Biggest turn-offs when house huntint...

[indigo]

Rosemary's post made me thing about when we were looking at a house and the things that really turned us off. These were possibly irrational things - these might have been great houses, but we just couldn't get past these things and really look at the house. Here are the things I remember seeing. How about you guys?

1. A very sick, elderly person in a bed. This is horrible because they probably really had to sell this house! But I felt so much like I was invading the house that we just got out as quickly as possible.

2. One house was totally disgusting. The smell of pee was everywhere, there were beer cans on the floor of a bedroom, and several holes were punched in a bedroom wall. The guy selling it said that his teenaged son gave him a lot of trouble. Yikes! Too many bad vibes for us!

There were other things that turned us off but not to the point where we wouldn't consider a house. For example, a house with a lot of pictures of political leaders just skeeved us out. and the funny thing was that we actually LIKED the president the pictures were of. It's hard to explain.

I'd really much, much rather see a house where nobody is living. I know that's contrary to what realtors say. They say that the best thing is to have it furnished, but be super clean and have no clutter and nothing personal. But we LOVED walking into a totally empty house. It was just full of possibilities and imagination. As soon as there was furniture it was harder for us to really "see" the house. Both times we bought houses that were vacant when we viewed them.

[collier]

My biggest turn offs:

1. Hovering agents. I wanted to be able to see the house without having the homeowner's agent with me at every turn.

2. Foreclosures. The foreclosures I went into were just so depressing. I couldn't imagine living in them. I'm not really a "karma" sort, but they just creeped me out. Sometimes we would hear the back story, and it that was really sad and disturbing.

3. Smoke. We couldn't live some where if there was a clear smell of smoke. I have no faith in getting that smell out.

Best!

[chantele]

I agree with you. I would much rather see an empty house. We are trying to get our house ready to put on the market and we really want to be out of it before we have to list it, but I don't think that's going to happen. :(

We're kind of weird too I guess in that we'd rather buy an older house that's not updated. You get so much more for your money and then you can change things to your taste.

[Vicky]

We were excited because the price was really low for the neighborhood. When we saw it, we found out why. The kitchen cabinets were PLASTIC, and cheap plastic that was cracking. The downstairs rec room had carpeting that was a LARGE plaid - electric blue, bright bright red and yellow. The wet bar was thivkly covered with polyurothane I know that must be spelled wrong) with coins embedded in it. The upstairs had old shag carpeting and fake wood paneling on the walls. The backyard had a swimming pool - that was badly filled in with dirt. Very odd. If someone had the time and lots of additional funds it COULD have been made into a nice house, but there was SO much to be done that we turned around and walked away.

We saw one house that was supposed to be ready for viewing but it was FILTHY. There were dirty dishes and half eaten food all over the kitchen. One room was so filled with dirty laundry and debris that you had to push the door hard just to peek in.

[Kim]

Smells and odors; animals, smoke, urine, mildew.
Clutter and disorganization--the two homes we've bought have been vacant.

Outdated colors and styles are not so important to us. Neutral colors are nice, but weird colors don't turn me away.

Clutter and mess really turn me off.

[BlueMama]

I looked at one that had a raw steak laying out on a plate on the counter in the kitchen. And another that had a pool bath, but the toilet looked like it was 50 years old and had never been cleaned.

[Anne]

We looked at a house once that was empty but had been really trashed--one hour with a vacuum cleaner would have made it so much more presentable, but no one had even bothered to do that.

Its other major drawback was the lot next door. That house had burned down a couple of years before and no one had done anything to it since. So there sat this burned wreck of a house right next to the cute but trashed house we were looking at.

I've never actually seriously gone househunting. DH owned our current house before he ever knew me and it works for us. Before we had kids we considered moving further out into something smaller. I am so glad we didn't ever follow through on that.

[Jill]

Dirty toilets, clutter, pet/smoke odors (or the smell of air fresheners, they make me wonder what smells they are covering up lol), dirty carpet, messy closets, unmade beds, did I say clutter?

