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A Westmount realtor says she is seeing a rise in people repurchasing the houses they grew up in – bringing the place called home full-circle. <\/p>\n
"It’s something I am seeing more and more," said Liza Kaufman, partner of Sotheby’s Reality International Quebec LK. "There’s something about it that makes people go back to their childhood homes."<\/p>\n
Kaufman said she sees the idea having a resonating quality to it. "We see many families staying in Westmount, and the houses have such history to the city, being over 100 years-old [to some] it just makes sense."<\/p>\n
She’s even getting requests from people to visit their old homes – as much as two or three per year.<\/p>\n
"They grew up in certain homes, and they want to look at it while it’s being sold," she said. They say to her that they not interested in buying, but Kaufman said she invites them to reminisce of their childhood roost while at the open house.<\/p>\n
"It’s pretty amazing," admitted Kaufman. "They are in their 80s sometimes."<\/p>\n
Earlier this year, Kaufman and her team sold a property at 21 Grove Park back to the daughter of the original owner, according to Alfie Kaufman, a real estate broker working with mother Liza at Sotheby’s.<\/p>\n
"She grew up there all her life, I believe," added Liza.<\/p>\n
Luckily, since purchasing it six years ago, Kaufman’s client had kept the house largely as it was. It had previously been renovated extensively, Kaufman said.<\/p>\n
"New buyers change things of course," she continued. "But the integrity of the home was intact."<\/p>\n
The re-sale has prompted Kaufman to consider keeping her own home in the family, she said. She lives down the street from the property on Grove Park.<\/p>\n
"Now my daughter and I are actually thinking about keeping our home, if she decides, for her family to grow up in," she said.<\/p>\n