A few years ago my son relocated to the same area we lived in when he was a toddler, a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio. When we went up to visit him, we just had to drive by the home we owned and had lived in from 1980-1985. We hadn't seen the home since 1985 because we never went back to that area. It was surprising how small the home seemed when we saw it recently and how huge it seemed when we purchased it. We had many fond memories of that home, but it was clear from the exterior that the family living there now has put their own stamp on the home and made it their own. But it doesn't erase the fact that we lived there when 3 of my 4 children were born and the fond memories we have of that home.

Once when I was planning a visit to my home state, I wrote to the people who'd bought my childhood home from my parents. I told them I'd heard that they'd reversed the stairs to the attic, finished the attic into bedrooms, etc., and that I would love to see what they'd done.

They called me at my mom & dad's once I was there, and I drove down to see it. They were stuck in the middle of several renovations, but the things that were really different, in terms of the floor plan, were really neat.

They still had my mom's ugly dining-room lamp; we got a good laugh out of it, and I told them that *at the time,* my mom had been thrilled to find it.

I was sad, though, to discover that they'd throw out all the beautiful brass door knobs. I'd encouraged my mom to take them before they sold the house, and she refused; then I found out they'd tossed them (along w/ the solid-wood doors)!

My wife was home one day when former owners came by... I was a little confused when she said this, as the same family had owned the house for 50 years before we bought it. We knew all of the them.
It was the owners child from 50+ years ago. A very nice woman who was raised in the house (til she was 18 and married, then her parents sold).
So a 68 years old got to visit her house. Not much had changed structurally- ugly harvest gold alum. siding had been added, but not other changes.
She and her husband came back later, I met them, she told tons of stories about the neighborhood. It was a good experience.

The original owners of our house moved to divide their time between a near-bye condo and a Florida winter home a few years after having our house built. A year or so before they sold the children of the house, along with their father, planted a tree at the base of the driveway. The tree had been growing for over 35 years.

When we purchased this house the inside was in fairly decent shape. We had a bit of a basement problem (due to outside issues) and some cabinetry needed replacing; the rest was redecorating.

The outside was a different story! The place was a horror. Overgrown landscaping, trees too close to the house causing root damage to the foundation and moss on the roof. The driveway tilted towards the house causing rainwater to back up at the base of the foundation. Not all the entranceways had stairs to access them. It is astounding that this place was sold twice in two years (the folks we bought it from were divorcing) with its complete lack of curb appeal.

Outside we had a new landscaping, patio, stairways, fencing, gate, railings and a driveway installed. Our driveway is fairly spectacular. There is a stamped, colored concrete pattern in Old-Brick that delineates the blocks and borders the colored-concrete walkways.

The original owner was visiting our neighbors last summer and was extremely enthusiastic out our changes. She was most grateful that we patterned the driveway around the tree in a semi-circle. It seems her husband died the winter prior. To see the tree still standing brought tears to her eyes. We never had any intention of removing this tree, and after hearing her story we were doubly glad we worked around it.

What great memories for you and the daughter. It's nice to be able to relate things in the house to prior owners.

We bought from heirs of original owners, who had owned the house 55 years. One of the daughters later dropped by, and asked to see the house. She said that her mother would have been pleased with what we had done, especially to the yard. I think we could have done without knowing that her uncle died in the upstairs bathroom, though.

i just have to give a word of warning, be SURE who they are before you let them in next time. we had some people going around here claiming to be previous owners and wanting a look at their childhood home. they were actually casing homes to see if there was anything worth taking and if there was an alarm system. one couple came by my grandmothers house with teh story it was his child hood home and he had moved fromthere in teh late 60's and just wanted to look around. he said "i see you enclosed the carport, i can remember playing under there many an evening." now that would make you think he was legit, except it was obvious it used to be a CP, and the fact aht MY GRANDPARENTS BUILT THE HOUSE. they realized we were on to them and jumped inthe car and left before the cops came. i do think it was them that was caught a few eeks later breaking into a home onthe next street. they had used the same lines to gain initial access.

i know the previous owner of my house, he and his wife are dead and the son is a junkie. the stepson lives next door to me so if anyone comes to my house with that line i tell them to go bring John over. if they say ok, i know they are lying since his name is James. i have had a couple people try it too.

