moving into our new home, purchased as a foreclosure. feeling weird.

[Anonymous]

We moved into our new home last weekend, and while we are excited to have this great house, the past few days have been a constant reminder that our family is the beneficiary of another family's misfortune. The previous owners moved out of the property sometime over the summer, and they left behind a significant number of personal belongings ranging from mundane (cans of chicken noodle soup) to the sad (family pictures taped to the walls of the kids' bedrooms). Yesterday, I found a box of unopened bills in the garage- from what we can tell, they owned a small business that went belly up. Like our own family, they have three young children. Ugh. It is such a strange and surreal experience packing up someone else's life.

[Anonymous]

Nice to know that people like you still exist. Bless you and the other family. Keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

[Anonymous]

I agree, it is sad. Our house was a short sale so it was not abandoned like a foreclosure, however I knew that the previous owner loved the house and she was torn up about leaving. It took a little while to not feel weird about that

[Anonymous]

Have the family clean it up, what kind of people leave a mess with their personal stuff. Shame

[Anonymous]

The sooner you get rid of all that sad stuff the better. You don’t know the whole story. Who knows what really happened. It’s your home now.

[Anonymous]

I would see if you can get all the pictures to them. Maybe through their lawyer, or maybe finding them on FB. It sounds like the sheriff had to come evict them and they left in somewhat of a hurry. That's usually the reason people leave behind family photos.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have the family clean it up, what kind of people leave a mess with their personal stuff. Shame

Troll better, that was weak

[Anonymous]

Time to fill the house with good memories. I wish you the best.

[Anonymous]

Burn some sage, disinfect everything, and be prepared for things to suddenly break

[Anonymous]

See if your Realtor can help you forward their personal things.

[Anonymous]

We have friends who moved into a house where the previous owners had gone through a bitter divorce, with the ex husband essentially throwing the wife out at the moment her time in the house was up, per the divorce agreement.

They didn’t leave things behind, but my friends know the story and do feel a bit weird about it. They feel that they have to move forward and make their own good memories in the house, as a poster above suggested.

[Anonymous]

OP - you're fortunate. Usually families strip the place clean, including all lighting and bathroom fixtures

[Anonymous]

We got our house as a short sale under similar circumstances. The husband took out a large home equity loan and started a business and the housing market crashed and the business didn’t do well. It sounded like he made a lot of bad decisions and the wife was the one floating the family financially for a long time. They divorced and we scored a lovely home in a wonderful neighborhood for a dirt cheap price. We truly lucked out. It’s been a decade and I still think about how we benefitted from another family falling apart. They had kids and we still find little things here and there. It weighs heavily on my mind too and I don’t know how to reconcile that feeling. When we first moved in we found some personal items and I mailed them to the wife with a note but that’s the only contact we’ve had.

I understand how you feel.

[Anonymous]

Ugh. Hard pass.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Burn some sage, disinfect everything, and be prepared for things to suddenly break

They were bankrupt, not murdered (as far as I know, not the OP).