We would never have bought this house if it had not called out to us spiritually because it was DISGUSTING when we toured it. OMG that is actually an understatement. The walls were thick with soot from the fireplace, the carpet was worn and reeked of dog pee in EVERY room, the smell of stale cigarette smoke was everywhere (we found out later it was actually absorbed into the woodwork! we obviously have replaced that, GAG) and when we walked down the basement it looked like a drug den. There were overflowing ashtrays filled with butts and paraphanelia all over the place, beer drenched carpet on the floor, and a bathroom that I am not joking we never looked at again until it was time to think about redoing it. It was THAT BAD. We locked it from the inside and never went back LOL. The kitchen floor had this old worn linoleum and lots of rugs - we looked underneath and the floor was all torn up, like DUH, you think we wouldn't look? And the bathrooms all had rust stains all over the sinks and toilets. Made us real comfortable with the well situation that's for sure. Not. The doors were all scratched by animals (dogs?) and there were multiple holes (punched) in the walls. It was obviously a teens gone wild house. Nothing had been maintained, it was just this pathetic but endearing house and we HAD TO HAVE IT. :spinning:
Now, the former owners would never recognize it. It was definitely just waiting for someone to love it like we do.

Anyway, colors and decor and fixtures don't bother me, they are all changeable. If a house has good bones and a good feel I am willing to overlook just about anything.

[kathy caribe]

I'd really much, much rather see a house where nobody is living. I know that's contrary to what realtors say. They say that the best thing is to have it furnished, but be super clean and have no clutter and nothing personal. But we LOVED walking into a totally empty house. It was just full of possibilities and imagination. As soon as there was furniture it was harder for us to really "see" the house. Both times we bought houses that were vacant when we viewed them.

That was not the case with our realtor; he strongly recommended us showing the house empty with very minimal stuff; a VERY small table in the diningroom; expensive window treatments and really nice landscaping.

[lindavw]

There were the chickens ruing around inside
the locked rooms where we were not allowed to enter
the guns laying around...

[MadAboutYou]

Rosemary's post made me thing about when we were looking at a house and the things that really turned us off. These were possibly irrational things - these might have been great houses, but we just couldn't get past these things and really look at the house. Here are the things I remember seeing. How about you guys?

1. A very sick, elderly person in a bed. This is horrible because they probably really had to sell this house! But I felt so much like I was invading the house that we just got out as quickly as possible.

2. One house was totally disgusting. The smell of pee was everywhere, there were beer cans on the floor of a bedroom, and several holes were punched in a bedroom wall. The guy selling it said that his teenaged son gave him a lot of trouble. Yikes! Too many bad vibes for us!

There were other things that turned us off but not to the point where we wouldn't consider a house. For example, a house with a lot of pictures of political leaders just skeeved us out. and the funny thing was that we actually LIKED the president the pictures were of. It's hard to explain.

I'd really much, much rather see a house where nobody is living. I know that's contrary to what realtors say. They say that the best thing is to have it furnished, but be super clean and have no clutter and nothing personal. But we LOVED walking into a totally empty house. It was just full of possibilities and imagination. As soon as there was furniture it was harder for us to really "see" the house. Both times we bought houses that were vacant when we viewed them.


1. Cat pee smell. NEVER will I buy a house that reeks of cat pee.
2. Lots and lots of clutter. Very hard for me to see past.
3. General lack of upkeep. This makes me wonder what they haven't done.

We're like you. We love empty houses. It make it so much easier to see how it would be if it were ours. Our current house was vacant when we bought it too.

[Storymama]

I have a girlfriend who was looking at a house where the people were still living, and in this very small (island) market, buyers have to make allowances for Circumstances like that. In this particular house, right before they could check out the bathroom, the Man of the House went in there ahead of them, saying "Excuse Me" as he brushed past these potential buyers . . . and took a really stinky dump.

They bought a different house. She said it was like he was marking the place LOL.

I get what selling experts say about staging the house, but I really preferred looking at the empty places too.

[elsie]

Oh the things I've seen in the last month of househunting!

