shit ppl say for not buying a house

[house]

We had a couple interested in buying our house. During the visit they found a dead mouse or a mouse nest outside of the house by the A/C unit. So they are no longer interested in buying the house. 8-D

Last year one family walked straight out after seeing stainless steel appliances.

What lame things have you heard or gotten when trying to sell a house?

[april37]

I think some of the dumbest reasons are things they knew about BEFORE seeing the house. Our last house had a 1 car garage and there were people who gave that as a reason why they didn't like it. It clearly stated 1 car garage on the internet and MLS listing.

[kaylie]

When we were looking to buy this house, I don't think seeing a dead mouse would have disqualified it. However, now that I live in a house with an ant problem I think I would be wary - especially if it was a nest. We've already dropped a few hundred dollars and spent many hours cleaning. The previous owners were not very clean and there were goldfish crackers and other food items under the stove and dishwasher. It's annoying and it doesn't mean that there is an infestation, but maybe they had a bad experience with it before?

We also looked at houses that had features we weren't that into: crawlspaces where we wanted basements, one car garages where we wanted two car garages, etc. Inventory is low in our market, so there were some things that were more negotiable than others if the rest of the house was awesome.

Probably the dumbest thing that we complained about was this one house that had a somewhat small kitchen but a massive fridge. The fridge was next to a doorway (going through it would have you walk in front of the doors) and because of its size, it was basically blocking half of it. It just really made us think the kitchen was too small.

[house]

Jun 27, 2012 18:30:52 GMT -5 april37 said:

I think some of the dumbest reasons are things they knew about BEFORE seeing the house. Our last house had a 1 car garage and there were people who gave that as a reason why they didn't like it. It clearly stated 1 car garage on the internet and MLS listing.

That makes no sense for them to come visit at all. None.

[Deleted]

We haven't sold so I haven't heard any crazy reasons for not buying. I have a cats that have caught mice in our home but I do think if I had seen dead mice/nests while looking it would have made me think twice.

[housegeek]

I would think twice about a house with a mouse nest. To me that's part of upkeep, and I would worry that there were other problems that weren't taken care of.

[sailorgray]

Jun 27, 2012 19:28:21 GMT -5 house said:

Jun 27, 2012 18:30:52 GMT -5 april37 said:

I think some of the dumbest reasons are things they knew about BEFORE seeing the house. Our last house had a 1 car garage and there were people who gave that as a reason why they didn't like it. It clearly stated 1 car garage on the internet and MLS listing.

That makes no sense for them to come visit at all. None.

I can see why they'd visit knowing it didn't have the 2 car garage. If the house is AWESOME then some people would gladly give up their desire to have a two car garage. Maybe the house wasn't awesome enough for them to give up the two car garage, so that honestly was the reason they didn't like the house.

We saw a few houses that didn't have everything we wanted with the hopes that we would be blown away by what the house did have and would be fine with not getting some things.

[slug*bug]

Jun 27, 2012 19:30:16 GMT -5 FormerlyRR said:

People are just crazy. I'm about to list my house, and I can't wait to hear the feedback.

Honestly, we gave great feedback for a large number of the houses that we turned down: they just weren't for us, but it was obvious when the sellers had put some effort into caring for their homes.

Others...not so much... But there were so many that we had to say 'no' to that I tried to give our REA specific feedback b/c I appreciated how nice the homes were...they just needed a different buyer.

[house]

Jun 27, 2012 20:05:49 GMT -5 sailorgray said:

Jun 27, 2012 19:28:21 GMT -5 house said:

That makes no sense for them to come visit at all. None.

I can see why they'd visit knowing it didn't have the 2 car garage. If the house is AWESOME then some people would gladly give up their desire to have a two car garage. Maybe the house wasn't awesome enough for them to give up the two car garage, so that honestly was the reason they didn't like the house.

We saw a few houses that didn't have everything we wanted with the hopes that we would be blown away by what the house did have and would be fine with not getting some things.

We absolutely narrowed down what we were looking for and 1 car garage was ok with us but we never looked at houses with off street parking. My thing is if 1 car garage is the deal breaker why look at it? Basically the house fell short of their expectation but garage took the blame.

We never had mice problem when we lived there. But the house has been rented for last two years so its a new problem. We are getting an exterminator to take care of this.

[emoflamingo]

We have looked at houses that didn't meet our exact wants, but would meet our needs. Like we WANT 3 bedrooms with a finished basement area for a living space/work space for my crafty gig. However, if the price was right, we'd go with 3 bedrooms and unfinished basement or 4 bedrooms instead of 3 bedrooms with an unfinished basement. Most of our feedback has been stuff that is out of the control of the homeowner (like we didn't quite like the layout or the bedrooms were a little small or awkward), but since I'm on D&R and I can explain changes to my H, we look past some of the surface issues.

I wouldn't be concerned about mice, though. Especially since it's outside. Just clean out the unit and make sure you have some hidden traps inside the house just in case. We have had a mouse problem INSIDE our house and I don't live like a slob. I just have a lazy cat.

