I've long had a theory about people and houses. Some people are movers and some people are stayers. Just look at Warren Buffett. He's a multi-billionaire businessman, and yet Buffett still lives in the exact same house he bought way back in 1958 in Omaha, Nebraska for a measly $31,500!
Yes, I'm talking about THE Warren Buffett, the guy Wikipedia calls the most successful investor of the 20th century. And he's a "stayer"! Could it be that he's one of those romantics too?
Let me back up here and explain this movers and stayers theory, OK?
My parents have lived in the same house I grew up in, the same house they bought several years before I was born. And then I met my husband who had moved five times before he was a teenager. I'd always known these people existed, but I thought they were anomalies. I thought the Buffetts of the world, the people who stay tied to one place regardless of their financial state, were the norm.
Turns out the average American moves 11.7 times in their life. And every time the lottery jackpot climbs into the gazillion-dollar range, people start talking about how they want to win millions of dollars so they can move into a fantastic mansion.
I have dabbled in fantasy myself. I have lost hours on Pinterest gazing at houses that have room for all the stuff that we've collected in the 10 years since we moved into a house that has so little space!
But then I look around my house and my yard. There is the tree where we hung my daughter's first swing. There's the spot where we huddled in the freezing cold as a family to say goodbye to our cat.
I would love to have a second bathroom, and a bedroom that actually fit our furniture, and, and, and … but I'm an old softie and a bit of a romantic. I look at my tiny house, and I see beyond the one bathroom and strange shaped rooms. I see our life. I see memories. I see things that money can't replace.
So Warren Buffett has millions of dollars? So he's stuck with a house that he paid $31,500 for (that's $250,000 by today's standards) when he could have moved on up and moved on out? Some people would call him a cheapskate. I'll call him a guy who gets what's really important in life; who knows that money can't buy everything.
What about you? Could you stay in the same house for the rest of your life?
Image via Pacific Coast News