The ceilings in the basement that my head could actually brush against.

The house whree the realtor had to put away the dogs, or we literally could not walk in the door. This was the same place that had bare plywood as bedroom doors. And beer cans all over.

Having porn on the computer screensaver when you show a house is not a good plan either.

I LOVE seeing a house empty.

[MamaAnnie]

ROFL Is this where I admit that, when we were trying to sell our first house, which only had one bathroom, I made my husband wait until he got to work to...

I was so paranoid!

[lisabelle]

Smells. My stomach always knots up under stressful situations (and I do consider looking for a new home to be stressful) so I don't want any bad smells--pee, dust, smoke, or any kind of food smell. I know some realtors say to make your house smell like vanilla, or fresh baked cookies. Not for me. Though I might feel differently about a house that smells like bacon. :) I've never run across one of those!

Lack of light. A split-level house never appeals to me because the lower levels never seem to have enough light. And to me it's important that all the light bulbs are working so I can see how light the place can be at night. If light bulbs are burned out then a little part of me worries that it's not a light bulb that's burned out--that it's a problem with the electrical.

Aesthetics. So far, the dh and I have always bought at the upper end of our price range, which means that we have to be able to live with what we have for awhile. We've never been able to buy a place, gut it and remodel and then move in. I can live with something that's a little outdated, and we can certainly paint any wall colors we don't like. But I can't live with dirty or ugly floor coverings/counters/dark paneling/kitchen cabinets (unless the cabinets seem fairly easy to update with paint or new hardware). By the same token I would never want a place that's been significantly updated before it's put on the market. I *want* to make some of my own choices when I move into a new house and not feel like I'm undoing the work and expense someone just put into the place.

Clutter. It makes it hard to see a home's bones. Like many of you, I would actually even rather view an empty home than one that's been staged.

Tricks of the trade. I mentioned a couple of them here--staging, house that smells of vanilla or cookies. I watch a fair amount of HGTV. I don't want to feel like I'm being "lured" into buying a house.

[Rosemary]

Rosemary's post made me thing about when we were looking at a house and the things that really turned us off. These were possibly irrational things - these might have been great houses, but we just couldn't get past these things and really look at the house. Here are the things I remember seeing. How about you guys?

1. A very sick, elderly person in a bed. This is horrible because they probably really had to sell this house! But I felt so much like I was invading the house that we just got out as quickly as possible.

2. One house was totally disgusting. The smell of pee was everywhere, there were beer cans on the floor of a bedroom, and several holes were punched in a bedroom wall. The guy selling it said that his teenaged son gave him a lot of trouble. Yikes! Too many bad vibes for us!

There were other things that turned us off but not to the point where we wouldn't consider a house. For example, a house with a lot of pictures of political leaders just skeeved us out. and the funny thing was that we actually LIKED the president the pictures were of. It's hard to explain.

I'd really much, much rather see a house where nobody is living. I know that's contrary to what realtors say. They say that the best thing is to have it furnished, but be super clean and have no clutter and nothing personal. But we LOVED walking into a totally empty house. It was just full of possibilities and imagination. As soon as there was furniture it was harder for us to really "see" the house. Both times we bought houses that were vacant when we viewed them.

I like to see a house where a family lives, especially one with kids, because I can kind of see how they live. I have a harder time with a house that is staged or even empty because I really need to make sure I'm not missing something. Like in a house that is staged, all the bedrooms are picture perfect, closets are emptyish, and everything is just so. Well, most people I know don't live like that, and I certainly don't. It takes more for me to visualize things like closet/storage space, even living space when it's staged. Yesterday we went in a house and I loved seeing that this one room was very obviously where the kids hung out and watched tv and played games, the sun room was clearly the room where people sat and read etc. Even with that, it's not like I would necessarily do the same if we bought a particular house, but I like seeing how a house works for a family.

Empty houses are ok, but staged houses do not work for me. Everyone I've seen so far has not appealed to me, and I had to really work to look past it.

Clutter I'm ok with, but dirt I just hate. A clean house speaks to me, if anything because I think it is less that I will have to do when I move in LOL.

