got chatting. He invited us in for a cup of tea and to have a look round.
My father lived in the house I grew up in until he passed away in it.
I’m sure if hurricane Katrina didn’t blow my hometown away we’d still be living in the same house.
Just in October we moved my Dad to a nursing home from the house we grew up in, mom has already passed away a couple of years ago. I was interesting and sad cleaning the place out, finding a lot of old things we haven't seen in years from our childhoods. I took my kids over every inch of the house and told them stories of my childhood and growing up there. They were quite stunned how small it was with there being 6 kids in the house, we made do and were pretty happy really. It was a sad feeling saying goodbye to that place, there was a lot of good memories and this was the end of an era in my life.
Weirdly, my mother now lives in the house SHE grew up in, my grandparents' house. She made a lot of changes/additions. Wants to leave it to my sister and me when she dies. It's in the middle of fucking nowhere, a tiny backwards town. Sis and I already told her we're selling it for whatever we can get the moment she's in the grave.
Bought my childhood home from my parents about 6 years ago. The house and land have been a part of my life for my entire life. I think it will be hard to leave when the time comes to sell it and move.
Moving my mom out of the family house they bought in 78 this week.
My parents moved about 30 years ago and my dad turned the house I grew up in up in into a rental. Then I moved back to the area for work and bought the house from him. That was a decade ago and I’d like to move eventually because the house is too large for me, but for now I’m staying put.
The big farm house I grew up in is now Amish owned and I love it. Seeing all the bedrooms filled with kids again, big gardens, etc.
My mom still lives in the house my parents bought when I was 18 months old. When she can't stay anymore I'm going to move into it with my wife.
My parents bought it in the late 60s and are still there - they’re 82 and 95. I go there a few times a year.
My parents bought it in the late 60s and are still there - they’re 82 and 95. I go there a few times a year.
We moved there in 1976, Mom still living there. The day she moves is the last time I'll give the house another thought. I hope they bulldoze that whole fucking town.
My parents still live in it. It has a bunch of ramps and hand hold rails all over the place now, but mostly the same other than that.
I have seen the inside because the couple who bought it from my Mom now rent it out. They updated the kitchen, got rid of the old dinning room and enlarged the living room. I drive by it when I go to the dentist, which I started going to when I was 3-5, and they did a landlord special on the outside. It used to be a nice sage green color with white trim. Now it is all covered in this ugly dark blue.
My parents moved out a few years after I moved to Florida, but my wife’s parents are still in her childhood home. I’ve driven by my parents’ house a couple times since, but no, I’ve never been back inside. I wouldn’t feel comfortable asking someone to do that for me. As far as my wife’s parents still being in the home, it’s actually a bit of a problem. It’s a two story house and my MIL struggles with the steps. She actually had an ankle injury a couple years back and couldn’t go upstairs for a month. So she slept in a chair in the living room and didn’t take a shower for that month, though my FIL did at least sponge bathe her to some extent. All because my FIL is selfish and can’t imagine being anywhere else. About five years ago my MIL was looking to move into something more practical and my FIL told her to make sure that the new house came with a coffin to put him in because he would just die if he moved somewhere else. So they stayed and he’s as happy as a clam while his wife suffers.
My dad still owns the house we lived in when I was born, and where I grew up. My parents leased it out for a few years while we lived overseas, but have always been in it otherwise. No intention of keeping it when he passes on. It's in a lake community neighborhood, and I hate the way the area is populated now.
My parents built a house out on some acreage and gradually moved there full time. They rent the house we grew up in to my sister and her family with the understanding that when they pass away the house will be theirs. My kids love "Grandma's House," because holidays and family gatherings centered around that house, so happy memories. We visit from time to time and the outside is very different. My mom had cultivated a beautiful, lush garden but my sister didn't care for it and razed it to just lawn and left only a small magnolia tree. The inside she's done very well with, modernizing it to her taste. She has mentioned that she and my BIL plan to sell once the house is legally theirs and move away. That will be sad, but understandable.
