Hubby's house shopping expereince today....

[Lisa loves Pooh]

In Northern Virginia--homes that seemed to have good potential he went and looked at them today.

The realtor had advised that short sales may be better than foreclosures b/c typically they are better cared for b/c they are still occupied.

I guess the residents dind't get the memo. One home...he just couldn't look at the whole thing. Another--no less than 3 families lived there and the house smelled like dirty diapers AND everyone was there while he had come to look. (Realtor will be notifying that realtor that they may wish to consider that for future showings---the home on the outside was beautiful.)

My own home has been less than stellar in recent months so I asked him to compare it to ours. It was worse. Much worse.

We were totally bummed.

Two forclosures he looked at today were immaculate though and are on our consideration list.


I just don't get it--years ago when we bought our first and only home-the homes were all at least clean when we looked at them...and it was a hot sellers market.

He was very excited to go shopping and was very...horrified at what he saw. And my husband is NOT a picky person.

And yes, everything we look at is "as is"--so we don't expect perfection. But it is hard to look past filth. Now we understand why pictures were not inlcuded in the realtor MLS listing.

I keep reminding hubby that we have lots of time--and it is winter, so pickings are slim. But it is such a contrast to our home shopping experience of 1999.

 

[AKL_Megs]

In Northern Virginia--homes that seemed to have good potential he went and looked at them today.

The realtor had advised that short sales may be better than foreclosures b/c typically they are better cared for b/c they are still occupied.

I guess the residents dind't get the memo. One home...he just couldn't look at the whole thing. Another--no less than 3 families lived there and the house smelled like dirty diapers AND everyone was there while he had come to look. (Realtor will be notifying that realtor that they may wish to consider that for future showings---the home on the outside was beautiful.)

My own home has been less than stellar in recent months so I asked him to compare it to ours. It was worse. Much worse.

We were totally bummed.

Two forclosures he looked at today were immaculate though and are on our consideration list.


I just don't get it--years ago when we bought our first and only home-the homes were all at least clean when we looked at them...and it was a hot sellers market.

He was very excited to go shopping and was very...horrified at what he saw. And my husband is NOT a picky person.

And yes, everything we look at is "as is"--so we don't expect perfection. But it is hard to look past filth. Now we understand why pictures were not inlcuded in the realtor MLS listing.

I keep reminding hubby that we have lots of time--and it is winter, so pickings are slim. But it is such a contrast to our home shopping experience of 1999.

Ugh, this is why we looked at one foreclosure (it had holes in the walls, Kool-Aid-type stains all over the family room carpet, kitchen cabinet doors missing, ALL copper pipes missing, and paint splattered all over the master bedroom carpet.), and one short sale (it was just filthy, like they hadn't bothered washing or vacuuming floors, cleaning any inch of the bathrooms, or tended to the yard since they realized they were close to foreclosure.)

Most foreclosure owners are/were angry, and most short sale owners just don't and haven't cared for a while.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Ugh, this is why we looked at one foreclosure (it had holes in the walls, Kool-Aid-type stains all over the family room carpet, kitchen cabinet doors missing, ALL copper pipes missing, and paint splattered all over the master bedroom carpet.), and one short sale (it was just filthy, like they hadn't bothered washing or vacuuming floors, cleaning any inch of the bathrooms, or tended to the yard since they realized they were close to foreclosure.)

Most foreclosure owners are/were angry, and most short sale owners just don't and haven't cared for a while.

Thankfully---not all of the listings we have received are like this.

It happened that the properties that had problems had no pictures--or just a facade. But the MLS description was enough to pique our interest.

The area as a whole is pretty nice and not all the properties are like this. It just felt like we were bamboozled, KWIM?

I hope for the homeowners that the right buyer comes along--we were just not it today.

 

[lovemygoofy]

I don't know where you are looking to live or if you have a realtor but I have become friends with a couple realtors and know of some great brand new houses for sale. Do you have specific areas you are looking to live?

 

[LaraK]

The Maryland side is much more sane...just sayin

 

[lovemygoofy]

The Maryland side is much more sane...just sayin

No one wants to live in a yankee state

 

[LaraK]

We're south of the Mason-Dixon!

 

[Maridw]

We had a similar experience when we were house hunting. Went to one house and it the floor plan was very strange. It was a square two-story house and the whole layout was very odd. Plus when we got there, the owners were there and like the one your DH looked at, it was a mess. It almost sounds like the house we looked at.

The house we ended up buying, when we looked at it, we came in and started looking around and I got to the master bedroom and saw a picture of the husband and wife and turned to my DH and said "don't you work with him?" It was someone from my DH's squadron on base that was selling it.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

The Maryland side is much more sane...just sayin

From 32 years of torturous expereince, I cannot agree and am avoiding that state like the plague.

No offense against Maryland--just that distance makes the heart grow finder and keeps ME sane.

Plus hubby is working on the Virginia side and we wish to avoid extensive commutes.

I don't know where you are looking to live or if you have a realtor but I have become friends with a couple realtors and know of some great brand new houses for sale. Do you have specific areas you are looking to live?

