How a House Becomes a Home

There is a difference between a house and a home. Both words are similar, but they come with underlying connotations that set them apart. And within those connotations, we can differentiate what each term means, and use those differences to help homebuyers on their journey.

WHAT MAKES A HOUSE?

A house is built by walls. It is concrete and tangible. For homebuyers, characterized with childish dalliance—especially when buyers are on the market and there are constraints. Such as where is the house located? In the suburbs, downtown, part of another district, on the outskirts, by a school district, located on the bad side of town, maybe within a gated community. It is a little bit of shopping mixed with a myriad of responsibility. No matter what house fits the scope of the buyer’s need, it must encompass the limits they place on themselves.

Like the price. How much does the house cost? The house should fit into a homebuyer’s budget. That condo in the middle of downtown might be cheaper than the townhouse further away, and smaller. But even though a buyer might not choose the townhouse, at the end of the day, it’s still a house. They just don’t live there.

WHAT MAKES A HOME?

A home is built from experience. It is the base where everything begins. An invisible sense that this place is where a person can come to sit down, shower, relax, and shut off.

The word home isn’t always concrete. The term can be as broad as it can be narrow. Where a person lives, their address, the state, the country, the county, the desert, the northeast. A home determines the memories, emotions, and experiences. And through this creates what buyers are looking for in a home. A place where they can truly live. Where they can call home.

THE DIFFERENCE

The buyer chooses the constraints with the house they purchase or the state they live in. The home begins to create itself from the first moment they accept the limits placed, not only on the house, but on themselves and the responsibilities they agree to when choosing it. Because with a house comes ownership. And with ownership comes responsibility.