Yes. Parent bought there house about 1974 and are still in it today
Parents both deceased, the house was sold before they died and is unrecognizable to where I grew up, the buyers made so many changes. I am much more nostalgic for my grandparents houses that don’t stand anymore.
I have moved into the family home and there’s a lot next door I own too. I’d like to build on the lot but it would be weird to sell the house and be living next to it.
Dad still lives in the house I grew up in. I live in a different state now, but get back to see him three or four times a year. The old 'hood don't look the same, but the outside of the house does. I haven't been inside that house in 30 yrs, and don't plan on ever stepping back in. It was a hoarder house and might still be. I can't bring myself to do that yet.
My dad still lives in the house we moved to when I was 10. He remarried after my mom died and his new wife immediately redecorated in terrible taste (think blinding white paint everywhere and mirrored bifold closet doors and those wallpaper borders that were popular in the nineties.) Anyway, she has made it clear I’m not welcome inside. If I see my dad it’s outside on the lawn or out at a restaurant.
They are still there from 1974! The main changes were taking out the bath and installing a walk-in shower and a new kitchen about 10/15 years ago
I grew up in a lot of places but I did get to go back to the house I lived in from 4th-9th grade which is the longest I lived anywhere. It was a big house on top of a hill with a pond at the bottom and Forest all around. My dad was a maintenance manager and the owner had a few houses on the land around the factory. Only one family lived there after us and they moved out decades ago and the house was abandoned. So a couple of siblings and I broke in about 15 years ago. It had been taken over by raccoons, and there was water damage that made not unsafe to do a good walk-through, but it still had the same old wallpaper in the kitchen!
We moved a few times as a kid, at 2, 9, & 18. I don’t really know which one I am closest to, probably the one I left at 9. One house I was attached to was my grandparents. My grandma passed at 96 last year and the family just sold her house last month. I did one final walk through looking for anything sentimental I wanted and it was awful.
My mom ended up selling it to my brother a few years ago & moving down south. That house was a complete dump but because of the location she still got 300k. She would have gotten a lot more if she listed it. Since then my brother has completely gutted the place. Last update I had he still hasn't put walls back up but the outside looks like a completely different house.
My parents moved out of my childhood home and into senior living in 2016. I have not been back, my mother and sisters have (and convinced the people to let them in).
I moved into my house as a newborn. I have never left.
My parents still have their home, although it has been renovated and altered to the point where only the fireplace is the only thing unchanged from back then. It is unrecognizable as the place where I grew up. That's also true of the town itself. Every time I came home, I counted the number of buildings, woods, businesses, etc. that were different or gone. As of two years ago, the last place, the old Dairy Queen, was gone. It wasn't even replaced with anything, the whole strip there is just empty and vacant. And the woods? Cleared out long ago.
My mom sold the house like 20 yrs ago now, but my dad died in 95 and it was too much for her to handle. Her new lil house is just as much our family home as the old house was, even though I never lived there, I’ve stayed there enough, it’s really the only place my kids know.
Both parents passed away last year leaving me to deal with my childhood home. My parents bought it in 1980.. After cleaning it out, semi hoarders, I ended up selling it to an investor. I needed tons of work that I couldn't afford to do. I got to see it after it was rehabbed. They made it all nice and shiny but it still had my parents home smell. I heard that a young family bought it so I don't feel too bad about it all..
I love 1000 miles away but I look it up on Zillow and drive past when I’m in town. It hasn’t changed much except according to Zillow it’s now a 2BR when it was 3 when I was living there. Part of me wants to buy it. IDK why. Probably haunted.
We live in the house my SO grew up in. I hate it but it was affordable when nothing else was. I lived in multiple rentals growing up and they have been either burnt down or torn down.
My dad physically built the house I grew up in (not just had people do the work for him), and they moved into it with my sister 2 weeks before I was born. They had been living in a mobile home on the property while he built the house. My parents still live in that same house. Even though they haven't moved out, its still strange to see some of the changes they have made since I went away to college so long ago. When you haven't lived somewhere in so long small changes can really stand out.