Thanks! We actually are using Movers Advantage through USAA and they found us a realtor. So we are good there. I will just say that the listings she gave us that I told hubby to look at were better than the ones he chose.

Our budget is our problem.

I just got a PM from a nice diser in the area that we are looking and hopefully she'll PM me back with areas that we can aim our search.

So if any of y'all have any suggestions of good spots, feel free to PM me.

He will be working in Prince William County. And Fairfax is wayyyy beyond our price range.

 

[minniebeth]

No one wants to live in a yankee state

Hey! I resemble that remark!
We lived in Stafford County and loved it...

 

[jlima]

Part of the problem is the myth of "the right buyer". When "the right buyer" comes along and loves their messy houses, all their problems will be solved . . . NOT!

We looked at a house 2 years ago that was a foreclosure and the entire house was dirty with dead plants in the yard and dirty water in the pool. But what really took the cake was that the homeowners had used a downstairs bedroom for their pets and the entire room - floors, walls, window, glass slider door - was FILTHY. It was amazing that anyone would allow their pets to live in such a dirty environment. The house was being sold as is and anyone who purchased it would have to replace all of the flooring and paint plus clean the pool and replace dead landscaping. I just can't believe the bank wouldn't invest in a cleaning service to at least mop & vacuum the floors and clean the walls. They could at least try.

When we sold FIL's condo in California (in 2004), he had not vacuumed or mopped or cleaned the place in any way for over a year. The most recent 2 br sale in his complex was $359K; and if we had sold FIL's place as is, there was NO way we could have even listed his place for that much, because it was SO messy and dirty. We planned to just replace the flooring & paint, but we ended up spending, no joke, $12K on flooring, paint, appliances, light fixtures, window coverings and even a new toilet. The place was listed for $358K and sold for $394K. But most people won't invest that kind of money in their properties. They'll just wait for "the right buyer' to come along and buy their pigpens.

 

[lovemygoofy]

We're south of the Mason-Dixon!

I don't care lol. Maryland just sounds yankee compared to Virginia

 

[acejka]

It's so hard to get a decent house around here right now. We've given up... unless you want to pay over 400K it seems like everything is torn up and in bad condition, mold etc. OR it gets snapped off of the market too fast to even make an offer on. We are keeping our money for FL, dh can transfer and keep his salary the same, down there we'd be living high on the hog! I've found beautiful homes with the number of rooms we need, and pools for 300K down there.

What areas are you looking at?

 

[golfgal]

Well, you learned a good lesson, don't waste your time looking at houses that don't have pictures on the MLS. Even then, I can't believe all the pictures ON MLS with dirty rooms, dishes all over the kitchen, etc. . We are looking for a house/townhome for my parents to move to when my step-mom retires and I am just SHOCKED. Even if you don't clean, at least stick the dirty dishes in the stove for the pictures .

 

[acejka]

I noticed that he is going to be working in P. Will. if you can buy down there, you will get something nicer for less money and with him working in that area, you can avoid the horrible commute north!

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Well, you learned a good lesson, don't waste your time looking at houses that don't have pictures on the MLS. Even then, I can't believe all the pictures ON MLS with dirty rooms, dishes all over the kitchen, etc. . We are looking for a house/townhome for my parents to move to when my step-mom retires and I am just SHOCKED. Even if you don't clean, at least stick the dirty dishes in the stove for the pictures .

No doubt.

Teh ones with pictures--the interiors IRL matched the MLS.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

THANKS!!!!

Lots of info here, but thanks especially to Christine and her PM's. We are now ready to shift our search to the more....desirable areas that would fit our needs.





(didn't mean to imply y'all weren't helpful, cause you were. She gave me some specific communities to check out and if you guys know of any good spots to check, feel free to PM me with those locations.)

 

[mrsheppo]

When we were looking, we found one listing on MLS that had pictures that an "artistic" individual did in the kids bedrooms. The walls were spray painted with obscenities and couldn't believe they were actually posted. I think as the listing agent on that house, it would have been better without the pictures.

 

[Mad4Mickey]

When we bought our new house 1 1/2 years ago ,we went through some really rough houses. Where we bought the houses started at 350K and I could not believe that people had let the houses go like they did. The ones that were on "short Sale" were not much better then the Repos we looked at .
Most looked like what my DH calls "the S**T and Get" we were going back and forth with the bank over a house that I just " knew" was the one when I found our real house . THe other house had holes in the wall and would have needed major work before we moved in . The one we bought was a little bigger because of the Media Room , and it was in much better shape . It was a repo but the guy built it and never moved in to it . We bought a 1/2 million dollar house for almost half ! I was so down on looking for a house at that point but then . So DONT GIVE UP !

 

[dis-happy]

We used to live in Lake Ridge. I hope you find something soon. VA is definitely a great place to live for homeschooling (you homeschool, right?) One nice thing about that area is everyone is a transplant from somewhere else and as a result they tend to be friendly. Lots of parks in the area too!

Anyway, one thought I had about the houses your dh looked at: everyone has been snowed in for days, actually living in their houses 24/7. It's possible that added to all the messiness (at least I hope so).

Good luck!