Are we moving again?

By Shawn Lackie

We just passed the 58^th anniversary of my mother living in the same house she bought in 1967. It was a great way to celebrate Canada’s Centennial.

It got me to thinking about buyers and their habits. According to the Canadian Movers Association, Canadians move five to six times in their life. Another survey found, 28 percent of Canadians have the urge to move every five years and another 14 percent feel the urge to move annually. So it would seem, we are a much more transient society these days.

My Grandparents lived almost their entire married lives in only two homes. The second one my Grandfather custom built, in the early 1940s, and it had many amenities which were well ahead of their time. A finished rec room basement with a fireplace, basement and main floor bathrooms, and a laundry chute which ran all the way from the second storey to the basement laundry room. That sure made for some interesting fun. No wonder they lived there over 50 years.

There are myriad reasons why people stay in one place for years, such as; they are comfortable with the area, all the amenities needed are close at hand, nice yard, great neighbours. Any number of reasons can be an influence. Just as many of those same influences can work in a negative manner.

How many times have we moved into an area and, next thing you know, one of the really nice neighbours ups and moves and in comes some crazy, who makes life miserable for all around them.

We had a real psycho for a next-door neighbour in Whitby. I should have known the day we moved in. He came over and introduced himself and proceeded to tell me who the good people were on the street. He could only mention two individuals he got along with. The rest, in his opinion, were idiots.

That should have been a red flag, right there. Things were alright, for the first few years, but then he and his wife split and things quickly went downhill from there. He would play his drums at odd times and his son also played drums, at 9 a.m., on Sunday mornings, with the doors and windows open. Needless to say, none of this went over well with any of the surrounding homes. He was ready, willing, and able to pick a fight with anyone. We ended up moving and were glad we did. The process of hoping you have good neighbours is a touchy one.

Some people move for other reasons. I had one family, in Bowmanville, who would move every three or four years. I once asked them why and all they could come up with was because “It was time.” They just got tired of the area and wanted a fresh start. Funny thing was, they only moved around the same town. There are other extenuating circumstances, such as: job change, divorce, death in the family and others. Quite often, older folks will want to downsize and move to a smaller more manageable property. Younger, growing families will want more space and need extra rooms.

Like the statistics show, it would seem, the ones who stay in one place for a long time are the exception. This is great for them and hopefully they can enjoy their home for many years to come. Unless they get the itch to move on.

Feel free to check out this story and more on my blog site, at https://slackie14.wixsite.com/buy-sell-and-more.