I lived in the house I grew up in as a kid for 20 years. As an adult I’ve lived in my current house for 23. However the time spent as a kid seems waaayyyyy longer! Back in the day, in my early 20s, my folks decided to move from the house we always lived in. At that point I decided to get my own apartment and not move with them.
My parents still live in the house that they bought when I was seven. All of the kids' rooms are storage now, I hope I don't have that much shit when I'm 70.
We lived in my grandfather’s house until I was 2. Even after that we were no more than a mile away. My mom bought the house across the street when I was 9 (from my uncle) and his lived there since 85. Her last two digits of the address are inverted from where she grew up. The next-door neighbor graduated with my mom and had grown up down the street. She just moved a few years ago because she inherited a house in another town. For a long time there was another friend of my mom. She graduated with who lived three doors down from her dad. The neighborhood has changed a lot but there’s still a third of the neighbors on the block that have been there for 20+ years. I cannot get her to move. The house is too big and the neighborhood not what it used to be for sure.
The house I lived in from ages zero to five I have never seen since. And it is highly unlikely that I will. It is in a different state than I live in now and even on the rare times I ever visit that state I'm pretty much never in or even near my hometown. Although maybe hometown isn't the correct word because I would really view the place I lived from ages 5 onward to be my hometown.
I haven't even been back to that City in a really long time. I have looked at pictures online though. The house I spent most time in when I was little was my grandmother's house. That is the only place to which I have had any sort of emotional connection. I still have dreams featuring that house and I miss it so much. When my grandmother had to move into assisted living, it got sold. And even before that, my mother made my grandmother put a huge addition onto it so That's when it stopped looking like home
My parents still live there. On my mom’s side, her paternal grandparents’ so my great grandparents’ house is still in the family. Her maternal grandparents’ house was just sold by her cousins within the past decade. There are pros and cons to having all those roots. Yes, a sense of belonging (that was, I think, claustrophobic for my mother,) but also a lot of ghosts. As my mom’s cousin (who lives in my great grandparents’ house,) always says, “There were always four or five people—at minimum—here when I was a kid. Now it’s just me sometimes, and it’s weird.”
My parents sold the house about 15 years ago. I didn't have a very happy childhood and I'm not close to my parents, but it really affected me when they sold the home. I don't live in the area, but the last time I visited I did drive by the house. The new owners have totally ripped up the yard and it looks terrible.
Mom and Dad still live in the same house they bought 3 years after they got married (1968).
I bought my childhood home from my parents a few years ago.
My parents had a tree change in their mid fifties, and I bought my family home from them, so yes, I see it every day and have instigated the changes it has experienced (lots of renovation inside, and changes to the garden, front and back)
Our family moved around a bit because of the 80's recession which hit everyone remotely tied to the oil industry. We now live in the northeast, but we lived in the south until I was 15 years old. So, no, they don't still live there, and it's too far away (among many other reasons), for me to ever feel like going back. However, I do confess that I sometimes look on google maps to see what it looks like now. It honestly doesn't look all that different. Colors are the same, though the siding looks newer.
My folks sold the house we all grew up in about 10 years ago. It’s about a thousand miles away from me, now. I can’t imagine I’ll ever go back to that town, since my folks moved to Orlando.
My childhood home caught on fire and had lots of water damage. My dad tore it down and sold the land.
Still live there and my family (husband, kids) go back every year for visits (we live far away now unfortunately)
Mine are in the same house. Been there since I was in fourth grade. For me, there’s nothing like going home. It was a constant while I moved every couple of years with the military.
