Trashing the Camp

As Mike and I continue to look at houses that are up for sale, we realize that there are a lot of foreclosure properties among the lot and also know that this is where we can really make our money. However, going through many of these homes is still somewhat shocking to me....and sad. I actually feel bad for the house, having been neglected, abused and literally trashed. We went through a home yesterday that once must have been beautiful and stately. It is only 8 years old, 2300 sq ft 2-story with an unfinished basement. From the exterior, you're thinking, this home is lovely and they're only asking how much? What could be wrong with it?

Then, you step into someone else's world. The carpets have been destroyed, the floors covered with so much trash you HAVE to walk on it to get from room to room. Old clothes and sheets used for window coverings, moldy food still rotting on the floor, piles of garbage and everything of value gone. Why? This home belonged to somebody. A family. And the state of this home was not something new, not just retaliation for the bank seizing it back for lack of payment. They lived this way...in a home valued at one time for over $350,000.

I consider our home to be an extension of myself and my family. It reflects our tastes, our mood, our way of living. Sometimes I am ashamed that its floors are dusty or the sink full of dirty dishes or closets long over-due for a good organizing, but I would never purposely make it into something unhealthy, rancid and filthy. Then, it wouldn't be my home...it would just be walls and a roof and space. That's sad....and I find myself getting upset with these unknown owners who have allowed themselves to sink to such a level of disinterest and neglect, with the saddest part being the example that they have set for their children.

Let us all strive to be more than that, to care more than that, and to love ourselves and our children more than that....