I was walking in our back yard the other day and I started thinking about all the things I want to tell the next people who buy our home about our plants and shrubs.
We have lived here since 1988 and have landscaped and put in all sorts of plants and shrubs that we care deeply about. I want whoever buys our home to know how to care for the plants in ways that work. I am imagining, of course, that they will keep all the plants we have and just add more.
Husband and I like to imagine that the ideal people to buy our home will be a retired couple, preferably a farm couple who like to garden and can, and who want enough bedrooms for family to visit. Nothing too fancy, but with a nice garden and not too much lawn to mow. We won’t be putting our house on the market for a couple of years yet, and we have lots to do yet to refurbish the interior. I hope whoever moves in after us will be as happy as we have been here.
What sort of people would you want to live in your home after you? What would they need to know about your house to be successful there.
Trail Baboon 
Truthfully, ( I’ll save the humor for another posting) I would like to know that a formerly homeless person lives in my apartment. The route I walk each day has a homeless encampment. Several of the walkers and bike riders I’ve spoken with detest those unfortunate folks. Not just “don’t like.” Destest. My comments to those feelings attempt to engender a modicum of empathy. At the very least, I remind myself that with other imaginable circumstances I could be homeless. I have limited means to help directly but respect for fellow humans isn’t that hard to give.
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Agreed
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And now for the Un-serious Wes.
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Yes, I remember this…
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Except for a brief encounter at the closing, we’ve never met any of the people who have succeeded us in our homes. We’ve never had any role in selecting them or, instructing them as to how they should maintain our personal shrines.
In each house we’ve lived we’ve made substantial changes, both to the “landscaping” and to the interior. In each case, as far as I can tell, we have made more substantial changes than any of the previous owners, changes that suited ourselves. We would expect subsequent owners to do the same if they wished. If they are successful here they will be successful on their own terms, as we have been.
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The landscapers for the front yard of this house, which we purchased in 2018, will arrive next week to remove the front lawn and replace it with native plants, Rocks and wood chips. When the time comes for the house to be sold (after I’m carried out feet first), it will be a matter for whoever is the next steward of the premises to decide what they would like.
Some years ago, while living overseas, friends on the cusp of retirement went to Colorado and purchased their own retirement home. They turned it over to a management company to operate as a rental until they would return to take up residence. I remember them telling me that part of the company’s instructions to them were to stay away from the house, and even if on vacation, not to drive for a look. I rather liked that. When something is no longer mine, no strings should bind anyone else to doing with it what I would prefer.
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Two weeks ago I attended the MN Master Gardener Conference where Kelly D. Norris spoke. He is the landscape architect who developed some of the native plant naturalizing. He has a book “New Naturalism” telling the reader how to do this in various settings and climates. It will guide me through the process of transitioning our yard. We have some of the lawn re-seeded with Bee Lawn (Fescue, flowering creeping thyme, and clover). So far we are pleased with the progress of that.
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Rise and Shine,Baboons,
Our AZ condo was purchased by a woman and her learning disabled daughter. That was quite gratifying to me because the daughter went to the library just across the street for tutoring, and now her mom does not need to drive her there. We did meet out buyers because they wanted to come by and measure rooms and furniture. They thanked us many times for accepting their offer. It was so touching, and it also should be great housing for them.
Our house in MN needs a gardener to buy it, or someone with an excavator to knock down the gardens. Like Aboksu, I will be planting more native plants.
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I thought the young couple who bought my Waterville house was perfect for it. They had two young kids so the house was the right size. There was a large attached garage and a huge yard and I had landscaped and gardened until I was exhausted. They would have plenty of room to grow and play and to grow some of their own food. I clearly don’t know young people at all. They don’t want what I think they want. They left within a year. The place I’d lived in and worked so hard on was too much for them. It makes me think I might be addicted to self-punishment.
I think the best new owner for this condo would be a young college grad, likely a young woman. Someone who is just starting a career, with maybe a roommate or a boyfriend somewhere. This kind of home feels like a launching place to me. Somewhere you stay while on your way to someplace else. It’s lovely and comfortable here, for now. I know I will need a place with no stairs soon and this place has a lot of stairs. I’m grateful I can still run up and down them and it’s probably good for me. So I’m staying put for now.
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I have absolutely no idea who our house might appeal to, and when the time comes, I’d just as soon not know who the new owners are. I’m just hoping that it doesn’t end up torn down and replaced by some monstrosity that doesn’t fit in with neighboring houses. That’s what happened to Steve’s lovely little bungalow, and I’m sure it pained him.
