...............

[RadioFanatic]

I can help with the moving part. Last summer, we used Northeast Movers - we loved them. They are a bit different b/c they charge by the hour instead of by the weight of the total move. I think it was $200 an hour. We packed up stuff in the boxes ourselves b/c we wanted to pay for less hours but you could talk to them to negotiate about that. We got our boxes from Price Chopper. I called to ask about boxes and they would set a bunch aside and tell me when to pick them up. I hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Chicago526]

No advice, but I just wanted to give you a

Good luck, and let us know how it goes!

 

[mickeysgal]

For the rodent problem, check in your local yellow pages under Pest Control. Terminix is one of those type of companies. Again, as others have said, your insurance agent may be able to help you with this. I would think that the prior homeowners have some sort of obligation/liability to you. This isn't about degrees of cleanliness. This is a health hazard. Good luck!

 

[Brianne]

It looks like others have given a lot of great advice already, so I can't add to any of that. But even though it's a lot of work now, the house will look great when you're done, I promise. We went through the same thing with the house we're in now---got it for a song considering the neighborhood we're in, but it wasn't until we were actively moving in that we discovered what pigs the previous owners were. They were still moving stuff out up until less than an hour before we were moving our stuff in, which hid a lot of it!

I cried for almost a week while scrubbing every surface. We ended up having to tear everything out of the kitchen---appliances, cabinets, countertops---because everything was so gross or damaged. Every square inch of wall has been repainted. It's taken us over two years, but it's finally something I can be proud of.

Hang in there. Soon it'll be a distant memory.

 

[Cthia]

Sorry CAnn you are going thru all this. Sounds like these people didn't really care about their house to leave it in that condition.

As for movers. I came across helpers via uhaul.com. They had a link that you could get help to pack/unpack/load/unload, etc. You pay them by the hour. They do have a list of people in the area you are moving to, not sure of the area where you are moving from but I am sure there could be some there too. We are thinking of using something like this when we move my Grandmother's stuff from Florida to MA.

As for your rodent problem. We have Terminix come to our house and they lay out traps for the mice. Haven't had any problems but I am a firm believer of preventive maintenance. Look under Pest Control Services in the phone book. There should be tons of places there that could help you out. If you really want to keep them away, get a cat.

Good luck. Hope everything works out.

 

[C.Ann]

.....

 

[offwegotoneverland]

-----------------------------------------------------

Absolutely not!!!! I have that money put aside separately and I already told my son-in-law that no matter WHAT, I will be taking DGD to Disney in December because I promised her I would after my house was sold and I will NOT break that promise unless I am totally incapacitated.. If the others are too tired, can't get time off of work, are still in the middle of remodeling or whatever, they can stay home - but DGD and I will be making that trip!!!

I'm so glad....I remembered a thread about wells or something and had the awfulest feeling that this could be if not as bad as a well but at least icky enough to cause downscaling.

 

[luvdzne]

--------------------------------

Someone somewhere mention using a "black light" - which will make the urine trail of the mice show up and that's the same trail that they follow to come in and out of areas.. Anyone know where I can find a black light and what it looks like?

C.Ann, so sorry you are going through this. What an awful situation !

You can get a black light at a pet store. They are not expensive.

Good Luck! Oh and I agree, the homeowners should have some liability to the mess they left.

 

[C.Ann]

......

 

[offwegotoneverland]

Any pest control company should be able to deal with the mice (I'm not sure how much buying the black lite would be but do you really want to deal with the traps?)

 

[diznygirl]

--------------------------------

LOL - DD has TWO cats, but they have both been declawed and couldn't catch a mouse if their life depended on it..

My cat wasn't declawed, but wouldn't know what to with a mouse if it came up and hit her on the nose!! But she WAS a deterrent - the mice only showed up when she wasn't around, and then took over the place after she died.

Good luck with those things. And I think you are moving in the right direction with a cleaning service. Now, about paying to have somebody pack you as well.......