Rusted toilets are not my friend, nor is mildewy tile in the bathroom. I always think if it were me I'd just buy a cheap toilet and replace it but then I realize maybe they have a butthead of a DH like mine :rofl:

One thing I hate is when the owner is home and follows you around, particuarlly if she is an old woman who has lived in her house her whole life and brags about how she's only replaced the carpet once, that her husband (who died 20 years ago) put the kitchen in himself after their first child was born (who is older than me!). I mean I love women like that, and I get that she takes pride in her home, and she should. My mom's house is very similar. It's just that, well I feel like I'm intruding, and just how do you respond to her kitchen comment when you are staring down white rusted steel cabinets with avacodo green applicances????

[Bickery]

This thread is great!

The only bad story I have is the house where we could walk into any of the bedrooms because of the piles of stuff to the ceiling, covered with sheets.

Then when we gave up and returned to the living room we found the owner sobbing because she missed her husband and didn't want to move but her kids were insisting. :sob: :darkcloud:

Now I think that I could have enjoyed hearing about all her happy years in that home but at the time it was just really uncomfortable.

[gfrach]

I like empty houses, too.

The biggest thing I remember when we were last househunting (10 years ago) is going into this house where there was a kid's bedroom with a screendoor latch on the outside. Freaked me out. I couldn't get past the idea they were locking their kid in. I couldn't wait to get out of that house.

[Meagan]

Rosemary's post made me thing about when we were looking at a house and the things that really turned us off. These were possibly irrational things - these might have been great houses, but we just couldn't get past these things and really look at the house. Here are the things I remember seeing. How about you guys?

I missed the opportunity to see a house over the weekend (it was a bank repo and I'm not sure I would have wanted to get into all that anyway) because the realtor found a dead raccoon inside it earlier in the day.

I'm just glad he found it BEFORE he showed it to me..

[Hawthorne]

Rosemary's post made me thing about when we were looking at a house and the things that really turned us off. These were possibly irrational things - these might have been great houses, but we just couldn't get past these things and really look at the house. Here are the things I remember seeing. How about you guys?

1. A very sick, elderly person in a bed. This is horrible because they probably really had to sell this house! But I felt so much like I was invading the house that we just got out as quickly as possible.

2. One house was totally disgusting. The smell of pee was everywhere, there were beer cans on the floor of a bedroom, and several holes were punched in a bedroom wall. The guy selling it said that his teenaged son gave him a lot of trouble. Yikes! Too many bad vibes for us!

There were other things that turned us off but not to the point where we wouldn't consider a house. For example, a house with a lot of pictures of political leaders just skeeved us out. and the funny thing was that we actually LIKED the president the pictures were of. It's hard to explain.

I'd really much, much rather see a house where nobody is living. I know that's contrary to what realtors say. They say that the best thing is to have it furnished, but be super clean and have no clutter and nothing personal. But we LOVED walking into a totally empty house. It was just full of possibilities and imagination. As soon as there was furniture it was harder for us to really "see" the house. Both times we bought houses that were vacant when we viewed them.

IKWYM about an empty house, because the previous owner's belongings were in this house when we bought it. I still have that picture in my mind of what it should look like according to that. Every time I try to organize my dining room or do anything with it, I think of what it looked like then and am never satisfied.

But all that stuff was also a HUGE part of WHY we bought it, so at the same time I am grateful for the opportunity. I liked that I could see how it had been lived in and felt like I really knew the previous owner. I could see right past the horribly dusting carpeting and all of the other issues because I knew that she was elderly and her husband had died many years ago. There were very sweet antiques everywhere, Fiesta in the corner china cupboards, and old framed photos on the walls. I instantly knew that this was my home because all of that is so me.
So yes, typically I agree that an empty house is better, but feel like I was lucky to see this one "as is".

[Hawthorne]

I like empty houses, too.

The biggest thing I remember when we were last househunting (10 years ago) is going into this house where there was a kid's bedroom with a screendoor latch on the outside. Freaked me out. I couldn't get past the idea they were locking their kid in. I couldn't wait to get out of that house.

