Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Most of my house hunting experiences have been fine. But I will never forget a few houses I viewed back in the summer of 2002.
1) As I went through the first of these houses, I was trying really hard to overlook the hideous assortments of brown flowered wallpapers on every possible surface, and the clutter underfoot everywhere, but it was really hard to do that because the mother (who was home, yelling at her four year old and carrying the infant) had left dirty disposable diapers on the floor of both the living room and the bathroom. Dishes were piled two feet high in the sink. I felt sorry for her! She was obviously in over her head. But it really did not inspire me to dream of the wonderful life I would lead if living in that house.
2) The second house was owned by a single student, who was in the bedroom studying for exams. She said, oh, I'm sorry I did not have time to clean up the house! The dog was outside, but the great room smelled worse than just a dog -- it smelled like wet wolves in heat had been rolling on the carpet for hours. It was enough to make your eyes water.
3) The third house (runner up for second place?) just smelled like cigar smoke everywhere. Otherwise it was lovely.
But these were only three out of about 26 houses that I looked at that summer, and the rest were fine.
I did notice that the houses I didn't like were ones at which the owners did not leave for the showing. Almost all the others did leave.
Interestingly, I was amazed that my house sold in four days when completely empty and professionally cleaned. I had thought it seemed too cold, sterile, and bland, but I guess it didn't. At least it didn't smell like wet wolves in heat, dirty diapers, or cigars.
1) Showing first-time investors around duplexes, many of which were occupied by tenants during the showings. At one, we were offered a hit on the bong the tenant was smoking at the kitchen table (we declined). At another, the tenant hadn't been notified (even though we were approved for the showing 48 hours ahead of time) and followed us around, recording us on his phone "just in case we weren't legit."
2) Was notified that a dog would be home at a showing I was doing on a weekend because the owner was out of town, but she had a friend stopping by periodically to check on him (not a problem in this case because I had met the dog while doing a preview and we hit it off). Unfortunately the friend hadn't been there very recently, because there were two large piles of poo next to the door going to the back yard. I found his leash, took him out to relieve himself (he did both things), then cleaned up inside (I have two dogs, nothing new to me).
3) Sellers' live-at-home son (in his early '40s) was blaring heavy metal and working on his car in the garage...in only his boxers.
4) This didn't happen at a showing, but I was at a listing appointment once and was interrupted by the arrival of the seller's husband...who didn't know the wife was interviewing realtors. It didn't end up getting listed...yet.
I unfortunately have never encountered naked people on a showing, but fingers crossed.
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...
I can top that - we looked at a house where all the flowers from the funeral were in the house...along with the grieving children.
Looked at a house where the owner's hobby was photography - of naked women's body parts. Just the body parts.
I was looking at rental properties to buy in Baltimore City about ten years ago. You can go a block or two in any direction there and the neighborhood will change immensely. We were looking at huge row houses that fronted to one of the parks. It was a steal for the size but when we went in there must have been 30 people living in the four bedroom house. There were mattresses all over the place and people milling around while we toured (very quickly). Needless to say we didn't buy that one.
I was showing a home about a month ago. The house we were touring was a foreclosure and a bit rough. As we went downstairs, my buyer walked past the basement steps at the bottom (where storage is typically kept under the steps), and a cat made the loudest screech ever! My buyer (male) came SPRINTING and we all just started dying of laughter! We ended up finding a broken window in the basement and assume the cat got in that way.
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.
We looked at this house. Nobody was supposed to be there. We get there and the homeowner was there. She went in the back. Ok whatever no big deal. I've seen houses and spoken with the selkers there. Let's check it out. We're looking outside and the husband pulls in with a attitude parking job tires squealing. Walks in and makes coffee, and proceeds to follow us everywhere and let's his dog out. His untrained dog who proceeds to jump all over me. The guy was all attitude. Found out she wants to move to a smaller house he wants the bigger house. F it. I was done. House is still for sale.
My advice to anyone selling. DONT BE HOME WHEN A BUYER COMES. IF YOU ARE LOSE THE ATTITUDE.
One house, which we actually offered on twice but the seller's were just so unrealistic, glad we walked away...
They bought this house for like 94k and flipped it (put it up for 199k). Put granite and tile everywhere, but it was all done very poorly. No big deal, the house was in our area and was a great size. We go downstairs to the "finished basement" and my husband is pretty tall, looks up into the ceiling "What's that???" OMG, a huge bees nest, very very ACTIVE the size of a basketball! My realtor flipped out and went screaming around the basement back to the stairs so she didn't have to go by it again. They had taken something off the exterior, leaving the perfect sized hole for a bee into the basement. When we went back again, they hadn't even taken the nest out, luckily no bees.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
