UPDATE 2: Help me not offend sellers - Bathtub Mary

[scm1011]

Aug 6, 2021 8:02:36 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Aug 6, 2021 8:00:53 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Agreed. I suspect he may be an extended family member / close friend. 

Gross. That’s the price you pay when you do business with family. Sometimes it gets uncomfortable.

I’m sorry for you

Thanks! It's small potatoes in the long run but just annoying after yesterdays photo mess. I am looking forward to both transactions being in the rear-view!

[icedcoffee]

You tried. Do what you want with it now. Post on Buy Nothing or get the church involved. If anything comes up in the future you can sleep well knowing you tried.

[origami]

At the stage you’re in now is the same stage I was in when I realized my REA was not my advocate. Her goal was to close the deal as smoothly as possible, which translated to downplaying every issue I had and pressuring me to comply with every seller request no matter how BSC it was. It’s perfectly fine for you to continue with this request. But this will soon be your house and their opinions about what you do with the yard will be irrelevant, so personally I’d let it go.

[Susie]

Yep, I'm with icedcoffee. You tried, and now when you eventually get stuck removing it yourself you can do so knowing there wasn't much else you could've done before closing.

That sucks that their realtor is not doing his job and you're having to clean up the mess though.

[libbygrl109]

Well, you tried. I am wondering if the sellers really didn’t want to move out, and were pressured into selling for their own welfare. That may explain why they really can’t let go of the house.

The gentleman who owned our house was the original owner, and his kids convinced him to sell because his health was starting to fail. Our neighbor told us that he would regularly drive by to see what changes we made. Thankfully, our neighbor loved everything we did (including taking bushes down between our properties, which made it easier for him to mow his lawn), so he readily defended us each time the old owner made a comment.

I’d contact a local church about how to remove it.

[scm1011]

libbygrl109 , I definitely think that's the case. Apparently the husband (mid-late 70s) took a bad fall of the roof off the shed a couple years ago and now has a hard time with stairs. They're moving to a condo nearby. I'm sure its really hard for them and I'm trying to be mindful of that, but some things can't be helped (like we can't move in until the popcorn ceilings are dealt with, so we had to bring in a contractor to quote the job and get the ball rolling).

I'm glad your neighbor is in your corner. It makes me sad to think about your house's former owner driving by to visit his house! Poor dude.

[libbygrl109]

Aug 6, 2021 9:07:14 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

libbygrl109 , I definitely think that's the case. Apparently the husband (mid-late 70s) took a bad fall of the roof off the shed a couple years ago and now has a hard time with stairs. They're moving to a condo nearby. I'm sure its really hard for them and I'm trying to be mindful of that, but some things can't be helped (like we can't move in until the popcorn ceilings are dealt with, so we had to bring in a contractor to quote the job and get the ball rolling).

I'm glad your neighbor is in your corner. It makes me sad to think about your house's former owner driving by to visit his house! Poor dude.

I felt badly, too, but in the end, it was our house, and honestly, there were a lot of things wrong with it that needed immediate fixes. I totally get it about the need to make immediate changes before you move in. It killed me when the daughter told me at the closing how much time she spent shampooing the carpets for us, knowing full well that we would be ripping them up immediately to have the hardwoods done.

[scm1011]

Aug 6, 2021 9:17:30 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

Aug 6, 2021 9:07:14 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

libbygrl109 , I definitely think that's the case. Apparently the husband (mid-late 70s) took a bad fall of the roof off the shed a couple years ago and now has a hard time with stairs. They're moving to a condo nearby. I'm sure its really hard for them and I'm trying to be mindful of that, but some things can't be helped (like we can't move in until the popcorn ceilings are dealt with, so we had to bring in a contractor to quote the job and get the ball rolling).

I'm glad your neighbor is in your corner. It makes me sad to think about your house's former owner driving by to visit his house! Poor dude.

I felt badly, too, but in the end, it was our house, and honestly, there were a lot of things wrong with it that needed immediate fixes. I totally get it about the need to make immediate changes before you move in. It killed me when the daughter told me at the closing how much time she spent shampooing the carpets for us, knowing full well that we would be ripping them up immediately to have the hardwoods done.

