No, I would not believe them if they said they lived in our house. I would suspect they were trying to rob me or something. We’ve lived here for 21 years and the house is only 28 yrs old. It was vacant when we bought it and had been a rental before that. I can’t imagine our house being sentimental to anyone besides ourselves.
No. I wouldn’t even answer the door. If I was contacted by other means with the request (e.g., phone), I’d consider it after some investigation. Even then, likely not.
Why not, specifically?
I guess I don’t understand why someone won’t even answer the door when someone knocks. What are you afraid of?
I’m a single female in a dodgy neighborhood, albeit with big scary-looking dogs at my side. But all things being equal and normal, I can’t imagine my knee-jerk reaction being "Scary! Danger! Threat! “OMG Someone is knocking on the door, arm yourselves and batten down the hatches!”
I guess I am not scared in general, and nor do I regard the world as that scary or threatening.
I have only seen the house where I spent my entire childhood once since I left home. I would love to see it again. The entire area has changed so much – the streets have been reconfigured (and paved!) and the trees have grown up and “new” houses (i.e. <40 years old) have sprouted all around. I “stood” right in front of my house on Google Earth and could hardly recognize it. I know from the aerial view that the barn we built in 1964 is now gone. Eventually I’ll get back there, and if there are signs of life and family around and they look friendly, I’ll ask if I can look around. I could show them where the dead pets and sheep were buried.
Neither do I. Nice straw man.
I don’t answer the door because no one I know visits without calling first so anyone knocking on my door is almost certainly trying to sell me something. It’s either a realtor or someone wanting me to convert to their religion or sign their petition or vote for them or some kind of scam. I can’t be bothered.
We were once the family that knocks. The current owners were very gracious and we had a great look-see at our childhood home. Would definitely return the favor.
Where’s the straw man? 
Serious question. Typically, people coming to my door are not scammers, religious nuts or petitioners. It’s probably been 20 years since one of those types knocked at my door, no joke. 99.9 percent of the time someone at my door is a friend, neighbor or someone on legit business.
I guess I live in a different, friendlier and less-threatening existence than you.
In your previous post, you assumed that people who don’t answer the door were terrified of danger which is not the case. And you continue in that vein. Now you presume that I feel threatened and am unfriendly which is a strange interpretation as well. As I said earlier, if I happened to run into a former resident while I was outside, I would certainly let them in.
I only get door knocks two or three times a month at the most. Most of the time it’s a JW or the realtor who lives a few blocks away. I know it’s them because they leave literature.
I live in a world where I don’t make delusional assumptions about others. It’s nice here.
I’ve experienced the other side. I drove to the house I lived in from 3-13, and just sat in the car and took in the ways the house had changed. A woman came out and asked me why I was staring at her house. I told her, and she wrote down my plate number, and said she was calling the cops. I never heard from them.
I’ve no doubt it’s very nice for you there.
We did. They were kinda rude too. We were home when my grandmother noticed some strangers peering in the windows. We went out to confront them and then they explained they used to live in our house. She let them in to walk around. I was of the opinion if they didn’t have the sense to knock and ask, leave 'em outside.
Odd coincidence. I just binge-watched The Starter Wife and the last ep of season one had her visiting her old apartment.
I am not letting them in. I cleaned up enough of their dead hookers for them already.
I voted no, mostly because I have four cats and at any given moment my house might smell like the litterboxes need cleaning (though not right now since I just took care of that).
I did get to see photos of my childhood (age 2 to 12) home via Zillow a few years back. The current owners had added on to it, fancied up the bathroom, and otherwise put a lot of money into it - effectively ruining it. The best thing about that house was the huge back yard, and with their additions (which didn’t “flow” well at all) there was only a tiny patio left.
Personally, I just don’t like unannounced visitors. All my friends know the way I feel and respect my wishes.
I stopped by my grandmothers house in the Midwest while we were on a 9000-mile, 20-state road trip. I hadn’t been there in over 20 years and she’d been dead for almost 14. A young fellow opened the door and he invited my wife and I in. It was interesting to see again after so long. I was able to tell him a few things about the house that he didn’t know so that was nice.
Pretty much. But if I think you might kill me, don’t step into my labyrinth. All those bookcases…
I’ve told the story here before, but one day I saw someone driving slowly past and staring at our house a bunch of times, and I finally just went out and asked her what was up. She was a former tenant whose brother had killed himself in the house. I let her come in, look around, and spend some quiet time in the room where he’d done it (our guest room/office - there were no valuables in there). She asked me if we’d noticed anything odd going on in the room, I assured her that we really hadn’t, and then she left. I suspect the sister had probably come by to visit sometime before we bought the house, since the tenant who was living there at the time had some kind of altar with burning candles set up in that room when we looked at the house, and she kept telling me some of the woo things she believed. I’d bet she talked to the sister and believed she was exorcising (or whatever) a ghost.
I’d also have to say it depends. If I’d been alone in the house when she came or if she’d been a big guy, I probably wouldn’t have acted the same way. In this case, though, I have no regrets - I got to hear a little about the history of the house, and the woman maybe got a little bit of closure.
No. And in any case, we’re the original owners of our condo. This building was finished 11 years ago, and we moved in right after.
EDIT: Well, probably not (if we were living someplace else). I guess a lot would depend on the circumstances.
Two years ago, I stopped at my grandfathers childhood home in a (very) small town in Arkansas. I knew the street but not the number. Fortunately it was a small street and I had photos of the front of the home, taken in 1915 of my grandfather as an infant, being held by his grandfather, standing in front of the home.
I was able to easily find the right house, but nobody was home. 
I will certainly try again someday if I am ever in that part of the country. I would hope they’d be interested in photos of their home from 100 years ago.
How did you approach this?
I’m curious, because the house my maternal immigrant ancestors built is still standing, and outwardly the same as I remember it from the 1970s. What about photocopying the photos I have from the 1880s and mailing them to the owners, and asking to see the interior?