House hunting has been a fun adventure and, like any adventure, it took some weird twists and turns. So we figured since we highlighted some of our close-but-no-cigar finds (here, here, here, and here) we should take a second to share some of our no-way-no-how finds as well. Because they were actually pretty darn entertaining.
First, we encountered a mammoth split level. From the outside it looked like your usual split-level home. Until we got inside and realized it had SIX floors. Yes, six. That’s six times the number of levels we’re currently used to. Granted the top (attic) and bottom (basement) weren’t entirely finished, but still – wow. You can thank my brilliant artist’s rendering below to roughly show you how it was laid out:
Then there was the dark house. Not “this doesn’t get very much natural light” dark. This was “um, there’s no electricity” dark. When we arrived the realtor discovered that the power wasn’t working – whether from the owner not paying the bills or from a storm earlier that day we’ll never know. But bless her heart, the agent was determined to show the house to us anyways. So we busted out our cell phones as flashlights (it was about 6pm on a cloudy day, so there wasn’t much natural light to speak of) and we walked through carefully. In the end, we think the darkness probably did the house a favor because it didn’t appear to be very clean.
And speaking of clean… there was also the house where the owner’s idea of staging was to leave her shoe collection scattered across the master bedroom floor. Picture piles of high heels everywhere (sort of like the pic below, but not running shoes and not nearly as orderly). We couldn’t even step into the room because of the mess. Maybe they were trying to impress us with how many shoes they could afford?
Now I’m sure we’re not the only ones with crazy house hunting stories, so we can’t wait to hear what you guys have encountered. Isn’t it amazing what some people consider “designed to sell”? What craziness have you seen? And have you checked out this site? Oh the hilarity.
Dark room photo from here, shoe photo from here.
Psst- We announced this week’s lucky Target gift card giveaway winner. Click here to see if it’s you.
Taylor says
Our last house hunt involved checking out the digs of a family that was somewhere between Clean House and Hoarders qualifying. And they were there — watching TV, eating mac & cheese — while we literally stepped over piles and piles of garbage, clothes, and who knows what else. We couldn’t leave quickly enough!
BeccaHouston says
We closed on our 1960 ranch house this past July and have loved every minute of living there. It was only the 5th house we looked at and fell in love with it. Everything was spotless when we saw it the first time. Well when we were there after our offer was accepted and the inspection was being done, the previous owner had left a TV tray next to the couch with a Ped-Egg and toenail clippings. Can we say “ewwww?”
Miranda says
During our last house hunt, I just knew I had found the perfect house via an online search. It was waaaaay below our target price, in the middle of the city and on a gorgeous wooded lot–over an acre, in fact. It was a foreclosure so we weren’t sure exactly what we would find inside but we were ready for a project. When we got to the house, our realtor opened the door and the smell of cat urine almost knocked us down. I was ready to leave then but my husband and our realtor just had to see inside. In the entry way of what was an otherwise normal 2500 sq ft ranch, stood a 10 x 10 room with floor to ceiling glass walls and sky lights, filled with cat condos and cat litter boxes. The cats were long gone but the smells were sure to remain with that house for a long, long time.
IHeartOldHouses says
Our real estate agent initially misinterpreted our interest in old houses as an interest in “quirky” houses. One day we toured a stone home built in the 60s. The inside was made to look like a treehouse. There was one big, lodge-type room downstairs and then a large painted concrete “trunk” with stairs wrapping around to the upper level, where little roundish doors branched off of a hallway, kind of like what you’d expect the Keebler elf factory to look like.
To make matters worse, the family was still living there, and they made their daughter cut her shower short (and come out in a towel) so we could view the bathroom. There were also cats everywhere (I love cats, but this was too many), and one long-haired kitty was shaved to look like a lion. People are strange!
Kiran says
Your encounter with the shoes were hilarious. I cant imagine putting out any “dirty laundry” for open house! Im guessing these owners never watched any hgtv shows before!