 

[C.Ann]

--------------------------

 

[kaylajr]

I know what your going thru when we moved 3 years ago we had to deal with the filth people left behind

If you need an extra pair of hands just let me know

 

[FreshTressa]

I'm not that experienced with pest control, but I thought if you poisoned them the went and died somewhere in the walls or under the house and stunk.

It is better to use traps so you can go retreive the corpse, if you would, and be super vigilant about access to food so they go somewhere else.

 

[mudnuri]

A little about ServPro-

When the X owned 1 of the trash companies- he was 'in' with the serv pro owner here. Every house they did, X's company had the cans at. I always remember him coming home telling me about this dump he put a can at and then servpro came in and the house looked NOTHING like what it use to look like!

When he had the water main break in the house shortly after I moved out- he had 4 feet of water in the basement- Servpro came and cleaned the basement, gutting the walls etc...never would know there was severe water damage in that house- not even the smell of 'damp' was left when they walked out after 72 hours.

And he was right when he said day, night weekend- whatever- the X use to have to pull cans VERY early in the morning if they worked at night- and even had calls after 11pm that a can was full and they needed a remove/replace.

Good luck C.Ann.......

Brandy

 

[mickeysgal]

regardless[/U] of the "unknowns" that these people marked for everything except the roof on the disclosure form there is NO WAY they didn't know there were mice in that house!!!!

The "tip off" for us should have been those candles burning in the kitchen, but we thought it was because of their dirty, mean dogs that they obviously didn't take care of..

The inspection that they had done is most likely a Termite Inspection. Thats pretty standard nowadays in real estate.

That said, I can't believe that no one (real estate agent, termite inspector, general inspector) that inspected or even just walked through that house noticed and not mentioned rodent infestation! Come on - it may not be what the termite inspector was required to report on, but geez, given what you've said, the evidence of this infestation should have been obvious enough that someone should have had the courtesy to inform you!

I feel sorry for you C. Ann - for what you've all been through so far. Focus on the end result - a nice, clean, calm house.

I'd not only talk to the real estate agent about all these issues, but I'd also bring this up with your lawyer thats doing the closing. They're more likely to go to bat for you more than an RE agent. They just care about their commission and aren't going to fuss about anything in fear of rocking the boat on this sale (and therefore, their commission money).

Wishing you a happy, quiet Mother's Day

 

[mickeysgal]

I'm not that experienced with pest control, but I hought if you poisoned them the went and died somewhere in the walls or under the house and stunk.

It is better to use traps so you can go retreive the corpse, if you would, and be super vigilant about access to food so they go somewhere else.

Just setting out traps isn't enough. The problem with mice is that they'll keep coming in UNLESS you can find where they're accessing the house. This is a tough thing to do because the space that they can fit in is so very small that you may not be able to find it. Definitely call a pest control expert. You want them caught inside the house and stopped from whereever they're coming from. Yikes!

 

[Disney Doll]

I'd not only talk to the real estate agent about all these issues, but I'd also bring this up with your lawyer thats doing the closing. They're more likely to go to bat for you more than an RE agent. They just care about their commission and aren't going to fuss about anything in fear of rocking the boat on this sale (and therefore, their commission money).

Wishing you a happy, quiet Mother's Day

A good real estate agent will go to bat for you on extreme issues. They are not all snakes that are only interested in commissions. Many of them are professionals who take pride in their professional reputations, and want their clients to have a successful transaction and be in a house they love.

If I recall, C.Ann's realtor is also a family friend, so all the more reason why he/she would be interested in helping, and not just in commission.

I hate when people generalize.

 

[offwegotoneverland]

And I thought having the vendors old dentures fall on my head when we were taking apart the kitchen was bad!

I hope it's going ok with your SIL...do try to explain that professional help may be cheaper in the long run.

Hope your doing better this morning.

 

[Chicago526]

If the inspection is like what we usually do in IL, it's usually just to find defects in the home (bad roof, bad furnace/AC, bad electric/plumbing, signs of water damage or flood). Insects or rodents aren't really a part of the inspection, but I'd imagine a good inspector would at least meantion it to the buyers if he saw signs of them, even if it didn't make the final official report.