Has anyone else felt like this after selling?

adogisforlife91 · 2020-09-20T08:09:37+00:00

Sale of our flat completed last week. It was a first time buy for me and DP and first home together. It had been unoccupied for 2 years before we got the keys so it really feels like we were the only people to have lived in it and loved it (lots of effort to make it nice again) I feel SO curious about how the new owners are finding it! Do they like it? What have they changed? What are their plans for it? I almost want to drive by and see what they are up to! (I won't...that's weird) I'm not sad about leaving as we are moving onto bigger and better things, but it does feel so bizarre to think of other people living in the place that I made my home. Can anyone relate?

AGreatUsername · 20/09/2020 09:47

Yeah a bit. Our old house was lived in for 50 years before we bought it and we changed everything so it felt like fully ours. We hated the area so I’m glad to see the back of it but I do wonder about whether the new owners still loved it when they actually moved in, what they changed etc.

I definitely think don’t ever look back. When we bought it and started gutting it the old owner came back for her post and saw her carpet on the drive, she was distraught. Saying she thought we liked it and could she take it home with her...it was neon pink and of course we hadn’t liked it, but with a 5 month old had needed carpet. She never came back again. Sad really.

Covert19 · 20/09/2020 09:49

We’re in the process of selling and I’ve overheard our buyers talking about what they’re going to do to the house - knocking through, and extending a bit. It’s funny to think that they don’t think it’s perfect as it is, cos for us it has been.
But then, they’re welcome to do as they please - we’re moving on to a new place and so excited about how we will make it our own.
Home is where the heart is.

DotTheCaddy · 20/09/2020 09:56

Not our current home, but I feel this way about my childhood home that my mum sold last year. I always wonder what my old bedroom looks like now, whose living in there, what they've changed etc!

She lived there for over 25 years, I had all my firsts there, had the dog from pup til she was PTS age 13 in her bed, sister being born, all the childhood parties and events etc so its totally odd that it isnt ours anymore.

I remember driving past last christmas and seeing their tree lit up in the window and feeling really weird that a new family were having their christmas there!

notheragain4 · 20/09/2020 10:41

Like a pp I feel it for my childhood home and would love to see it now (although it may upset me!) I don't have the same feelings for other places I've lived, although only sold our first bought home last month so maybe that'll change!

Covert19 · 20/09/2020 15:03

Oh and I do frequently drive by my old house(s) to have a nosey. I don’t think it’s weird at all - perfectly natural to be nostalgic and curious. It would be weird to knock on the door and ask for a tour though.

I still have the key to my childhood home, which mum and dad sold 20 years ago. I keep it on my key ring for sentimental reasons. The front door is still the same so theoretically I could let myself in for a wander about. I never would though!

Bol87 · 20/09/2020 15:45

Yes! I’ve not moved yet & already I feel like I’m saying goodbye to a much loved relative 🙈 (not like death but say they are moving to Australia 😂).. I’ve brought both my babies home to our house & it’s full of memories of my first learning to crawl & walk etc! I do feel really sad to leave, I’ll def cry! But we need an extra bedroom & are moving a bit more rural, so on we go!

I’m super curious about my Grandmas old house. I loved her house, it was my happy place. It need a lot of updating, it was quirky to say the least! I’d love to see it now. We sold to a lovely family who bumped into my parents last week & invited them to go have a look when legal to do so.. I’ve told mum to take loadsa photos 🤣

Plesky · 20/09/2020 15:51

@AGreatUsername

Yeah a bit. Our old house was lived in for 50 years before we bought it and we changed everything so it felt like fully ours. We hated the area so I’m glad to see the back of it but I do wonder about whether the new owners still loved it when they actually moved in, what they changed etc.

I definitely think don’t ever look back. When we bought it and started gutting it the old owner came back for her post and saw her carpet on the drive, she was distraught. Saying she thought we liked it and could she take it home with her...it was neon pink and of course we hadn’t liked it, but with a 5 month old had needed carpet. She never came back again. Sad really.

Our first house in the UK was in a village where people tended to stay longterm, just moving on to a bigger or smaller house as needed, so I think we met everyone who had ever lived in our house, or their adult children. Yes, absolutely, there was tutting about the vast expense of the ghastly kitchen and thick, cream-coloured bathroom carpet we removed. Someone arrived at the door almost in tears at the sight of the foul, expensive streaky-bacon-effect kitchen work surfaces stacked in the drive, because their parents had chosen them...

cortex10 · 20/09/2020 15:59

Some years ago, my friend was at home alone a few weeks after moving in to her new home. The front door opened and it was the previous owner letting himself in to have a nosy around to see what changes she was making. He'd kept a key and thought she'd be out at work. Made an excuse about looking for mail that hadn't been forwarded. She was understandably livid.

