Awful smells in foreclosed properties for sale (tenant, agent, landlord)

[emilybh]

Has anyone ever looked at a house with a carpeted room with a TERRIBLE dirty sock smell (as if the room was 3/4 filled with dirty socks that you ended up buying and successfully got rid of the smell afterwards????

I've seen some gross houses with moldy mildewy musky odors and seen some wth really invasive black mold growing on some of them. However, I'm wondering about one that doesn't appear to have mold issues but has an even MORE overpowering DISGUSTING dirty sock or locker room SMELL in one of the bedrooms-- that is far worse than any mold smell.

Do you think by removing the carpet it would be possible to get rid of the smell? Is there a possibility the smell can't be eliminated?

I can't imagine how a room in a house that has been empty since April could even smell like that. It must have been used as a gym room and dirty clothes strewn on the carpet and left to absorb the smell.

Either that or the prior owners, mad that they were going to lose their house did something to give that room that smell. What do you all think???

[c21boquetebocasgold]

Originally Posted by emilybh

Has anyone ever looked at a house with a carpeted room with a TERRIBLE dirty sock smell (as if the room was 3/4 filled with dirty socks that you ended up buying and successfully got rid of the smell afterwards????

I've seen some gross houses with moldy mildewy musky odors and seen some wth really invasive black mold growing on some of them. However, I'm wondering about one that doesn't appear to have mold issues but has an even MORE overpowering DISGUSTING dirty sock or locker room SMELL in one of the bedrooms-- that is far worse than any mold smell.

Do you think by removing the carpet it would be possible to get rid of the smell? Is there a possibility the smell can't be eliminated?

I can't imagine how a room in a house that has been empty since April could even smell like that. It must have been used as a gym room and dirty clothes strewn on the carpet and left to absorb the smell.

Either that or the prior owners, mad that they were going to lose their house did something to give that room that smell. What do you all think???

Could be a combo of the above. You'd probably not only have to replace carpet but padding underneath - if only in one of the rooms it could have been a teenage boys room, you know? I actually showed a beautiful home one time, I mean absolutely GORGEOUS and could have sold it but the minute me and my clients walked in the front door it just reeked of cat urine and I mean so bad it almost knocked me out! Trying to be courteous, I called the listing agent to 'suggest' he tell his clients if they wanted to sell the house to get rid of the darn carpet and replace the padding; never got a return phone call and it's probably still on the market (and this was NOT a foreclosure). If it's a good deal, just be prepared to replace not only carpeting but the padding underneath - though of course I'm not a carpet expert but would think that would do the trick.

[emilybh]

Don't worry. If removing the carpet and padding is all it will take, I'm relieved. I was worried the room might have been used as a science lab and some awful "experiment" to reproduce that smell was done on purpose --just to make it harder for the bank to sell the house.

The smell is TERRIBLE. I can't imagine someone could live with it like that.

[MikeJaquish]

I think Aroma d'Foreclosure is a common eyeopener for folks who think the best values in real estate are someone else's loss.

[c21boquetebocasgold]

Originally Posted by emilybh

Don't worry. If removing the carpet and padding is all it will take, I'm relieved. I was worried the room might have been used as a science lab and some awful "experiment" to reproduce that smell was done on purpose --just to make it harder for the bank to sell the house.

The smell is TERRIBLE. I can't imagine someone could live with it like that.

If the smell was in the kitchen, burned appliances then I'd be worried they had used it as some sort of meth lab or something But on how someone could live in a room that smelled like that, well, that's why a lot of parents don't even go into their teenagers rooms I thought the same thing (living with such a horrible smell) about the house that reeked of cat urine so overpowering I literally almost fainted - and my poor clients. How the sellers could live in that house day after day???? Really was a shame that people could have such a beautiful home and let their cat just pee everywhere. Anyway, don't just take my word about the carpeting, but go down to a carpet company and ask them about it. Like I said, the house I had problems with wasn't even a foreclosure - though probably is now 'cause who the heck would buy a house that was saturated with cat urine, ya know? Unless they finally woke up and smelled the coffee and finally replaced all of the carpeting and padding.

[rickers]

I know a guy who has a few rentals and recently a tenant moved out. What the landlord found in the house was not just bad smells. He took pictures and called the police, he found a sea of pills, syringes and dog doo all over the house.

[rubytue]

Originally Posted by rickers

I know a guy who has a few rentals and recently a tenant moved out. What the landlord found in the house was not just bad smells. He took pictures and called the police, he found a sea of pills, syringes and dog doo all over the house.

My father got our of residential rentals (and into commercial) when I was a small kid. To this day, the stories he tells as to why he left residential involve poo. The two I remember include the lady who threw every dirty diaper onto the back deck. It was two feet deep in diapers Story #2 involves a tenant who skipped town, but left his 70 pound dog in the apartment. Bathtub filled up with water and a 50 pound bag of dog food left there. I think it was about a week before the neighbors called my father abut the dog barking

In college, I help one of his partners with some residential property, 18-24" if trash piled up everywhere! For example, in the bedroom, there was a mattress sized clean spot, surround by mounds of trash. Chicken bones, pizza boxes, etc. I don't even know how many times he had to have the exterminators out to get rid of all those roaches.

Less learned: People can be nasty! Now why on earth am I considering getting into rentals?!

[emilybh]

Now I'm having second thoughts about making an offer on this place. It seems like there has been a huge turnover of owners. Maybe it is because the house has bad Feng Shui. I'm now realizing that the house has a very odd front entrance and foyer that is actually a little appendage that sticks out in one of the corners of the house. Almost immediately behind this entrance is a door that goes out to the back. The rooms are all on different levels and few if any of them (excepting bathrooms) even have doors.

[crazyma]

Originally Posted by MikeJaquish

I think Aroma d'Foreclosure is a common eyeopener for folks who think the best values in real estate are someone else's loss.

You got that right MIke! Aint' nothing like buying a home that has been let go...in more ways than one

[tomocox]

90% of the odor is actually methane gas coming from plumbing. This is due to evaporation of the normal water block that the drain traps (where the drain line makes a "U" right below the sink, etc.) hold. Simply running some water will refill the trap and stop the methane gas from entering the home.

BTW, this occurs in any home left vacant for a period of time. Does not need to be a foreclosure.

BTDT many times.