Leeann says
I’m in the very, very beginning of house hunting. As in looking online to see what’s out there. It always miffs me that people can’t be bothered to put away dirty dishes or move dirty clothes out of view when they take pictures of their place. I just want to scream, “You’re asking that much for your house, and you can’t even put your deodorant and toothbrush in a bathroom cabinet for 3 seconds while you take a picture???” AHHH!!!
Candice says
It took my husband and I a full year to find our home. A full YEAR! So we had plenty of homes we found that were just… bad.
My favorite was the brick home on a beautiful piece of property (3 acres, wooded, peaceful, quiet, etc). The house was definitely priced cheap… and for good reason. There were 4 entrances into the house. One thru the garage, one on the back patio, another on the original front of the house, and yet another on what was now the front of the house. Two of those entrances went right into bedrooms!
The kitchen was split into two separate rooms for whatever reason. And the stove was in a really odd location. There were 2 bathrooms, but the 2nd bathroom had been put IN another bedroom, and not even built in with walls to make a master suite (and frankly the room was too small for a master suite anyway). The other, real bathroom needed gutted, which wasn’t a huge deal… except that animals had gotten in. Yep, that’s right. There were animals getting into the bathroom – via a hole in the roof and gutters.
We toyed with the idea of buying the property at a steal and tearing the house down and rebuilding what we wanted but we weren’t ready for that kind of commitment to the neighborhood and area. So needless to say we took a major pass on that place.
Jennifer says
My husband and I saw a house in the dark, too. The power wasn’t working I’m pretty sure due to the occupants not paying the bill. But that’s not the strangest thing. It was an open floorplan home, and there was a den on the first level that was separated from the entry hall and the living room by half walls. The occupants had take several pieces of poster board and taped them together, then taped them to the half walls and the ceiling to create a poster board wall. One of them was using the room as a bedroom. When we went down to look at the basement there was a guy sitting in the dark reading out loud from the Bible. He kept reading as we poked around, didn’t look up once or say anything.
Elissa says
We recently looked at a house that had been on the market for some time. The place had a great layout and amazing potential. It was located at the end of a dead end and abutted by a public park with lots of trees and bushes for privacy. We knew there was cosmetic work to be done with the price tag but when we walked in the smell of pet urine slapped you in the face. They allowed their dogs to eat the wood framing around the windows. But, best of all-they had converted the entire attic into a pot-growing haven. Seriously! Exhaust all set up, hooks in the ceiling to prop the plants, etc. We googled the last owner’s name that we got from public records and he ad been arrested for growing 122 pot plants. We were surprised no one decided to dismantle the growing operation before showing the house.
Josh G. says
well, my wife and I bought our house in october of last year……it was the first house we looked at and we walked in….they were having an open house that day, dishes in the sink, smelled like smoke really bad, no furniture, except a computer desk, outside folding chairs and a bedroom suite, all the other furniture had been moved…..not impressed at all we practically ran out of there….we looked at about 5-6 other houses and said well lets give that house another shot….we went in with our remodling minds in tow, ignored the smoke and the mess of what was left….and we invisioned the perfect house….low and behold that is the house we bought…our first project was clean clean clean, paint paint paint….a week later, you oculdn’t tell anyone had ever smoked in it…..
not a crazy story….but somewhat weird :)
Chelsea@ThisFreshFossil says
I’m LOVING these stories. We have some of our own…
Before we bought our house, we looked for rentals. Cheap ones. We showed up to one house for rent that was, no joke, in the middle of a outdoor strip mall parking lot – right beside a tool store and a bar, and next to a medical school/hospital parking garage. It even had a little fenced in area with some dirt and grass. The house was in bad shape – different colored carpet throughout, dirty, peeling paint – but the best part was when the obviously drunk owner (coming from the bar next door, which he also owned) told us about the previous med-student tenant who lived there, apparently she believed that communist spies were trying to read her thoughts and wore tinfoil on her head and put it all over the windows. Yeah, we passed on that one.