Salome61 · 20/09/2020 16:02

I sold my house at auction and moved into a rental just ten doors away - it's killing me he's chopped down all the trees, we had so many wrens/robins plus a resident barn owl. I do know it's none of my business, I just wish he hadn't done it :)

YorkshireIndie · 20/09/2020 16:09

I want to know if they have got a shed (we had a custom made shed to fit an awkward size base but they did not want to pay what we wanted for it - new that year), what have they done to the garden and if they have found out what was causing the leak in the bathroom as we couldn't and just painted over the stain and had baths until we left 🤫

notheragain4 · 20/09/2020 16:10

@cortex10 that's insane!!!!! I imagine she changed the locks pretty quickly after that!

Bluntness100 · 20/09/2020 16:16

I occasionally look mine up on line, and I regularly drive past our last one and have a look at what they have done (they redid the front. Looks great). It’s just sheer nosiness though. I don’t consider them my home anymore or really give a shit.

Howeve the house we are in now we’ve been constantly renovating over the last six years, and it looks so different to what it looked like when we bought it. I do wonder what rhe last owners would think of it.

Neron · 20/09/2020 16:20

Yes I often wondered who moved in to our last place. We were the first people to live there and stayed for 11 years. Have since found out it's still empty and we moved out in Feb.
When we moved here, the owners friend had a spare key and was directed by them to hand it back personally. We think because they wanted to see us. A face to a name perhaps.

TheHighestSardine · 20/09/2020 16:24

We're still in our first buy, 30 years now, socan't comment - but the previous owners (who are thankfully lovely) pop past once or twice a decade to see how things are going. They were Laura Ashley, Anaglypta and busy carpet fans, we're much more flat paint types, so first time was a bit of a surprise for them! Their kids have never shown interest, they were 8-13 when they moved out.

BeamerTown · 20/09/2020 16:58

These messages really drive home the importance of changing your locks as soon as you move in, don’t they! The week after we moved into our current house we had decorators in - they came back from a lunch break to find the previous owner’s son poised with key in hand, ready to try and open the door! Not sure if nosy or more nefarious but I’ve never been more glad we had the locks changed.

But I do totally understand where you are coming from. This week I had a strange sixth sense about our old flat and actually searched Rightmove to see if it had been listed - to find it was listed that day! We had a good old nosy at what they had changed/ not changed. I’m also agog to know what the buyers of my granny’s house have done - tempted to introduce myself but know how insane that would come across.

Great thread!

oohmama · 20/09/2020 17:44

I felt this when my dad sold my grandmas house (next door to my family home)
They gutted it and it was so strange
They did actually invite us in to see the house and it was unrecognisable
Genuinely wouldn't have believed it was the same house
I found it very sad
And I still find it sad when I think about it!
Especially it's now rented out to students who don't give a fuck about it :(

We are going to move next year, we adore the house, have literally put our blood sweat and tears into it but we just hate the area
It's going to be sooo hard to think of someone else enjoying the house that we've slaved over
But we are moving areas so at least I won't have to drive past everyday or anything! Literally once we shut the door I will never see it again which I think will make it easier

I'm a sentimental emotional fool though 😂

Thecazelets · 20/09/2020 18:07

I have moved a lot, and have a recurring dream where I let myself into one of my old houses and have a look around. I have never done it in real life, I hasten to add!

Minesril · 20/09/2020 18:57

We bought our first house in October and have changed a lot - carpets, decor, garden. In the process of rebuilding conservatory so awful polycarb roof has been replaced with warm roof, new floor etc. I'd love to know what the previous owners think!

Feeling guilty at the moment as there are two young trees in the garden which were apparently wedding presents, but they've been planted too close to the fence so will have to go eventually

Vintagevixen · 20/09/2020 22:03

Yes, just sold the family house post separation in April. It was the house I bought DD home to when she was born, where she took her first steps, so many parties, halloweens, christmas etc.

My friend told me that she had seen them getting a digger in to do the front - I made her stop right there, didn't want to hear! It is still fresh enough to really feel like its still my home, and I won't be able to go down the street for many years to have a look, it would be too painful for me (obviously circumstances with separation etc don't help). I'm still slightly curious and wonder what the digger was for though. I really hope they don't cut down my mature oak tree in the garden either. They got the decorators round the day we moved out - what was wrong with my colours!!

Having said that, when I moved into that house, the house we moved from was my favourite, but enough time has elapsed that I think I could go and have a nosy now and it wouldn't feel like my home anymore.

user1471538283 · 23/09/2020 18:17

I thought I would about our last house because I love it so and did so much work. I think about it occasionally and I miss enjoying everything about it but don't miss it if that makes sense. I will leave this one without a second glance despite the work I've done