Oh for sure! I didn't mean to imply you were wrong to make changes. And ooof on the carpets! 

[libbygrl109]

Aug 6, 2021 9:21:20 GMT -5 scm1011 said:

Aug 6, 2021 9:17:30 GMT -5 libbygrl109 said:

I felt badly, too, but in the end, it was our house, and honestly, there were a lot of things wrong with it that needed immediate fixes. I totally get it about the need to make immediate changes before you move in. It killed me when the daughter told me at the closing how much time she spent shampooing the carpets for us, knowing full well that we would be ripping them up immediately to have the hardwoods done.

Oh for sure! I didn't mean to imply you were wrong to make changes. And ooof on the carpets! 

Didn’t take it that way at all 😊

[lo]

Yikes, I had a feeling it might go that way. How annoying, though. I can’t imagine a bathtub will be easy to dig up, even though I know you said you might leave it.

Our old owner drives by our house sometimes, too. The house was/is a fixer upper so we’ve been doing a lot of work on it, including redoing the rotting porch and repainting a totally different exterior color and she’s made some bizarre comments.

[bcv513]

Damn scm1011, I’m sorry they’re making a big deal out of it. I called St. Joseph in Medford. I just said it was in the yard and wanted to donate it to them so more people would see it. I was afraid if I said I wanted to trash it they wouldn’t take it lol

[scm1011]

Thanks, bcv513 - I'll try that tactic!

[Wallflower]

scm1011 - I'm sorry the seller's agent isn't handling it the way we all think they should.

I do want to say that I think you should follow the suggestion of contacting a local church only because the seller's son will be a neighbor. If that weren't the case, I'd say just get rid of it however is easier for you, but if you can at least say, if asked, that you donated it to the church, I think you might avoid some hard feelings. People are weird about their religious shit.

[dr.girlfriend]

That is effing ridiculous!

On that note, I went to see my friend's new house and someone in her neighborhood (which is a mix of nice suburban homes and some bigger homes) has a full-sized bronze statue of a horse in their front yard. I was like, "I'm DYING to know the story behind your horse-statue new neighbors!" and she was like, "Yeah, whoever buys that house next is basically committing to have that 12-ton statue in their yard because I don't think they could ever move it." It made me think of you! (In other words -- it could be worse? :-) )

[scm1011]

OMG dr.girlfriend, I'm dying!! My horse-obsessed DS would be in heaven but good lord, no thanks!

[dr.girlfriend]

At worst, you can always do 1-800-GOT-JUNK or a local removals service. I had a metal swingset in my backyard that I tried to give away, and after like 10 flakey NextDoor/Craigslist interactions in a row I just gave up and hired a local removal service to take it away for a little over $100. They cut it apart in like five minutes and hauled it off, whereas it would have taken me hours trying to get the rusty bolts undone. Got Junk seems very professional but they charge by the 1/2 truck at a minimum and I think this was likely cheaper.

[TR]

Dude. That response would make me want to light the thing on fire after closing and throw a BBQ. But I'm not religious at all lol.

[texasharleygirl]

Aug 4, 2021 13:27:06 GMT -5 rubytue said:

This thread reminds me that we forgot to dig up the St Joe in the front yard of the house that closed 2 hours ago.

We aren’t religious, though H grew up Catholic. But, we did do St Joseph when we sold the rental house. And since we had him, buried him again before listing.

Oh SHIT... We just sold our house in June, I forgot about St. Joe!!!!!

[flymetothemoon]

Aug 6, 2021 10:21:54 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

That is effing ridiculous!

On that note, I went to see my friend's new house and someone in her neighborhood (which is a mix of nice suburban homes and some bigger homes) has a full-sized bronze statue of a horse in their front yard. I was like, "I'm DYING to know the story behind your horse-statue new neighbors!" and she was like, "Yeah, whoever buys that house next is basically committing to have that 12-ton statue in their yard because I don't think they could ever move it." It made me think of you! (In other words -- it could be worse? :-) )

Any chance you live in MD and the horse is rearing in the statue? If so, your friend probably lives down the street from me and I know the story behind the creation of it.