Another totally creepy rental showing we went to was a house that was converted into two rental spaces – upstairs and downstairs. The lady was creepy, first of all, but what creeped us out the most was that the whole entire house was covered in ivy so thick that no light could pass through the windows! When we also found out that the other tenant was a creepy man who maintained the lawn for his rent because he couldn’t afford it, we passed on that one, too.
K.D. says
Hey Guys,
I have an unrelated post question. I’m currently evaluating photoshop versions. I’m curious which one you guys use for creating things like Clara’s baby onesie images as well as your design moodboards. I want to start creating some moodboards as we renovate our home. I don’t think I need a full blown version. I just want to be able to tweak photos, add some text to photos and put images together for fun board for design and fashion.
I look forward to hearing from you! Thanks!
K.D.
glambabycouture {at} gmail {dot} com.
YoungHouseLove says
We use Photoshop CS2 Version 9. Love it!
xo,
s
hwar says
Suddenly the crazy houses we toured don’t seem quite so crazy anymore!
We toured one that was bright yellow, and had an undulating concrete fence in front and all along the front walkway…also painted bright yellow. The trim, house, door, everything was so yellow it hurt your eyes to look at. Inside, the finishes were really hodgepodge. Half the house had marble tile, the other half had industrial gray ceramic. The kitchen had at least three kinds of 80’s cabinet finishes, heights not matching, with granite counters slapped on top. Every wall was painted a different color. The two full bathrooms were located right next to each other. And every room, without fail, had at least one picture of Jesus. It was hard to even pay attention to the layout of the house because it was all so distracting.
Trista says
Monday night my husband and I went to our first house showings. When we pulled up to the second house, we noticed there was a note written on the glass, storm door. It said “For Sale by owner until crazy ex cooperates, please call XXX-XXXX.”
We found out later that the couple who owned the house was getting divorced, but couldn’t agree on how to sell the home. The husband tore down the wife’s for sale sign and cut the lock box off the porch, so no one could get in without his permission. We still haven’t seen the inside of the house.
Chelsea@ThisFreshFossil says
Less than a year after finding and living in a decent rental, we started househunting. Oh boy! We found some beauties. We saw all sorts of stuff in low price range.
One we went to and actually made an offer on, was an 8 bedroom and 3 bath house. It wasn’t in bad condition, but the room placements were so odd… like there would be 4 or 5 small, finished rooms in the middle of an unfinished basement, and there were dozens of closets! After realizing that the house was directly across the street from a church (like, there was only 20 yards separating the front door from the wall of the church), we came to the conclusion that it was a nunnery. Luckily we passed after we came to our senses.
Another one we toured is actually right down the street from the house we ended up buying and currently live in. Crazy, but let’s just say the street and neighborhood are great. Or they are now. But anyways, this houses’ exterior was painted bright orange and turquoise, and get this: over every window there was that one-way-mirror type privacy covering! It was like every window on the house was a mirror. It was sooo odd. We went inside, and the house was covered in filth – there were mounds of trash everywhere, spoiled and rotting food, holes that were punched in walls, and it smelled horrible. Pity, because the house was actually nice and in good condition if it weren’t for all that. We went down to the basement, and the whole thing reeked of mold. It smelled so bad – and the floor was wet! We went into a bedroom and there was a hot tub, filled with water. We passed on that house, and later learned the true story: a company that hires illegals had bought the house and illegal aliens lived there while they found work. At some point I guess the bills weren’t paid, because apparently their neighbor found a hose hooked up to his water spicket, running through the illegals’ house basement window! The water had shut off and I guess they needed some water to fill up their hot tub.
Angela says
When we were house hunting, there were several floorplans of a house we were considering. In one of them, the door that lead to the garage could only be accessed through the master bathroom. That was just too weird for me.