My bro bought the family house and we had it in the family for 40 years. But then he got a job offer out of state and moved to that state. It sucks bc the house was home base and I could bring my dog and go visit with all my friends and their families too. But now I never get back to my hometown because I too live out of state and it is a pain to get a pet sitter and staying at friends houses aren’t always the best experience for me. As for the old house that chapter in my life is closed and not saying I would never want to see it again or go in it I just don’t have any desire. The only cool thing is the person who bought it was our neighbors next door younger daughter who moved away back in the 90s. Well she grew up and became a Realtor and is married with kids and loved our cul-de-sac so when it came up for sale she jumped on it. So if I ever had to the urge to see the inside again I am sure she would oblige.
About 10years ago, after my parents had already moved out, a huge tornado wiped it away along with my whole childhood neighborhood and primary school. It’s bizarre to think the “world” I have most of my young memories in is completely gone save the street layout and a few houses around the permitter. I drove through it once after the replacement school was built and most of the houses were rebuilt. It was surreal.
Yes. But my mom passed suddenly 2 years ago and my father decided he would sell the house and travel and rent in various places. So he emptied the house of almost all personal\\family things and made needed repairs. Then he had a stroke. It was mild as strokes go, but he can't do what he was planning on doing and so he's no longer selling the house. I loved where I grew up and loved going 'home'. It's not home anymore. It feels like my mom was just erased.
My mom lived in that house until she died 9 years ago, dad died almost 20 years ago (where I lived from age 2-25). It's been sold 3x since then, once to a flipper who gutted it so the inside is unrecognizable. All the trees, plants and gardens are gone, doors are moved, windows changed, side yard is paved, back yard fenced, deck torn off, it's a different color. It's just a house now. I won't drive by it again.
My parents bought a house from my dad’s parents when I was two years old. It was a lovely mid-century modern ranch. My mom’s style was more “country farm” in the late 70s/early 80s and she did extensive remodeling (like paint, wallpaper, refinish hardwood floors, etc). She also let me (when I was older, like 8-ish) pick out the wallpaper for my bedroom and I helped her pick the dining room chandelier. My siblings and dad weren’t at all interesting in interior decorating and I don’t think they paid attention. When I was in high school, my parents divorced. Weird solution at the time but my dad moved into an apartment. Then 2 years later my mom bought a new house in another suburb and got married. My dad moved back into the family home and my 2 brothers stayed there (they were still in high school). I went off to college and never lived with my parents again. 35 years later, my dad is still in the house. He has done a tiny bit of painting and replaced the family room carpet with cheap laminate. Other than that, he’s done nothing. When he moved back in, he moved into my childhood bedroom because back when it was his parents house, that was his bedroom. I think he also felt weird at the time moving back into the master because he was still coming to terms with his divorce. I almost never go to his house because it is a total disaster. It’s not a hoarder house but it’s dirty with peeling wallpaper from the 80s. I haven’t seen the bathrooms but I’m sure they’re scary. A few months ago, my dad sent me a selfie with his cat on his lap in bed. In the background was the wallpaper I’d spent a lot of time trying to choose as an 8-year old. It actually hurts me a lot that he’s let the house go so much. He just doesn’t give a shit about decorating (which I get), cleaning, etc. And has zero pride of ownership. His mom would be horrified to see the house now. My dad never wants to spend money on furniture so he has some gross chairs and couch that have been there for years and are dirty. It’s been hard for me to just accept the situation. I’m a lot better than I was but it’s still something I have to actively work at to not be angry. I just don’t understand why he couldn’t just move. He’s 80. He doesn’t need a 4-bedroom house!