LOL Um, if there was a door in one of my kids bedrooms, I would lock them in too! Granted, I would also lock other people OUT, but I wouldn't want any toddlers escaping either!

[lunita]

LOL Um, if there was a door in one of my kids bedrooms, I would lock them in too! Granted, I would also lock other people OUT, but I wouldn't want any toddlers escaping either!

I'm trying to picture this... was it a door to the outside, or a door inside the house, opening up to the hallway? I'm thinking a screen door in the interior of the home might be a creative way to contain a pet or possible a toddler while still allowing them to see what it is going on in the other room and to communicate. It would be more effective than a baby gate for climbers...

[Hawthorne]

I'm trying to picture this... was it a door to the outside, or a door inside the house, opening up to the hallway? I'm thinking a screen door in the interior of the home might be a creative way to contain a pet or possible a toddler while still allowing them to see what it is going on in the other room and to communicate. It would be more effective than a baby gate for climbers...

OH, I get it now, Kristy! I think she was just saying there was a LATCH on the outside of the bedroom door. I thought she meant there was a door to the outside. In any case, I wouldn't assume that it was to keep a child locked in. I have closet doors in my house that have latches on the outsides of them and while I have thought, "hm, I could really give a kid a time out in there!" (totally jokingly, of course), that doesn't mean that's why the 90 year old woman who lived here before me had them on there. I just think it could be there for a variety of reasons, like you're saying.

[gfrach]

Interior door opening to hallway with latch on hallway side of door. No screen door, just that type of latch--one with an hook on the door and an eye in attached to the frame.

[gfrach]

I have these latches on our sliding closet doors (and no I never have locked C in them) but to have the latch on the door to the room just weirded me out. I'm sure there could be other reasons, but my impression was that it was there to lock the kid in the room (I mean in general you don't want to keep a kid *out* of their room but I suppose you might).

[Sarah]

Interior door opening to hallway with latch on hallway side of door. No screen door, just that type of latch--one with an hook on the door and an eye in attached to the frame.

I had one on my door when I was a kid -- it was to keep my younger brother out of my stuff. He went through a rather destructive phase.

[mudcreekmama]

The smell of mold and mildew and the smell of cigarette smoke - even though I know I can deal with the smoke issue easily.

Other stuff - messy master bedroom - again I knew it wasn't going to be there later but I don't want to see the stains on your sheets and the bunion pads and the glass of water yer teeth were in last night!

I have no problem seeing past a messy kitchen or lived in bathroom, or messy kids rooms ... but not a master bedroom!

Oh and I know it was fixable but I was totally skeeved by the house that had carpet in the kitchen and a baby crawling on it!!!!!!!!!!!!! We did put an offer in on it but we were totally unwilling to budge on it and I'm glad they wouldn't meet us...the house is still for sale and its now listed at a price lower than our offer!

[indigo]

OH, I get it now, Kristy! I think she was just saying there was a LATCH on the outside of the bedroom door. I thought she meant there was a door to the outside. In any case, I wouldn't assume that it was to keep a child locked in. I have closet doors in my house that have latches on the outsides of them and while I have thought, "hm, I could really give a kid a time out in there!" (totally jokingly, of course), that doesn't mean that's why the 90 year old woman who lived here before me had them on there. I just think it could be there for a variety of reasons, like you're saying.

When K was little we had a lock on the outside of her door, but it wasn't to lock her in. The problem was that she would lock US out! So we just switched the doorknob around. Yes, we could have just bought a new one without a lock, but this was simpler. (Of course then whenever I was in her room I was worried that she would lock me in!)

[Mumbly]

A dirty, stained toilet is a big turn off, as is a dirty stove. We passed on a house in part because of these two issues, the other reason we passed was because it had a creek running behind it and no fence.

I don't like having the homeowner there while I'm looking at the house. You want to critique the house and I'm not comfortable doing that when the homeowner is right there.

It's been so long since I've been house hunting, it's hard to remember.