Tatyana says
Oh, I’m loving all these comments. As embarrassed as I am to admit watching it, it reminds me of the movie Moving with Richard Pryor.
My story:
Looking for a condo to buy, an ex-boyfriend and I saw this three level condo with a garage on the bottom floor. On the 1st floor the owner (a bachelor playboy, as the realtor called him) had installed a door inside the coat closet in the floor with a tiny spiral staircase leading into the back part of the garage which he had separated with cage-like walls (with a padlock and all). In the room he had a bar, mirrors on all walls and a hot tub. I just kept thinking “Maybe this is the reason he is still a bachelor. What sane woman would go into that creepy place?”
Jane says
Just wondering, if, hypothetically, the new owners of your house wanted to remove the stenciling you did on the sun room floor, can they? Or would it be too big of a job?
YoungHouseLove says
That would be super easy actually, and would only take about an hour. We’re leaving the chocolate floor paint behind, so they could just roll the whole floor in that color and let it dry for about 48 hours before moving any furniture in.
xo,
s
PrairieGal says
I love looking at house listing, but some of the pictures amaze me. I especially like bathroom ones with the toilet seat up.
Clare says
During my search for the perfect house – I toured the entire downstairs of the home, and went upstairs to see the bedrooms. When I went to open the door to the master, the owners were in bed, hungover from the night before!
It was 3p…
Tamisha says
These have been a great way to kill time during this endless day. We looked at about a dozen houses before we bought our “diamond in the rough.” Which story should I pick to share? Was it the one where the seller’s agent showed up to a showing drunk, didn’t tell the sellers about it and allowed us to tour it while the man and his grandchildren were there? Then proceeded to stage whisper about how they needed to sell and that it was cold because they couldn’t afford to pay for heat?
Then there was the house where they decided to “stage” it by installing new kitchen tile, but couldn’t be bothered to move the fridge and tile under it, so they just tiled around it.
Then there was the frat house rental where all the students were passed out drunk.
The one that was going for under $50K because it was literally falling into two pieces.
The one that was raining on the inside? The one that smelled like mildew and 40 years of cigarette smoke? That same one with the gold stripped paneling, gold shag carpet, and mirrored walls, in the dining room? That’s the same one that had the bedrooms separated by color? Blue room with blue shag and blue pickled paneling. Green room, green shag, green pickled and green toile paneling? Orange and brown room with stick on orange shag carpet tiles stuck to the hardwood floor? The one with the dead birds in the windows? The one with the wasp nest? That’s the gem we decided to buy! Sign us up for that one, Mr. RealtorMan!
See the “before” and “where we are now”s here:
http://domusaurearichmond.blogspot.com/
Crystal @Beautifulhaven says
When I was looking for my first home, my agent showed me a house where there were holes in the walls and I mean every single wall had large holes in them. When I told her I was not interested in the house, she told me their was a painting allowance from the seller. I’m pretty sure just painting would not of solved that problem.
Sarah says
my husband and i were looking at 1 bedroom apartments in hoboken nj and one place we went to was amazing – exposed brick, brand new kitchen, quiet large bedroom facing the backyard… then, we opened the bathroom door. the bathroom was the smallest thing we’d ever seen. so small that they couldn’t fit a regular sink. instead, it had one of those dentist sized sinks! i still wonder if they ever sold it. who would live with that?
Sally says
These stories are hilarious! Your shoe photo reminded me of a house I viewed a few years ago…
The 3-bedroom town home was occupied, but a meticulously clean bachelor pad. The living room contained only a big screen TV and a couch. Upstairs, a king size bed filled bedroom 1, bedroom 2 was vacant, and bedroom 3…had wall-to-wall shoes neatly arranged (like the photo). Back, downstairs in the kitchen, only one object graced the counters – a letter informing the gentleman of his next court date. Hmmm.
I also viewed a house where the hardwood floors had horrible pet stains. Really horrible – there was no sanding, staining, or strategic furniture placement that could have helped. It made me completely suspicious of of claims that I could get my desired hardwood flooring by just ripping out the carpet and refinishing the floors.