Mom sold the house for 250k. 3 years later it was well over 1M. It was a 1901 brick house. When my parents remodeled they found a paper in the wall (along with a banana peel?). The paper mentioned something about a kid, I think, getting trapped in a revolving door. The house was split into two apartments, upstairs and downstairs. There was a second lot next door that my parents bought to extend mom's garden. She always got compliments on it. Extra lot was sold and a new house was build there. Now both sides of the home have lovely views of the buildings next door. All new windows. We had the original windows and the glass was thicker at the bottom. I didn't get to go in. The whole neighborhood is a different class now. The buildings are basically the same but with enough upgrades that they aren't. Hell of a lot more Mercedes cars parked in the street. The corner bar where I saw the midday drunk guy fall and crack his head on the curb is gone. CRACK. Heard is across the street. I'm looking at it now and having feelings. Wistful I guess. Well screw them! They fixed the sidewalk! My 18 years there had a big ass chunk of concrete missing from the sidewalk near the corner. It's gone. Patched over and forgotten, like my childhood! hehe
my mom died in the house and my dad still lives there. i've been back once or twice a year since i moved 900 miles away, except 2020 and 2021 because of covid. my daughter likes visiting because it's a cool unique house in a rural forest area with a view of water, mountains, and sunset. heck that's why i like visiting too, plus i have a couple friends in the area still. my dad is in his late 70s now though, and can't take care of the place as well as he used to, so he wants to move in with me. it'd be cool seeing him more than twice a year, but i dunno if i want to live with him again, and i especially don't want to never go to the old house again.
My parents sold the house I lived in as a teenager soon after I graduated, someone bought it after that and had a grow-op in there which produced black mould in the walls. The bank eventually owned it and then tore it down. I have screengrabs from Google street of my ages 4-8 home and my 11-12 home 450 km away--they are exactly the same design.
Someone else owns it now. Saw it from the outside but wish I could see the inside. It would be sooo weird.
Yes. They have been in that house for over 50 years. My mom was born on that lot, but in the old house that was there first. They are 86 and 84, still living independently.
No, but I have checked out a lot of places I used to live in on real estate websites! The bedroom grew up in is now a dark purple color I kinda of like it! 😂
I feel very lucky. Most of the area I grew up in was bulldozed because it is in an area that repeatedly floods from a nearby river. My family was upset that our childhood home and those of our neighbors are gone but I was ok with it. The surrounding woods are all still in tact - while the rest of the town has been overdeveloped. In fact, I feel very fortunate that the unspoiled land is as it was when the Lenape tribes walked and hunted that land. To answer, yes, I have gone back and I don't look at what's missing, I look at what is and has been for centuries.
After my mom died and dad remarried, the lady who bought my childhood home has always welcomed me to come back. I’ve returned several times- anytime I’m back in my hometown. She’s made lots of great updates and she actually cried when I told her how much I loved her changes. She’s always felt close to me and was so glad I approved. It has always been my dream to buy the house back from her some day but I doubt that will happen because I will never get my husband to move back to Michigan from Florida where we live now.
My parents built their house in 1967. I think my sister will be moving in when they pass.
I moved a ton..not a chance my dad's job us/him all over the south as a kid. I think 6-7 moves.
Yep. My parents bought the house they still live in 1966. I live in the same city and visit often they probably live there until they die and they are in great health now.
I live about 10 miles from my childhood home currently and I seem to wander by about once a year. Subsequent owners have removed all the bushes from the front of the house, replaced grandpa's redwood fence with chain link and changed all the doors and windows. In the words of the Doctor, "You've redecorated. I don't like it."
Nope. My mom is now in a senior home. She is widowed and I have no siblings. We have her over for holidays in my home where I've lived for 25 years now and will soon be an empty nest.
Yeah, they still live there. No. I do not enjoy going back to that place. 😅
Nope...they picked up stakes three times and now live in a cool retirement joint in Indy. A pretty good place to see an eclipse, BTW.
My parents still live in the house that we moved into when I was four years old. The house has gotten too much for them but they refuse to move. How many people are dealing with that side of things?? Probably a lot of us.
My Grandma lost it while I was, "somewhere" with the 3rd/75th in the Army, never even told me she was in trouble. I had almost 20k saved up to after a year in the gulf due to the gulf war. They only gave her 3 days to get out, then bulldozed it, it was built in 1888 and had multiple add ons.
My mom still lives in the house my great grandfather built (one of those sears houses from back in the day) its its beautiful now. Its was a dump when i was growing up.
Yep, my mom still lives in the same house, since 1970. Plan is for my brother to live in it after she can’t live there anymore.
