In this Expert Contributor feature, publisher David Pendergrass sits down with Theresa Ryan of Habitat for Humanity to discuss the difference between renting a house and owning a home.
Dave: What would you say is the first thing that comes to mind when we think of a home versus a house?
Theresa: A house is somewhere you just live in, and people come and go. When you think of a home, you think of stability, you think of family, of memories. A life built in four walls.
Dave: And what would you say is an activity somebody might do in a home that is theirs versus in a house that they were renting? Can you think of some specific activities?
Theresa: With a house you’re renting, you might not care for it as much. You might not do as much to personalize it to make it yours. When you move into a home and bring up your family in it, you make it theirs. The kids can hang their stuff on the walls and be proud of it. They can have their friends over and say, “This is my room… I’m going to grow up here and make memories.”
That’s where childhood come from. Not that that can’t be done in any house, but there’s just a different atmosphere to owning your home and doing stuff like that.
Dave: Can you speak to the idea of inheritance? How does inheritance play into owning your home versus a house?
Theresa: Again, your memories and stuff are there. With a house, things come and go; with a home, the memories are there forever. If you were raised in that home, when you walk in, there’s just a warm feeling. It takes you back to growing up, and that atmosphere is just different.
Dave: And if you own your own home, is it true that you could then pass it on to your children and your grandchildren?
Theresa: Yes, that property can be in your family for generations. And that’s the love of it.
You get these generational homes and you can say, “Well, this was Grandma’s favorite room, and this was my room when I was a kid.” A generational home builds character; it builds stability in the community.
It doesn’t just do for whoever is living there at that time, you become a staple of the community. When people drive by, they can say, “That was so-and-so’s home. Their kids own it now, but they were raised there.” In that sense, it always has a name.
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