Lisa says
We moved last year from outside Philly (not too expensive) to right outside NYC (crazy expensive). We started househunting this spring, looking at houses in a price range we felt comfortable with. First house: its an open house on a Sunday. We walk in and are told by the realtor we can’t see the upstairs because some of the owners are sleeping. During an open house. We look out the kitchen window to see two mustachioed men with no shirts digging ditches in the backyard, and a large number of people hanging out on the deck, having a barbeque. We go in the basement to see the “third bedroom.” Which is a hideyhole. That is covered in about 400 extension cords. (It puts the lotion in the basket….) The second toilet? In the back of the hideyhole, on a PLATFORM about the height of my waist. If you sat on this toilet, and I have no idea how you would get up there, you could not sit up straight on the toilet because you would hit your head on the ceilig.
Second house: we look at the ad, and the house is pictured at an odd angle, sort of to the side, and only up to the roof line. We pull and up and see some contraption on the top of the roof, about twice the height of the house. (This explains the weird pic.) Its solar panels, but holy cannoli its ugly. But they have copies of the utility bills, and for the YEAR the bill is under $160. I guess the weirdness can stay.
House #3: has clearly been lovingly and expensively decorated by an interior decorator. In the 70s. And not touched since.
Laura from Driftwood Haven says
My husband and I spent a VERY short time touring a house that boasted a double-wide toilet on the main level and a laundry room with kiddy-pool sized litter pans covering the floor. Whatever animal needed a litter box that sized, we weren’t going to stick around to meet!
Christine says
When I was looking for my first place about two years ago, I saw some pretty awful places because many were foreclosures or short sales.
I went with my realtor to a two bedroom, one bath condo that he was told was vacant. A surprised woman opened the door as we were keying in and it was pretty clear there were renters who didn’t know the place was going to be shown. Although embarassed, my realtor insisting on looking through the whole place. There was a young couple with their toddler on a big mattress in the middle of the living room – all scantily clad. Several adults in the kitchen cooking and eating. Couldn’t see the one bathroom because a woman was in the shower. There were clearly at least half a dozen adults living there, and several children. With lots of stuff everywhere – including several cans of bug spray and boxes of rat/mouse poison.
Another house had exterior walls that bowed out if you leaned on them because they were not properly attached to the foundation and structural beams. Scary.
Kim says
When we were house hunting our realtor took us to a place that looked pretty nice from the outside. Then, the current owner came to the door in a bathroom that (ahem..) barely reached his knees. We entered anyhow and found clutter everywhere, mounds of dust and cat hair all over everything. Then…we went in to the basement. He had a mini theater set up in one corner, and porn posters all over the walls. We couldn’t get out of that house fast enough!
Leah says
We saw a house with an unflushed toilet! “If it’s yellow, let it mellow” is not a good staging plan.
Sarah says
Wow, those are some crazy stories from other readers! The guy who didn’t look up from reading the Bible in the basement takes the cake for me!! That’s just a little… odd.
We didn’t look very long before finding our nawesome house (1 weekend!!) but we did come across a couple that were completely dirty! Not just like they-didn’t-stage-this-place, but like dirty dishes piled in the sink, crap ALL over the countertops, clothes strewn all over the bedrooms, and clutter everywhere. We asked our realtor if they even knew they had their house up for sale! LOL I’m guessing the folks mentioned in these posts don’t watch much HGTV!
Pamela says
I grew up in that 6-level split, except it was in New Jersey. Believe it or not, we actually lived in and used every level, every day(including the finished attic and finished basement)!
Christine says
Not a creepy house viewing story, but a creepy house buying story. Someone I know bought a house from a woman who kept pushing for a quick closing date and trying to sell them fixtures and furnishings in the house. Turns out she had decided to leave her husband and was selling the house and his family heirlooms while he was out of town settling his mother’s estate. The house was in the wife’s name as protection since the husband was a self-employed contractor. She also sold all of his tools and emptied his business account. He didn’t find out until he came back. He actually showed up at the house after my friend had moved in.