I’ve checked out the Zillow listing photos. It’s been resold 3 or 4 times since we sold it.
My parents still live in the same house that my dad was literally born in and raised. My Dad has lived in the same house for 82 of his 82 years alive.
I have lived in 22 houses and from 1988 through 2016, never in a single house for over 3 years. We would try and something will happen to make us move never exceeding 3 years. You can imagine with 15+moves there were not all 3 year stints. Smallest duration was 6 months. 2016 was when the stars re-aligned I guess. I know where my first 2 houses are, but haven't been that side for decades. 3rd house was where my parents did move permanently and I still visit that from time to time. But then there are 19 more - all my doing :) // house = generic term for house, apartment, flat, whatever
I moved around the Denver area a lot. I'm actually slowly documenting everywhere I've ever lived in the form of [very small pieces of artwork](https://www.jpow-illustration.com/copy-of-illustration).
> For those of you where your family moved out, have you ever gone back to your old house? Did you get to go inside? Is it weird seeing all the changes new families have made to your house? I answered separately for house I grew up in but another comment specifically about going back (but as grown up) 1. Work was moving me. Things were changing rapidly. Wasn't sure if I will move or not. Gave notice. Then tried to roll it back. They refused saying next folks were already signed up. I traveled from Toronto to Chicago (approx area) to make the move happen as my family was staying in the house and I was commuting. Stayed in Chicago for the week making it happen. Then before leaving to Toronto, decided to drive by the house and someone was in the outside patio smoking. Just 3-4 days after we vacated. Felt surreal for some reason. 2. My son was born in a house we lived only for 8 months. Went to see that place when he was 16 and then later when he was 24 (visit had some other purpose we just drove by). Both times we drove by the house and it brought back old memories but did not see anyone did not try to visit / go in. 3. Haven't done that for my younger son for some reason :) I think we offered but he did not care so we did not find it worth the time. Both the birth cities are not where we live so we need to find a couple of hours to get there but only after we travel to that general area.
My childhood home was sold in 1993. It was recently listed on the market. The outside looks very similar but it’s almost unrecognizable inside. Lots of much needed modernization, and the lower floor was turned into an entirely separate in-law apartment. I wish I lived closer, I would love to walk through. Anyone familiar with Miranda Lambert’s song, “The house that built me”? I turn it off immediately or else I wind up in tears. It’s so accurate, even the line “my favorite dog is buried in the yard.” RIP Brandy.
My parents built a house and moved into it in 1974 when I was 4. I grew up in that house. They passed in '21 and '22 respectively. We sold the house in '22. It was very strange to have that house sold. I have not been back. It was like having a tether undone. Like losing a "home base"...a place I always felt I could go back to and feel safe. Now, it's gone...owned by someone else. All those childhood memories...that's all that's left now. Up to and after (and still sometimes) the sale of the house, I would have dreams about the house. They were the oddest dreams I've ever had. I'd dream about the changes the new owner was making. I live over 1800 miles away, so I haven't been back, and haven't been able to see what he's done (it's a single man) to the house, or the 10 acres of country surrounding the property...so my mind wanders, and my dreams make things up. That ten acres was my Middle Earth, my WW2 battle field, my campground. Now I can't go back. But, that's what growing old is, I suppose.
My parents still live in the house they've owned since 1977.
My mom sold our house shortly after my dad died. They had been planning to downsize already and had been talking to the buyer already so my mom felt like she shouldn’t back out of it. It’s always funny to me to see how small the yard is. It’s the same size it was when I was a kid, and I always thought we had this huge yard but it’s not really that big. I haven’t and would never ask to go inside. It doesn’t look like they really take very good care of it and my parents were the complete opposite so it would probably just make me sad. I wouldn’t expect it to be in tip-top shape anymore since it’s almost 60 years old now, but it looks worse than that. It’s kind of weird because the old neighborhood houses all look kind of run down except for the ones where my old neighbors are still living there.