We were the third owners of a 100+ year old Victorian. About 22-years into our tenure the elderly daughter of the second owner contacted us through a mutual friend, & wanted to walk through our house. What a delight! we learned so very much about our cool old house.

And one day a 90+ yr old lady came by to tell us she had been married in our 100+ yr old house in l9l5! That was in '92... and we had to move in '96, and I miss that place more than anywhere I've ever lived - we'd put so much into it and had bought it because we loved it. When trimwork needed painting at one point, I made sure to leave a 1' x 8" triangle of old green shingles (at an overhang meeting place) alone, to honor the 'oldness' of it - was otherwise red brick, with front pillars.

I've had a very negative experience along these lines. We bought our house from a drug addict who was about to lose it to a foreclosure. He was doing quite a bit to prevent his wife from selling the home.

For the first year we lived in our home the couple would come by, park across the street, and just look at the house for up to an hour at a time. It really concerned me- I think I even posted about it on this forum, LOL. Someone here assured me that their grieving would likely end around the year point and they would disappear, which was what happened. Once or twice the former owner tried to talk to me (with limited response from me) he referred to the house and other aspects, such as landscaping, as his ("My palm tree looks really good!"). He clearly had trouble letting go and his drug history worried me.

It was recommended to me that we do something that changed the appearance of the house so it would not look so much like what they remembered. That winter a storm felled a large tree, so that took care of that in a way I had not intended.

It really creeped me out, but thank goodness it's been years since we've seen them around. If they EVER show up at this house, they are definitely not welcome!

I came home one day from shopping to find a strange car right in front of our house and a man & boy walking around (seriously all over the place) on our property. Being from LA and currently living in MN, I was a bit freaked out. "Uhhhh...May I HELP YOU????" They came up to the car and I just cracked the window a bit - enough to hear the guy say his name (I drew a blank) and that he used to live in our house. I didn't really appreciate the visit but my husband did. The man started telling my husband a lot of things that we should have known BEFORE we bought the house. But, what can you say? Don't come here again, weirdo? LOL! Anyway, they haven't been back since even though my husband made them feel really welcome. I'm thankful. I'm not a big fan of returning from whence ye came so that's my point of view.

I second the warning about letting former occupants tour your house. Several years ago, I was a new stay at home mom in an old 1920s house we'd bought. One afternoon the doorbell rings and there's a lady, early to mid 30's with 3 kids with her (ages about 5 to 9). Sure didn't seem like a threat. She said her grandparents used to own the house and she played there often as a child and could she look around? She pointed out that her husband was waiting in the car for her, and it wouldn't take long. My baby, about 4 months old at the time, was asleep in his upstairs bedroom, so I said, OK, I can show you around the main floor, but my baby is sleeping, so I can't let anyone go upstairs. WELL, she proceeded to prattle on incessantly about the house, the neighbors who used to live nearby, etc. etc. etc. and all the while I am nerviously watching as her kids start scampering in all directions, getting noisy, and I feared, going upstairs. The mom seemed unbelievably oblivious to her kids scrambling all around my house. I tried to be polite (I was too polite)-- then, of course, one of the little urchins burst into my baby's room and woke him up!! He screamed, naturally. I abruptly interrupted her and said she had to leave now. She STILL took her time and kept chatting. I had to VERY firmly tell her she had to leave right now. I tell you, it was scary and was a good lesson. She was not dangerous, but no way should I have let her in and disrupt my day like that. She could have also been a little mentally ill, who knows? I certainly wouldn't let anyone do that kind of tour unless there a friend or relative in the house with me. Take care out there.

The original owners of our house (the ones who built it) are good friends of my in-laws. They, along with two of their adult children and their spouses and some of their grandkids, toured our house over the Christmas holidays. They were amazed at all the changes the people we bought the house from had made, and the grown kids enjoyed reminiscing. We also were able to acquire the blueprints from the original owners and ask questions about various aspects of the house...including why it has 16 closets! It was a lot of fun.

