Home is Where the Heart is - Valentine’s Day 2008

Posted by Tom McCarey

February 14, 2008

Heart Shaped Cookie Sweet Another Valentine’s Day has come and gone. And if the National Retail Federation had it right some $17 BILLION sluiced into the economy on items like cards, chocolates, candies and other sundries.

And to think, the namesake of this holiday died a martyr’s death at the hands of Claudius more than 1700 years ago for refusing to abide by the emperor’s prohibition against young men marrying. Claudius, no stranger to public resentment, decided the best way to fill and maintain the ranks for his military campaigns was to forbid marriage. St. Valentine couldn’t in good conscience do this.

So for his efforts he was jailed, beaten, stoned, and finally beheaded. But before his bloody death on February 14th he evidently fell in love with the blind daughter of his jailer and on the day of his execution he penned a love note to her signed simply “from your Valentine.”

Legend has it that so great was the love shared by these two that the girl regained her sight after Valentine’s death. And their story came to epitomize true love and February 14th came to be known as Valentine’s Day.

What we have here is a failure to communicate The splendor of the day is two-fold. On the one hand it represents a reflection on the love that is (such as I feel toward my lovely wife Nicole and our exuberant sons Jackson and Lucas). On the other hand the day is a meditation on possibilities and hope. (These folks are striving to arrive at a new place and I have a strong suspicion that they spend more than the projected average individual expenditure amount of $122.98.)

Speaking of love, it seems that the idea of love tends to be under-appreciated when it comes to finding and buying the right home. Based on personal experience, I HAVE to love the home that I am buying. Otherwise I don’t think I could conceive of making the commitment or the sacrifice.

Hmm, those two words - commitment and sacrifice - sound familiar.

I ate and I AM happy But the bulk of the folks who are making their way to my listings (and most of the folks I see at closing tables) are making purchase decisions on more pragmatic and less passionate bases. They seem to be stuck in the fog of how great of a deal can they get and not paying much attention to whether or not they connect with or resonate with the home.

I’m not advocating that they completely forgo economic considerations. But I am saying that they may want to consider whether they would want to “go on a second date” with the home they are making a commitment to. After all, from whence doth we think the phrase “home is where the heart is” emanates?

Just a thought.

Talk with you soon.

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