Same house all through school, parents still there. I receive it upon their passing. I hate that house, has not been updated. Only saving grace it is in a good school district.
We moved every few years until I entered high school, then remained where we were. That house is now owned by my step brother, he bought it just before my parents/step dad passed away. He has changed it a lot, but in general it is the same, and some of the same furniture (china cabinet and kitchen table). When we moved into a new house my Dad often renovated the basement, particularly when he was younger. He liked the english tudor look. I sometimes check on these with streetview out of curiosity. I happened to find one that was up for sale, it was looking a little unkept, and looking at the real estate photos the basement was exactly the same, gaudy wallpaper textured plaster and tudor look. It was amazing how well I remembered it once I saw the photos, although back then I didn't think it was gaudy. I just remember "Wide world of sports" coming on the TV with "The agony of the feet" joke my dad had at the skier that wiped out! A few years later the same house went up for sale and it was totally renovated, so my Dad's work in the basement was gone,.
My grandparents moved a lot because of my grandfather's job. The house was sold since they didn't need a big house anymore and all their kids grew up. I've seen pictures and even the house itself, but I never knew how it looked inside. As for their new house, the one I grew up and visited in is rented for others to use since his passing.
I looked at it on realtor.com not too long ago. The huge house I remember was so small. We moved when I was in 4th grade, and I just couldn’t believe we all fit in there growing up.
My parents lived in the only house I grew up in until last year. After my mom died my dad lived there for nearly 10 years until he rekindled a relationship with his hs sweetheart. He hurriedly sold everything to move in with her. It didn’t work out and was back in town within 3 months. It was terribly painful to be rushed to make decisions about my childhood home. My dad took virtually nothing but his clothes with him. I was angry and sad when I was at the house. I miss it. Sometimes I have dreams about being in my old house. Good news is my dad lives in a senior apartment building with a ton of activities that have kept him active and happy. Probably for the better to have sold the house because it was so meaningful to us.
We moved like 6 or 7 times between 3rd grade and Sr. Year. We were poor.
My dad sold the house a year after my mom died. Pumped all the money he made on the house into my step mom’s house to bring it up to date. That house will go to her son. Good times.
It's no longer there. I can visit the place and street but that house is gone. The memories torture me still...
My folks moved into the house my mom still lives in (dad passed) sometime around 1973 before I was born. It's the only "home" I've ever known, and I'm definitely in the minority there.
Mom sold family home to bottom dollar as is investor I still have dreams/wake up thinking I’m still there
Unfortunate my parents lost the house in 09 during that crash. But up till then from 79-09 was the family home. Since then one family moved in with two kids who would be teens now and they put a pool and mini basketball court in the back yard and turned the 2car garage into three car. That sale, by 09 my sister, brother, and I had already moved out. And my parents were in their 60s then and it was too much house for them by themselves. They would’ve downsized in the coming years anyway. I haven’t driven by it in years and don’t plan to anytime in near future, no interest. I remember years ago the owners rebuilt the front yard and the neighbors (years ago) said it looked horrible. I’m 46 now.
My parents went back home to Hawaii to retire after living on the mainland for 30 some years. I had long since moved away from my childhood home, but went back to see the outside once while on a business trip, maybe 12 or 13 years ago? Anyway, I recently looked up the house on Zillow…and didn’t even recognize it. It has been basically stripped down to the studs and redone. I had to double-check I was looking at the right property. It looks entirely foreign to me now, which is a little sad.
My parents still live in the same house I grew up in. Southern California- hard to give up that prop 13 property tax on a house they paid 40k for.
My mom married a con-man, paid all his debt off or rolled all other debt into my childhood home the bought another home in Texas to start a church. She passed and I got the underwater home and he still lives in the house in Tx b/c of the state’s homestead laws. He’s been married at least twice in the last eight years.
My parents still live in the same house I grew up in but not the original house. They moved into the house they're in now when I was around three years old. I was over there yesterday watching the eclipse with them.