Autumn says
My most memorable house hunting experience was 8 years ago when we were looking for our first home. We walked in the front door of one house to see a large painting above the fireplace. It was a portrait of a young girl with a blank stare and her face all cut up and bleeding. CREEPY! For some unknown reason, we continued on through the house. When we got upstairs, all the bedrooms had padlocks on the OUTSIDE of the doors… At that point, we hurried right out of there!
Nikki @ NotTheBlandings says
House hunting is an experience all its own, eh? When we viewed our house, it was such a nightmare inside, the realtor showing it wouldn’t even enter it! Not that I really blamed him after we went through the place – it hadn’t been renovated or cleaned since 1972. Mold growing on mold is not a good look ;)
Our experience is best summed up my blog’s ‘top 10 list’ on how to find a total dive. You know its bad when the neighbours bring you cleaning rags as a housewarming gift! Good luck on your upcoming projects – can’t wait to see what you do!!
Nikki
Michelle says
We walked through one house where we were warned by the seller’s agent that UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES WERE WE TO OPEN THE BASEMENT DOOR!!! I have no idea what was behind that door, but it sounded like a cross between a grizzly bear and a tornado. It was throwing itself against the door, and making noises that I’ve never heard in my life (before or since). We were not interested in the house, but I seriously considered going back when the owners were there just to ask what was down there.
Amy says
Lizards. 2 of them, not in a cage, on some sort of towel in a window with a heat lamp on them. We thought they were stuffed animals or something until they moved when we walked by…
Jane says
Scary house hunting story…We looked at an older home (built in 1925, and it presented many red flags. It was two stories with a basement. A guy lived there with his mom, and his mom passed away, she was over 90 and he was over 50 years old, that is why he was selling – red flag #1. When we got to the house, is was dark, every window was covered with really heavy old draperies – red flag #2. When we walked into the kitchen, that hadn’t been cleaned in 20+ years, with inches of bacon grease caked on every surface, all the cupboards were covered in japanese words and statements. We then walked into the den, and he had cut out pictures of young asain girls and taped them all over the walls (like wallpaper) -red flag #3. When then made our way upstairs, and looked at the master bedroom, in the room there was a computer desk with an old computer on it, when I walked by the desk, I noticed stacks and stacks of burned CDs and DVD covers, they were all Asian porn movies – red flag #4. We then went into another bedroom and looked in the “walk in closet” to find it filled with over 20 of the exact same small white faux fur coats – we surmised that he met “women” on the internet and sent them these coats as gifts. – red flag #5. But the straw that broke the camels back was when we went into the basement, there was a wall, and on that wall was a tiny door, like the one in Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. We stepped into the room and were transported into a marajuana grow operation!!! While we did put an offer on the house, because the bones were too cool, I’m so glad that we didn’t get it, I don’t think I could stand to be there by myself.
Erin says
We toured a house that had more shag carpeting than I’d ever seen. One color on the floor. One color on the living room WALLS and yet another color on the dining room WALLS. There was also a cute little banquette area in the kitchen – cute if you could look past the fire orange shag on those walls, too. Oh, and the hall closet was still full of Grandma’s housecoat collection. We didn’t buy it. :)
Gina at Temporary Nest says
I was in college (a very large University of 20 thousand + students), looking for apartments with my roommate, we were taken to this one only “okay” apartment. The agent opened the door to one of the bedrooms only to find one of the current tenants asleep on her bed, in the BUFF! She woke up and started screaming her lungs out! Needless to say, we left promptly… Later that year, I met a friend in a class and it turned out to be her!! What a small world. I’m happy I barely saw anything at all.
