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Worst we saw was when we were looking for our first house. Couldn't go into the master bedroom because "someone was sick in bed in there." Went to check the basement, and there was dirty laundry literally covering the entire floor. Couldn't even walk down there. Finally, the garage had a couple old couches set up in it, beer signs for decoration, and reeked of pot.
Ironically, we ended up buying the house right across the street.
That thing with the direction of the home is not so unusual. It's sort of a cultural thing for some ethnic groups. The belief is based in feng shui. To have the ying-yang energy flow optimally, the house has to be sitting in the right direction.
I have no idea how to figure that out. However, whatever house you're selling or trying to buy will surely be in the wrong direction ! Murphy's law in operation.
You have two facets of people who worry about house direction. The cultural or feng shui or energy or other "feel good" stuff. But, you also have science in terms of day-lighting, heating and cooling concerns, etc.
Perhaps I've mentioned this elsewhere, but the most memorable house I ever viewed to buy had the owners on their yearly treck down to Florida, so the house was empty of people.
Sadly, when my agent unlocked the door we discovered that the pipes had burst (it was winter) and that there was water everywhere about 2 inches deep over hardwood floors. What a mess. I felt pretty bad for them but of course did not develop a further interest in the house. And it had been a cute little house, too, right next to a golf course.
I saw someone on House Hunters this weekend who had a thing about the direction of the home. It was so bizarre and the way his wife was reacting, I assumed it was a complaint that was encouraged by a producer. But I guess it takes all kinds.
We actually had a thread about this somewhere on City Data. People can be pretty picky. Direction affects how much light you'll get in various rooms at various times of the day. And I'm not all weird and new-agey, but I feel like my house (which my spouse bought before I came along) faces the wrong way. Part or it is probably some "feng shui" thing I can't articulate (it just "feels" wrong), and part of it is just that the rooms we use the most are oriented towards the road/neighboring house, with bathrooms and utility spaces overlooking the spacious backyard. Our living room gets only morning sun and is very dim the rest of the day, in addition to being at a corner of the house which feels "exposed" to the road and neighbor. The bathrooms and utility spaces get all-day or afternoon/early evening sun.
When we buy a new house, I will definitely consider how the house is situated on the lot.
(Oh, just went back and read the later comments, and see that people have touched on these things.)
The funniest thing when shopping for a home: my realtor always made sure the owners were not home so we would have privacy to talk about bad things. Instead she would pay attention at how they decorated for Xmas -it was that time of the year - and what they cooked. She would literally lift the lids off the pots and smell. Then she would only talk about food.
That thing with the direction of the home is not so unusual. It's sort of a cultural thing for some ethnic groups. The belief is based in feng shui. To have the ying-yang energy flow optimally, the house has to be sitting in the right direction.
I have no idea how to figure that out. However, whatever house you're selling or trying to buy will surely be in the wrong direction ! Murphy's law in operation.
A gardener, even an indoor one with houseplants, would want an East or Northeast facing home.
A person with a medical condition such as photo-sensitivity or migraines might prefer a home in the opposite direction.
When DH and I were house hunting, there was one house (with no interior photos on the listing) that looked great from the outside. Unfortunately, inside was another story!
The guy had his kids and grandkids living with him, the walls were filled with holes from being punched in, half the doors were off their hinges and you couldn't even see the floor for all the junk and clutter!
There was a small child sleeping in the master bedroom surrounded by dirty clothes, and in the sink in the master bathroom were what appeared to be cloth womens sanitary napkins soaking in bloody water
Believe it or not, we still ventured to the basement, where the seller had a number of picnic tables set up loaded with random nicknacks, all with prices like a garage sale, and he said to let us know if we were interested in anything! He honestly seemed more keen to sell the junk on the tables than the house!
I've always stayed out of my houses when an agent was showing it. I need the potential buyer to look at the house without the pressure of me, the owner, standing around, able to hear anything said about the house, and thereby making them uncomfortable, and perhaps even leaving more quickly. I get feedback from my agents, who gets it from the buyers' agents who show the home.
Here are some jewels from my house hunting adventures:
1. Luxury home - with dirty panties laying in the middle of the bedroom floor. Dirty panties. Dirty.
2. Then there was the home with the big ol' doobie just laying in an ashtray beside the bed. It looked as big as a cigar.
3. Then there was what we called the Disney House. Outside was lovely. Yard and landscaping - lovely. Then you go inside, where every surface is covered in Disney collectibles. And every closet was crammed FULL of the empty boxes. I mean it - there must have been (I am not exaggerating) 500 Disney figurines in that house at least. Crazy.
4. The Pink House. Pink carpet. Pink walls - that is, the ones that weren't covered in wallpaper with pink roses on it. Pink CEILINGS. Pink tile in the bathrooms. A pink TUB. What the hell?
5. One time we went to an occupied house (at the appointment time) but as usual our realtor called out, "Yoohoo - is anyone home?" No answer, so we proceeded to wander around downstairs, remarking on things, opening doors, etc. Then we went upstairs. We went into the master bedroom - and there was a naked man in there just coming out of the bathroom!!!! OMG! Crazy thing is - I don't even think he saw us - and boy did we all hightail it out of there. I wonder, seriously, if perhaps he was deaf?
I viewed a home in which the owners (an old couple) decided to be there instead of taking a walk or something. The lady was nice, chatted us up on the house's positives. We didn't notice her husband until he popped out from his "computer room" in the basement....in his underwear...to say hi. It was weird, my wife was petrified. We got out of there asap.
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