What Does Home Mean to You?

Welcome back!

With all the talk and angst around the economy and specifically around the housing market I thought I’d share some information about a new book coming out this month that for me celebrates the notion of what a home means to a person, a family – a life.

Can you imagine as a parent of two small children, living on a modest salary falling in love with a leaky old house that was infested with wildlife and had no functional plumbing or electricity? Probably not.

But if you’re the kind of person that is drawn to a home because of all the factors not related to the price of real estate but instead related to the people, history and experiences that define the community your home is in then you just might give this home a second look.

David Giffels is that person. After finishing college he didn’t join his friends and colleagues who picked up and left his home town of Akron, Ohio for greener pastures in larger cities and communities across the country. Instead he became a columnist for his local paper, the Akron Beacon Journal.

David began to deepen his understanding of his home town and in the process fell in love with it. Akron at one time was known as the Rubber Capital of the World. Firestone, Goodrich and Goodyear had their head offices in the city and during the early part of the 20th century the city thrived.

Being a rust belt city the Rubber Capital title crumbled as did the economy in the 1970′s and 80′s. David is one of those writers who covered the experience of change and decline that was so much a part of small town America during the last 15 to 20 years.

Given that new urbanism is a tender nod to the past, when I found David’s columns and publications a few years ago I was drawn in. Here’s a person of my generation who defines home in terms of people, memories and community.

A new urbanism champion if ever I saw one.

The New York Times did a feature on David’s experience in deciding to move his young family to a dilapidated old home 12 years ago. You’ve got to read it. Not only do you get a glimpse of the home through pictures, but you get to understand a little bit about David’s romantic but I argue very valid notion of a home and family life.

By the way the home he bought was a Gilded Age Mansion (owned by a rubber company executive). He got it for $65,000. He borrowed not one penny for the renovation. He had two toddlers as he embarked on the journey of fixing up this home while he continued as a small town writer and champion for his home town.

You’ve also got to read the book All the Way Home. The official release is May 27th but if you purchase now through Amazon you can get an additional 5% off of their already discounted price.

The photo above is from the New York Times article about David’s book, photograhper Jeff Swensen.

Buying and Selling vs. Buying and Living

Well now that so many homeowners have over renovated and over purchased, the housing market bust is doing a couple things for us.

It’s bringing prices back down to the chagrin of many who paid too much but to the great joy of those who can now ENTER the housing market or finally move to the home they’ve always wanted and that is now within their means.

For the rest of us maybe it’s time for us to just enjoy LIVING in our homes.

For a fresh change of pace why not regard your home not as a place that needs this or that upgraded, but as a place that thank God you own and now have some security for your family. Put a halt on the spending and focus on the people around you in your community.

Are there ways for you to get more involved in your town/city to further some activity or issue that will make life better for everyone living there? How are your public schools doing – might your feedback help?

Are you happy with your parks and recreational facilities and is there something you could do to push a project along?  Speaking of recreation maybe this is the year you join a softball/baseball league.  I haven’t played in over 25 years but I use to love it and my girlfriend has been on me for too long to join our local ladies’ softball league.

Is there a spring festival coming up that you or your kids might want to be part of?

We actually purchased a booth at our community’s spring festival last year and promoted framed black and white photographs of historic homes in our community.  The pictures were taken by my teen daughter.  It was really a lot of fun and my teen earned some money to boot!

Community living can be so satisfying if we just take the time to look at where we live as the center of what gives us joy or can give us joy in our lives.