Sara @ House Bella says
We looked at some true hum-dingers when we were searching. I think it’s partially a factor that we looked at a few short sales. One in particular had dirty clothing (socks, underwear, shirts, you name it) from the entire family (adults and kids) strewn everywhere. Another had a dog that they never let inside (it was there while we looked at the place, the dog was cute as can be and just needed love), that had completely torn up the entire underground sprinkler system. Wow. What are people thinking, sometimes?
Aimee says
When I was house-hunting last year, I was in several homes that had not been redecorated since the 70s. We are talking bright shag carpeting, faux wood paneling, gold veined mirrors, and wallpaper with huge flowers a la Laugh In. It was truly scary. I also looked in a house with a huge, rusting RV on blocks sitting in the driveway. The owner wanted the realtor to make sure that potential buyers knew that he would include it in the sale. Score! :)
Sarah @ Newlywed and Decorating says
We looked at one house where the elderly couple were home- in bed! Luckily they were just watching TV. I wanted to run out of that house. Awkward!
WendyMI says
When I was shopping for my first home a few years ago I visited one that I dubbed the Elvis Presley home (because it reminded me of the 70s tacky that is Graceland. Sorry!) The entire living room was painted in a deep harvest gold flat paint–the walls, trim, ceiling, outlet covers, switch covers, etc., with carpet to match. The three bedrooms were a bright lavender, bright blue, and bright lemon yellow. In the kitchen they still had the original stove and dishwasher from the 50s (or whenever they were invented. LOL) Seriously.. it had two circle shaped shelves and was just archaic. Just horrid.
When i first moved out to New York (the White Plains area).. in my price range I was being shown houses that no one bothered to clean. Mangy carpet, holes in the wall, dirt everywhere, doors hanging off of ovens. I cried.. and moved over the border to Connecticut instead.
anna see says
ha ha! i think i live in the split, although mine is only 5 levels!
Marybeth says
I actually bought a filthy house bc I could see great potential. friends helped me clean once it was mine. when the owners cleaned up to show the house they shoved things everywhere, couldn’t open closet doors for fear of an avalanche. there was even a football in the oven.
Jyl says
We toured a house that had a *secret room* AND a *secret passage* from the underground railroad! How neat is that! We just sort of stood in it for a little while to appreciate the significance of it.
Erica says
You should check out http://www.uglyhousephotos.com. Those are some ugly, dirty, what were they thinking houses!
When I came to look at my house, there were holes in the carpet, dirt marks on the wall, grease all over the kitchen, knobs missing off the stove, etc… There were underwear hanging in the bathroom as well. (At least they were clean!) The best part, though, was the vent from the stove running through the bathtub, so anybody taller than about 5’5″ would hit their head on it. It was so dirty it made my skin crawl. I put in an offer anyway cause it had good bones, and I’ve spent the last 14 months cleaning it up! My blog has pictures of my house when I first bought it. http://makingahomesweethome.blogspot.com
sam says
when we were home searching we saw a house that had used metal roofing as paneling in the family room which had Harley Davidson decor. this included the fireplace mantel which had been covered in a shiny toolbox-type of metal and black painted walls. (they hadnt shown a photo of that room on MLS) Each room had a different ‘themed’ ceiling fan & the house reeked of cigarette smoke. somehow, it wasnt the house for us…
Jen K says
Hi! I know this is completely off topic, but I posted a bunting tutorial yesterday with you guys in mind. If you are interested, check it out.
http://www.eatplaylaughoften.blogspot.com
We are still sitting in our oh so clean condo waiting for someone to fall in love with it so we can get our move on! I love living in a ready to show clean space! If only I could convince the hubby it’s the way we should always live : )
YoungHouseLove says
Love it! Thanks so much for the link Jen!
xo,
s
Mary says
Well, there was the “poop basement” house. In the unfinished basement, in a corner, there was a toilet (which the listing counted as a 2nd bathroom) and next to the toilet was a pile of poop. Not sure if it was dog or human, but we didn’t stick around to investigate.