Home again

Cindy Carlson Bagaus and her house go way back -- back to her birth in the room that's now her office.

"Mom accidentally had me at home, by herself; she thought she had plenty of time," Bagaus said.

Her arrival was less than ideal, but everything else about her Robbinsdale childhood was idyllic. The marketing consultant has warm memories of sitting on the front stoop, eating oranges with her mother ... watching the fireworks during Whiz Bang Days ... playing outside on summer evenings until the neighborhood siren signaled the end of outdoor playtime.

But by age 18, Bagaus was eager to strike out on her own. "Three days after graduation, I moved to California," she said. "I couldn't wait to leave that house. I was kind of a rebel."

Now the rebel has come home to roost. After her dad died two years ago, Bagaus was planning to sell the family bungalow, until her son said, "Mom, you seem so relaxed here; you should keep this house," she recalled. So she did.

Bagaus is living proof that you can go home again -- and redecorate your way. And she's not alone. Anecdotal evidence suggests a small surge of Twin Cities nesters are returning to the houses in which they grew up.

Laurie Volkmuth-McNutt, who has traveled the world with the U.S. Navy, recently bought her childhood home in Minneapolis' Shingle Creek neighborhood after her father moved to an assisted-living facility. The weakened housing market was a factor, she said, but she considers it a win-win.

"This house has really good bones, and a great neighborhood, with a lot of community pride." She knows of two others in her neighborhood who also have returned to their childhood homes, she said.

For baby boomers especially, the family home can exert a powerful emotional pull, said Jim McDonell, associate professor/associate director at the Institute for Family and Neighborhood Life at Clemson University in South Carolina.

"There's a strong connection and attachment to place," he said. "Younger people don't form the same kind of attachments my generation did. They tend to be much more mobile."

And the faltering housing market may be influencing families to hang onto the family home. Dave Vang, chairman of the Finance Department at the University of St. Thomas, hasn't seen any data, "but it makes sense," he said. "Prices have tanked. They're down 20 percent from three or four years ago, and the selling time has pretty much doubled since early last year."

Not all returning offspring are putting their names on the title. For Adrian and Shannon Moy, moving into her childhood home in Golden Valley is a way to build equity for a future home purchase. They're renting the house from her parents, while updating it to enhance its marketability. "We'll get a portion of the sale, and they don't have to worry about trying to sell in this market," Adrian said.

In the meantime, they enjoy having a nice place to live, Shannon said. "After living in an apartment, a house looked pretty good. We have more room, our own yard, we know the house and its history. And for location, you couldn't ask for better."

They're sleeping in her parents' bedroom and using their bathroom, but they've definitely made the home their own, Shannon said.

"People ask if it feels weird, but by the time we moved in, we'd already torn down the wallpaper and painted the walls different colors. We have our own stuff. It doesn't look like it did when I lived here before."

Kim Palmer • 612-673-4784