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It did – he was heartbroken about that.
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Couple who bought our house on the North Shore painted everything white, all the natural one inch thick pine paneling, my crafted mantel, the grass wallpaper, the cabinets above and below, the doors inside and out, the shelves. They lived in it three years and tried to sell it for a profit. The next buyers gutted parts of it and sold it. After that I do not know. I understand it is abandoned. You cannot have a well or a septic system.
Clyde
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This is the only house we ever purchased, so I think that contributes to my attachment to the plants and shrubs.
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The new owners will have to be cool with “only” a two-car garage. Ours was a spec home, on the corner of a sort of busy street, and a bit cheaper than others in the neighborhood because of the garage. Few folks have three cars in these houses, but they use the third stall for mechanical toys of all sorts and/or overflow storage.
We improved the basement so we now have 5 bedrooms and 3.5 baths, so our house would be great for a young, intelligent couple who will be great parents and have four or more kids who will be assets to the community and the world.
We might put in a clause that requires the new owners to keep the porch and not deconstruct it down to a deck. But I think one hot, still, July evening listening to mosquitos buzzing on the outside of the screens will convince them of our foresight. .:-)
And a TB shout out to Krista, who stopped by my booth at the Third Thursday Downtown event in Northfield last night. It’s always such a pleasure to meet or reconnect with Baboons. Best of all, she promised to buy my new book! 🙂
Chris in Owatonna
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It was nice to see you, Chris! I hope you had a successful evening with your books!
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I wonder how difficult it would be to take over your parents’ house, farm, or business if your parents were still around, or how difficult it would be to let your kids take over those thing and not interfere.
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Ben should be able to give us some insight into that, I think. Of course, everything would depend on the relationship you have with your folks.
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This little house is good for a childless couple – either just starting out, or retired like us – or a young single person. A single mom and her young son lived here before us, and had no garden to speak of. It would be nice if next tenants have time for the gardens, but that would almost mean it has to be retirees. I think most young couples today are both working full time, and will likely not want to take on the gardening – the side yard is now veggie garden & raspberries, and the boulevard lawn has been (almost) replaced by perennials & strawberries.
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Hi-
Growing up I heard stories about Dad’s dad not wanting to change things and how grumpy he’d get when Dad did tear something down or buy something new. And they didn’t tell him they were building a new house (this one) and he drove in about the time it collapsed and he turned around and left. But he came out for Thanksgiving in the new house and had to admit it was nice.
My Dad always said he didn’t want to leave me ‘junk’ equipment like he inherited. They certainly made it work financially for us to be able to buy the farm. But it’s hard to just ‘walk away’; Dad still had a lot of opinions about how to operate the farm and what I should be doing. And I have some bitter memories of working on something and Dad coming in and not liking how I was doing it and taking over the project. For a lot of years I was still asking myself ‘What would Dad do?’ Took a long time to get over that, and, just being that age, for Dad to say I was doing a good job.
I’ve known a few farmers whose parents or even grandparents, wouldn’t let go. Why stay if you’re working your butt off and don’t ever seen a gain from it?? The farm magazines often talk about this transition or even how the family farms can work together. And succession.
We have a fairly small house. Someone made a comment once, when we sell, the buyers won’t be looking at how many bedrooms are in the house.
I hate thinking of the farm being split up and covered in houses. And yet, making it ‘large lot’ residential isn’t helpful either and not practical from a land use perspective. And we’re too close to Rochester to not expect either one of them. Especially depending on what happens in the neighborhood in the coming years.
It’s one of those things that sends me into a funk some nights.
We can only hope the capital gains taxes work in our favor when the time comes. I know a lot of farmers retire, but have to buy another farm somewhere just to offset the gains.
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Well said, Ben. Just how far are you from Rochester, anyway?
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When I first moved into this house, a neighbor up the street had a beautiful floral garden on her boulevard. She even had a little stone path that wound through it. I think of her often when I’m working out on my boulevard these days. The people who bought the house from her completely ripped it out. Literally. And that was a good lesdon for me — no how many much I love my less grass, no flowers plan, there is no guarantee what will happen once I’m gone from the house. One way or the other. But I’ve decided I’m not gonna worry about that because the less grass, more flowers plan is for me, not for the person who owns the house next.
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What a great group they were. Wish I had had the opportunity to see them perform live.
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Excellent!
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Only about a mile as the crow flies, from our place to city limits. But with some of the terrain, and neighboring properties in land stewardship, plus existing housing developments, it’s hard to say what will happen.
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thnks bro
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