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I've seen a lot of threads about selling houses but not as many about buying.
I am currently in the midst of it. Just last week I made a whirlwind trip and visited over 20 houses. Talk about 'fun' during holiday season.
Some of the things I had to deal with:
Listing agent was 20 minutes late for an appointment. We were prompt and after waiting till 10 after our agent called the listing agent who said he was 5 minutes away. At about 19 after we gave up and drove away. As we did the listing agent showed up. We didn't go back. All that time waiting made us realize that cars flew by that street. The listing agent never apologized. I felt sorry for the owners that hired him.
In another house the owner followed us around the house. Let's just say we barely peeked into each room as we felt unwelcomed.
In another house, the closets were packed and there was a rack of clothes near the bathroom entrance.
Finally, on a house while I was outside I watched a pitbull jump the fence out of the backyard. I looked surprised so the owner's daughter told me that that wasn't their dog. It just came by to visit her dogs. Another little dog also came out of the neighbor's yard. I sure don't want to live in a house where roaming dogs will come by at their convenience
I also did some house hunting a few days ago. My DH and I were scheduled to meet my agent at 10:00 at the first house. As we arrive, my agent, another agent and the listing agent are all in the driveway chatting. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the house because it was supposed to be empty, but when the listing agent went in to check it for showing, she found people asleep in beds and on couches and beer bottles all over! She said the owner would be pretty ticked. Cross that one off (I'm an out of state buyer so no opportunity to reschedule the showing for at least a few months). Luckily, no such problems at the other four we looked at.
I looked at a house where the owners were both home playing cards in the middle of the small house. It had just been listed for $250,000 and the second I walked in the door it was obvious that it was overpriced by at least 100,000 (which it eventually sold for). Nothing seemed to have been updated since it was built in the late 1960's (including things like the carpet which was peeling from the wall) had tons of junk everywhere, and it reeked of smoke. They kept rambling on about this and that for almost an hour as I tried to leave, waste of an entire lunch break. They told me they were hoping to leave everything but their clothes (like I would for some reason want their old smokey furniture?). It was just so awkward.
I've walked into homes where people were naked asleep on couches and beds.
Just recently I went into an open house where the owner left the dogs with the agent and there was pee all over the tile floor.
Backyards that smell so bad of pet waste you would think you were at the zoo but no sign of an animal or their waste in sight, people don't seem to realize the smell comes over the fence.
When my wife and I were looking for our first home we saw this listing that said renovated kitchen but we couldn't open and of the drawers and some of the doors peeled paint up, painting cabinets isn't renovating!
Neither of these were that bad, but they were annoying.
Two different agents (looking in different locations). I was looking at condos and townhouses. Told them dealbreakers included washer/dryer in the unit and no small, self-managed associations (this was based on past experience and was an absolute non-negotiable for me, which I made very clear).
Agent 1 took me to a complex with no washer hook ups in the units, and when I brought it up, response was oh, plenty of people break the rules and put one it. Where they put it, I have no idea since not only was there no hook up, there was of course no vent for a dryer and no place to put anything without having to tear out counters and cabinets or give up some of the already limited closet space. No sale.
Agent 2 pulls up in front of a side by side triplex, wanting to show me the middle unit. I wouldn't have been interested in that anyway, but there was no HOA at all, not even self managed. I refused to even get out of the car to look at it, despite the agent trying to guilt me into it because the sellers were there waiting for us. He had to go in and apologize while I sat in the car fuming at the waste of my time.
I tried to be open minded and flexible but when I made it clear that these were true deal breakers and non-negotiable in any way, do not waste my time!
I looked at a house a few years back where it was evident the elderly parent had just passed and the kids put the house on the market immediately...without removing a thing....pictures still on the wall, food in the fridge....all of it still in place...
We looked at a house in 2002 that had hideous brown shag carpet installed. That's not unusual, except the house was only two years old! Where did they even FIND that in 2000?
Friend/realtor took me to see an historic cottage at the edge of town. The house was loaded with built-ins, and was darling. Except, it had originally had an outhouse, and at some point someone brought the plumbing inside. An adorable bathroom off of the sunroom that had been added to the back of the house. Claw-foot tub, fantastic light fixtures. Super nice, but...no toilet? Where was the toilet? We searched the entire house, and finally found it. Tucked around the corner in the kitchen pantry. No door. Just the toilet, tucked out of sight in the pantry.
The house was freshly painted and had all new laminate flooring.
It looked staged in that most of the belongings were gone and it was unnaturally sparse. The FIRST thing I noticed smell that hit you getting in the door was a mixture of sour bottle milk, soiled diapers and a sort of grimey scent you notice in places that never get cleaned. It was unbelievably intense. The smell seemed to leech out from the walls. The painting was poorly done, walls weren't even cleaned before hand and painted over "build up" the flooring had gaps left everywhere and very very poorly finished around doorways and such. Upstairs there was a leaking toilet that must have been leaking for years. the subfloor was shot and mushy, and the joists around the area gave, a lot, when I got a bit closer. I was probably around 110ish lbs then and wouldn't want to actually use a bathroom like that for fear of ended up on the floor below. haha.
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The painting was poorly done, walls weren't even cleaned before hand and painted over "build up" the flooring had gaps left everywhere and very very poorly finished around doorways and such. Upstairs there was a leaking toilet that must have been leaking for years. the subfloor was shot and mushy, and the joists around the area gave, a lot, when I got a bit closer. I was probably around 110ish lbs then and wouldn't want to actually use a bathroom like that for fear of ended up on the floor below. haha.
