Sunday, November 15, 2009

Not a good sign

We went to look at houses again this weekend. We were meant to look at seven but one went under contract and one had scary dogs so we didn't go in. They were wearing muzzles, which I actually found more disconcerting than if they hadn't been. To me if a dog needs to be muzzled there's a problem I don't want to deal with. Plus I don't even want the responsibility of the possibility the dogs would get out while we were coming in and out of the house. The owners have had the house on the market for more than 180 days. I wonder if they wonder why the house won't sell. Hint - people should be able to come inside and take a look around.

Then we saw one that was nice but kind of small and reeked of cigarettes. Cullen was coughing by the time we left so that was a bit of a drawback. The fireplace was nice though and so was the deck.

Then we saw one that was very nice with a huge deck and gorgeous landscaping but up some very steep, slick concrete steps with no banister, which was a bit problematic. Not problematic enough to mark it of our list but something to think about. And no real basement, just a sort of dugout space that was very hard to access, which was a pain because that's where the circuit breakers are. I can't imagine going out in the yard, unlocking the coffinlike doors, dragging them up and open, going down into the spooky low ceilinged dank cellar every time you blow a circuit. It would be annoying as hell. On the plus side there were all new appliances and paint.

Then we saw one I was very interested in after seeing it online. It's similar to the one we put an offer in on and lost but in better shape, also thirty five grand more expensive. It was very nice but with crazy carpets, wood paneling and the kitchen looked like the appliances were left over from the forties when the house was built. Also there's a basketball court that takes up kind of a lot of the back yard, which is kind of weird.

Then we saw a house that was in horrible shape. It was filthy and reeked of animals. I mean filthy. I've seen crack houses when I worked on shows like the Corner and they were in better shape than this place! We didn't even go upstairs because the downstairs was so awful and we could see that the walls had been smashed in up there. I'm wondering if someone had a "we're being evicted so let's trash the house" party or if bears and rhinos had moved in.

The next one had a gas leak, the second house like this we've been to see, and was also in horrible shape with broken windows, ruined hardwood floors, etc. It's depressing to see these houses that used to be nice in such terrible shape. There's no way you could get regular FHA funding for these homes as they're not insurable. I guess you'd have to have cash and then get to work rehabbing them. Replacing the drywall isn't even that hard but man, the smell in some of these places is just overwhelming.

So that was our weekend. How was yours?

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2 Comments:

At 12:38 PM, Blogger Kittie Howard said...

I had a very nice weeken, thank you...actually, I'm down the road from you in Virginia so enjoyed the lovely weather...just wanted to share that your comments about dogs while househunting are vailid...I was bitten by a dog when my husband and I were out househunting...the owners hadn't put this minor (ho ho) fact on the realtor's sheet...dog came rushing out and bit me, thru jeans, and drew blood. When contacted, the owner refused to produce rabies record...was This Close to having to have the shots when the owner relented and no shots, thankfully. I sued her for the emergency room cost...and got it.

 
At 6:28 PM, Blogger Georgiana said...

Good grief Kittie! What an ordeal. That must have been very frightening.

One of Cullen's friends had a similar experience recently and had to go through with the rabies shots as they could not locate the dog or the owner. That was a loose dog so it wasn't quite the same as your situation.

I'm glad you got the owner to do the right thing but it's frustrating that it happened in the first place.

 

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