[ssmjlm]

Well that sux, but hopefully a local church will come take it.

FWIW, in our first house we heard from some neighbors the old owners drove by and were shocked at everything we had done, which I was kind of WTF about because the landscaping was terrible and we one of those bradford pear trees that had to go.

Now we drive by that same house since we moved out and the buyer made it a rental and all the landscaping that was low maintenance is now completely overgrown from no maintenance.

[jaylea]

Lol I call these “Mary on the half shell”.

Why anyone would be offended that the buyers of their home may want to change things is always beyond me! If you want things to stay the same, don’t sell your house. Otherwise, it ceases to be in your control.

And I used to live in Somerville, so I get the vibes!

[Wallflower]

All you "St. Joe" folks are making me worried that there's one buried in my yard!

When I bought my house, the sellers were older (and I think devout Catholic), but the wife died between going under contract and signing, and the husband died not long after signing. If they buried one, their kids might not have known.

[starburst604]

I grew up just north of Boston and like half of my friends had Mary in SOMETHING on their lawn lol! If they’re offended you might come back with “what kind of Catholic just LEAVES their Bathtub Mary behind?!”

Where I live now there is also a house with not only a life sized horse statue, but an attached coach car and uniformed driver. It’s a great house in the area we’re hoping to move to soon. I can just see the convo now “will the horse and carriage be….coming with you??” Then DD would be pissed if it didn’t come with the house.

[hbomdiggity]

It’s one thing for the realtor to come back with “they would be extremely offended” because well, we knew that. But that’s when the realtors come up with a solution. The realtor shouldn’t be offended. This was not identified as a conveying fixture, correct? Then technically it needs to go.

We had stuff left by former owners that went mia. So their realtor come and picked up the stuff and disposed of it because they understood that ultimately it wasn’t our responsibility. But our realtors worked that out between them.

That said, I agree with the church suggestion. I am basically a lapsed catholic but no way I’d just take take Mary to the dump.

[dr.girlfriend]

Aug 6, 2021 11:31:11 GMT -5 flymetothemoon said:

Aug 6, 2021 10:21:54 GMT -5 dr.girlfriend said:

That is effing ridiculous!

On that note, I went to see my friend's new house and someone in her neighborhood (which is a mix of nice suburban homes and some bigger homes) has a full-sized bronze statue of a horse in their front yard. I was like, "I'm DYING to know the story behind your horse-statue new neighbors!" and she was like, "Yeah, whoever buys that house next is basically committing to have that 12-ton statue in their yard because I don't think they could ever move it." It made me think of you! (In other words -- it could be worse? :-) )

Any chance you live in MD and the horse is rearing in the statue? If so, your friend probably lives down the street from me and I know the story behind the creation of it.

Ha, no, we are not in MD but the horse *is* rampant IIRC!  :-)  I was so curious I tried to google or find it in street view but no dice!

[rubytue]

Aug 6, 2021 13:34:40 GMT -5 Wallflower said:

All you "St. Joe" folks are making me worried that there's one buried in my yard!

When I bought my house, the sellers were older (and I think devout Catholic), but the wife died between going under contract and signing, and the husband died not long after signing. If they buried one, their kids might not have known.

Well, if so, it’s probably small and innocuous. You might see it when planting. I think most people put him just a few inches under the ground. And, at least our St Joe was only a 3” guy. Like green army guy sized. 

[scm1011]

Aug 6, 2021 13:29:08 GMT -5 jaylea said:

Lol I call these “Mary on the half shell”.

Why anyone would be offended that the buyers of their home may want to change things is always beyond me! If you want things to stay the same, don’t sell your house. Otherwise, it ceases to be in your control.

And I used to live in Somerville, so I get the vibes!

Oh there is a difference between the two! (sorry so huge)

Mary on the half shell:


Bathtub Mary:

[scm1011]

another update in OP!

[starburst604]

That’s an amazing update. Glad Mary has found a good home. 🤣

[konapoppy]

Amazing!!!!