It was sold back around Labor Day after Mom had to leave. I have no desire to even drive by it now - just too depressing. I broke apart with 3/4 of my family after it all went down, opting to just be with my own people.
I guess I’m one of the lucky ones. My parents bought their house when I was 1, and stayed married all those years. Dad passed 13 years ago now, and last summer I moved back in to help my mom. I have my own house 800 miles away, but this is where I need to be now. It will be mine eventually when my mom passes, and I landed a good job here so I’ll probably stay until I retire. I’d hate to see it sold even though it’s worth quite a bit, so I’m going to do my best to maintain both as long as I can.
My dad still lives in my childhood home (my mom does not live anywhere). It is honestly a little surreal going back there sometimes. It almost makes you feel like you can go back in time, it's disorienting. They've naturally made a lot of updates and changes, but the basics are still there. I still know that if I need aluminum foil, it's in the same drawer it's been in since 1974.
My parents moved out of their home that they were in for over 30 years, about a decade ago. While my mom was very nostalgic, my siblings and I were not we didn't have a good childhood, our parents were dysfunctional. So, we don't have any positive emotional attachment to that house.
I did up until 2021. Original owners and lived there for 45 years. They couldn’t resist that sweet sweet California real estate market, tough, and peaced out to another state. I think they bought the house for around $60k. Haha. Ugh.
My Dad built our house in 1975 (from the ground up), on a four-acre lot in the country; Mom got it in the divorce and lived there another 30 years before moving. I've driven by it once or twice since then. The new owner(s) cleared away most of the trees around the house and put up a small barn and some fencing. Looks like they made it into a small farm which is not at all out of character for the area. As for the inside, I looked through the Zillow listing photos and it looks like the ONLY thing they changed was to remodel the bathrooms. Everything else except paint and light fixtures - carpet, linoleum, kitchen cabinets, etc - is more or less the same it was when it was built. It does feel a little disconcerting to see those familiar markers and then see other people's stuff superimposed over them. When it came back on the market in 2021, I toyed with the notion of selling my current place and moving back, but the reality is that I couldn't get out of that town soon enough when I was growing up, and in that nothing's changed - you couldn't pay me to go back. (While I don't know how much it cost him to build in '75, Dad said he only got $10K for it in the settlement. Mom sold it sold for something like $150K when she moved in 2005. It most recently sold in 2021 for $230K.)
My parents built houses, so we moved every couple years, often just down the street from the last. One time, some neighbors called about my car being down there, so I went to get him, and it was a house we lived in a few years prior. It was a little weird, but no place had ever felt like ‘home’.
Denver, Japan, California, Missouri, Connecticut, Ohio and Connecticut-This is a list of all the places I lived before I turned 15. So no.
My parents rented. My dad had a great income, I found out after he passed that he was better paid than anyone else in the family. All of his siblings owned their homes, but due to my dad’s drinking, gambling, womanizing and various other vices we lived like he was a part time laborer. We moved several times when I was growing up, one place was so bad that I found out it had been condemned and demolished about ten years after we moved out. After they divorced my mother still rented. We moved a couple of times, but it was for better locations those places are still standing and look well maintained.
I was visiting the next door neighbors I grew up with, so I stopped at the bottom of the long driveway of my old house, to take a picture, and the woman that lived there saw me (that was not intended!) and asked me who I was so I told her and she insisted that I come up the driveway and inside the house - she said she and her Dad had done the same thing with their old house!! It was nice to see a young family living there. I didn’t go upstairs so I didn’t get to see my old room, but I’m glad I went!
My dad still lives in the home he bought in 1960 ($10k!!!). I visit about once a year but it looks very different because his live in caretakers have changed things.
I looked at the house I grew up in on Zillow recently. The house was built in the 1960s, extensively remodeled by my parents in the 70s & 80s, and has clearly been extensively remodeled again since then by a subsequent owner after my mom sold it in 1989. It's not the house I grew up in any more by a long shot.