A couple of years ago, I saw an ad in the paper for a yard sale at the house I had lived in way back in 1935. I went to the sale (mostly children's stuff, so I didn't buy anything), but I mentioned to the young woman that I had lived there once. She called to the owner, and they both asked questions about the neighborhood and the age of the house (the neighbors were all arguing about how old the houses were, and they underestimated the age by many years -now wouldn't you think someone would have found that out when they bought their house?) Then the owner took me inside and showed me around the living area (it was a small bungalow). I could see they had put in a stairway to what was, to us, the attic (our favorite play space). The kitchen had been revamped, of course. It was really nice of her to show me around. I didn't take up much of her time, but I appreciated the visit.

Several years ago after just moving in and anticipating spring and the lovely gardens of my "new home", I came home from work to discover that the tulips I waiting to open had all been cut and taken away. The following spring, I found and a very elderly woman in the yard, cutting the tulips. When I asked why she was doing that, she happily told me that she lived in the house as a child and helped to plant them, so they were "hers" and every year she would come and get "her" flowers. I did not want to beat the woman away with a stick, so I laughed and figured it was one of few pleasure the lady had left in her life.

How weird the timing of this post is, to me. We've owned our house for four and a half years, and two weeks ago I got a knock on my door in the middle of the afternoon. I answered, to find a very drunk young man (mind you it was only one o'clock!) swaying there, asking who the h%!! GAVE me my house!?! I politely informed him that nobody gave me my house, I bought it four years ago. He went on and on about how it should have been given to him and how he was going to get a lawyer and take my house away, because the house that he HAD been given was "not as good" as this one....blahblahblah. This guy did not scare me, he does not have the power to take my house away, and had already been to several lawyers who told him so. A bit of history:
I bought my house in 2003, before which it had sat on the market for seven (!!) years. When I bought it, I was told only that this one and another house across town had been left to my seller as part of an estate. Then a few months after papers were signed, my husband and one of my boys went to a yard sale down the street and they were told that the original owner had died and instead of leaving his house to family, he left it to the guy across the street (which is who I bought it from.) They said there were hurt feelings over this, and that there were several family members that would not visit them because they would have to pass my house. I thought that was really weird, to be brought up like that, but I never heard another thing about it. Until now. This guy was yelling and cussing in front of my children (which I was finally able to shut down) but I sat out there and talked to him for a few minutes, mostly because I felt bad that somebody would ruin their life over the greed and jealousy over what amounts to not being given a present! I mean, obviously everything had always been handed to him, because in talking to him, he had no idea what it meant to work for what you have. He was driving a brand new black Corvette, which he left running for the entire half an hour he was here, drunk off his butt, going on and on about how much money his family had, and that he should have been given my house. I did mention that my house was on the market for seven years before I bought it, and if he had really wanted it, he could have bought it during that time. He yelled "Why would I need to BUY it, it was already paid for?!?" I mean, the entire concept simply escaped him, and I thought what a waste! He was no older than 25, and that's stretching it, I think. To be that bitter and that useless of an individual really saddened me. It made me glad that we don't have much money to just hand our children all that they want, they will have to have work ethic. The sense of entitlement coming from that useless young drunk was just astounding.

"citytransplant'--loved your story. It was kind of you to incorporate the tulips and the old lady into your annual gardening ritual. Your kindess will most certainly bring you good karma. It reminds me of a conversation I had with a young lady in her thirties tending her rented garden plot in DC near a bunch of Gov't buildings. She had lovely tomato plants, but very few tomatoes. I asked her if the animals had gotten to them and she said that it was some of the homeless people who picked them and since they seemed to enjoy them, she continued to plant tomatoes every year for them though she herself never did enjoy the bounty. I guess good karma beats the taste of any tomato or the beauty of any flower.

citytransplant:
You brightened my day with your story of the little old lady and her tulips. Thanks!

My Mom grew up on a small farm and loved it. Her father died while she was in college. She came home for a few days for the funeral, went back to school, and her own mother sold the property as quickly as possible. She felt as if she'd never had a chance to say good-bye to the home she'd loved.

Fast forward 55 years: Mom was in town for a funeral, and ran into the woman who had purchased the farm. (they are about the same age) The owner invited Mom back to see the farm one more time. Some things hadn't been changed at all. Some pieces of furniture had been sold along with the property, and were still in the house, although they had been recovered. I thought it was a really generous offer of the woman.

And citytransplant: the story of the elderly lady cutting tulips is priceless!