[house]

Emo, LOL@ lazy cat. You need a new kitty! He's fired!

[emoflamingo]

She is OLD. She used to catch and half eat birds and leave the remaining portions on my parents' porch. Also, she barfs on my (brand new) carpet after I spend $.43 a can on her stinkin food because she has a hard time chewing the dry stuff. And she bites me if I try to brush her to prevent the barf. I saved her from the rough life of an outside country cat!

[mrs.jacinthe]

We've walked away from houses without even looking inside because of things you can't see/determine on the listing. For example, we went to look at one fixer (MAJOR) where the next door neighbors had their poor dog tied out in the yard - no food, no water, and no cars in the driveway, so I doubt anyone was home. There was no way I could live next door to those people without WWIII breaking out, so we left right away and didn't even look inside. (And yes, I called Animal Control to report them after we left)

We had a couple potential buyers come through our house when it first went on the market who complained that it was too old. Uhhh, it was built in 1958 and said so on the MLS. If you don't want to buy a house that age, then you should probably be looking at new construction.

We also had a potential buyer who came inside and then complained because the basement half bath was a shared room with the furnace/laundry room. Um, it's a utility bath. That's how they work. **sigh**

[emjacobs]

I took two steps inside one with my agent and we turned around and walked out because there was an area of the living room floor that was a good 3" lower than the bottom of the baseboards. But I think all of the reasons we had for not buying were valid.

[house]

Em, you had valid reasons. I am fine with valid reason but this couple saw our listing and the house and liked so much that they wanted the to buy the house while still rented out. There is nothing wrong with the house itself. Its the reason they tell you why they are not going to buy is what gets my eyes rolling. But say for the sake of argument there were no mouse nest and after six months they find a new nest. They wouldn't leave or put the house for sale because of this. Right? I mean this seems like such a trivial problem that can be taken care of by any home owners. I hardly think its a deal breaker but I also don't have experience with infestation. So how expensive is it?

[kaylie]

The expense depends on the severity and how much damage has been done by the rodents. Not that you have an infestation - rodents live outside everywhere so seeing one nest doesn't mean that there's a problem, but it would make me think to get a pest inspection. In houses that do have infestations, rodents can chew through pretty much anything - walls, plumbing, support beams, insulation - you name it. They also leave droppings everywhere and it's very unsanitary.

My last apartment in NYC before moving to the suburbs had a rat infestation. It is not for the faint of heart. You could hear them in the walls constantly (as in at least once per hour you'd hear a scurry) and they chewed through my walls so that they could get into my garbage can. The maintenance guy kept boarding the holes up and they would just chew through the boards. They also chewed into my hall closet and built a nest out of insulation. That was one of the worst years of my life as far as living situations go.

Also, they smell when they die so even if you poison them all there is probably going to have to be some wall/floor removal to get the dead ones out.

[steenbean18]

We found a house we LOVED and walked away because of 1 thing that some might consider silly:

There was a bedroom with a closet that REEKED of cat pee. I just couldn't buy the house with that issue because 1) It was SO strong, even after they hadn't lived in it in 7 months, that I was sure we'd have to tear up floor boards and 2) I have a cat. I can just picture him pissing in there every chance he gets for the entire time we live there because he can still smell the stench. It was foul.

[jena]

My favorite feedback was something like I can buy a brand new house across the road for only 10k more. So why are you looking at a 30+ yo house? And the new house across the road has a yard which is actually SMALLER than my patio, is the same sq ft on about 1/3 of the land, and has one twig sized tree compared to 5 huge mature trees. All of which was clearly visible in the listing.

[SusanBAnthony]

We have had like 60 showings (no I am not kidding) on our house that is for sale. 50 of the 60 have said they don't like that 2 bedrooms are separate from the 3rd. Just like it says in the listing, dude!

We are about to start trying to rent it bc after 2 price drops it is not selling and we cant afford to keep paying mortgage + rent in the new city.

Looking at houses here, our main complaints have been either they are dumps (in our price range) or sellers are straight up lying- one seller said there was a one time basement flood. We found 4 or 5 different flood lines in the basement, and the whole thing would have had to be gutted. Also, the upstairs clearly had a lot of DIY work- like the flooring in the kitchen didnt quite reach the edge of the floor. Maybe that is too nitpicky- in isolation- but we decided it was indicative of a larger problem.

[perhapsprincess]

Jun 28, 2012 21:46:55 GMT -5 kaylie said:

Also, they smell when they die so even if you poison them all there is probably going to have to be some wall/floor removal to get the dead ones out.

My work is in the country and the doors are left open ALL DAY (its a manufacturer -- so this is kind of necessary to get some air flow for the guys on the floor.) So we have mice/rats (not really sure which). They eat through plastic! you have to put stuff in metal to keep them out. Luckily we've got a sheetmetal shop, so they made trash cans to put the food, etc in.

Anyway, occasionally a rat dies in the walls even without us poisoning for it, etc. You can definitely tell because it STINKS. For a few days. The smell dies away and eventually goes away entirely.