Last weekend, we helped move my son and his wife into their new home. After 18 months of house hunting and multiple rejected offers, they finally bought a house. Not only is it 100 miles closer to us, but it’s in my oldest daughter’s neighborhood! We are thrilled because 1)We can kill two birds with one stone when it comes to visiting, and 2)We hope that they can develop a closer sibling relationship. Not that there was ever any ‘bad blood,’ but they haven’t lived near each other for 14 years and have lost that bond. Time will tell!
It only took $51,000 over asking to finally get a house, along with concessions like not asking for anything to be fixed after inspection and allowing the current owners to stay an extra week after closing. In a seller's market, this kind of thing is expected. What was not expected? Opening the door to a filthy mess! I volunteered to meet my son to do some cleaning before move-in and I was beyond pissed. It wasn't like the previous owners 'ran out of time' to clean things up.
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| Every square inch of the first floor was covered in crumbs. Would it have been that difficult to run a vacuum or bust out a broom? It was shocking because the house was spic and span when they put in the offer and at the inspection. How it got that dirty in five weeks is rather surprising to me, but I'm a clean person. It took my son two hours just to clean the fridge/freezer. I tackled the bathrooms and discovered what looked like six paper towels wadded up and shoved into the toilet. Thank goodness I brought gloves. I was too busy to take photos besides the one above, but trust me, it was a disaster. Fortunately, there was nothing broken that we didn't already know about. Is it no longer common courtesy to clean a house when you move out? I made sure our last house was move-in ready for the young couple who bought it. My husband even filled the holes and painted over all the spots we had hung things. Maybe because we had both been renters at so many places before eventually buying a house, we were used to doing major clean up in order to get our security deposits back. Or maybe it's just a sign of the times of people just not caring about others anymore. Sad! In an upcoming post, I'm going to talk about realtor websites. As a sneak preview, here are some filthy pictures for you that I’ve collected courtesy of Realtor.com: |
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| No attempt to straighten up this bathroom for the listing. |
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| The kitchen counters have been cleared, but how did they miss the dirt on the floor? |
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| Why in the world would a realtor take a photo of these stairs?? |
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Not sure what is funnier, the filthy towel hanging haphazardly or that the realtor posted this selfie?Do you consider yourself a clean person? Do you think you could take better pictures than these realtors? Do you care how you leave a place, be it an apartment, house, or even hotel room? |
Congrats to your son and DIL for being home owners (finally!) I know it has been a struggle for them to find something as you have mentioned on your blog a few times. It is unbelievable how much over asking price they had to go to get the house! Was the house a rental before they bought it? I found in our looking at houses renters didn't keep the house up like an owner would, but still there is no excuse to leave the house dirty. With the several houses we rented, I always hired a cleaning service to clean after we moved out in an effort to get our deposit back. I also did that for one house we sold in Montana since we moved one day and left the state the next day. No time to clean. It is just common courtesy to clean up your own mess but I guess that is going along the wayside now! I look forward to your next post about realtor websites! I am glad son/DIL will be closer to you and in the same neighborhood as your Oldest! I hope they can renew their sibling relationship over time!!
ReplyDeletebetty
Isn’t it crazy? $50,000 over asking seems to be the standard now for what I consider mid-range houses (2000 -2500 sq ft). No, the previous owners were not renters, but they did have young children. I’m a super clean person and made my kids use a dustpan under their chairs if they made a mess and only eat sitting down. I’ve always thought I could do a better job than a cleaning service!!! Lol!
DeleteThere is no excuse!
ReplyDeleteThere really isn’t!
DeleteWhat blows me away is that first photo of the crumbs covering the first floor. I mean, I can understand some crumbs in the kitchen area, but the whole first floor?!? What did the previous owner do? Did they just walk all over the house EATING and leaving crumbs for FIVE weeks?!? It's like they didn't care because they knew they were moving out. And like you, I'm a clean (OCD) person so that would have pissed me off too, not to mention gross me out.
ReplyDelete"I tackled the bathrooms and discovered what looked like six paper towels wadded up and shoved into the toilet."
Ewwwwwwww!
As you know, I rent like you and your husband did in the past, so not only is it common courtesy to leave your space clean when you leave, but it's mandatory to get your security deposit back. But I think you're right, it may be a sign of the times of not caring. Sad!
And I am beyond shocked by the photos taken by the realtor, listing those properties for sale! That bathroom is horrendous. And so are those stairs. It's hard for me to believe those properties sold from those photos.
Anyway, happy to hear about your son and his wife finding a home closer to you and your family. That's awesome!
Have a terrific weekend, my friend! X
The crumbs were unreal to me, too. It was exactly like that by the front door/foyer, throughout the kitchen, and down the short hall to the garage. Who eats by the front door?? I realize they had small kids, but it’s almost like they just threw graham crackers on the floor and told the kids to walk all over them! It’s a miracle we didn’t see any ants or worse!
DeleteThe realtor.com pictures crack me up! Some of these realtors are clueless on how to sell a home! Thanks for your good wishes and enjoy the sun while it lasts. Rain is coming!
I'm shocked by $51,000 over asking price AND finding the property dirty when you got there. I can rationalize the price in a seller's market, but not the lack of cleaning the house before leaving it. Especially when the sellers made out like a bandit. That just sucks. But like they say, karma is a bitch and she knows where you live! The sellers will find this out soon enough.
ReplyDeleteI did some investigating via Facebook and found out they were building a house, so nice clean place for them to move into (and ruin 🤣)!
DeleteCongratulations to you son and DIL for their purchase! Boy, I sure and glad we are not planning on buying a house anytime soon! The only thing more ridiculous than the housing market right now is when the sellers leaving the house in such a condition! What in the world?? Our last house was spotless when we left it! I would have been embarrassed to have left it dirty at all! I hope you kids do get a closer bond. It's tough for our kids because of my son living in NH but they stay in touch as much as possible!
ReplyDeleteThank you. It’s nice if you are selling right now, but you have to wonder where people are going! I would also be embarrassed to leave a filthy mess for someone else. Yes, NH is far away. I’m really hoping my kids create some bonds now. Nothing made me happier than when they got along so well as kids, even if they were ganging up on us!
DeleteI've lived in the same apartment for 24 years but when we moved in, I expected it to be clean. I cleaned the floors and surfaces right before we moved in thought, just to my own sanity because you never know.
ReplyDeleteIt’s good to do a little sanitizing, just in case!
DeleteWOW! Speechless. We've always cleaned, patched etc just like you said in order to get our deposit back. We lived in our last apartment 8 years and the owner said we should receive an award. I can't imagine leaving a mess like that. I'm glad you were able to help your son. I'm sure he appreciated it. I hope the siblings do become closer, that would be nice after being apart for so long. Yes, I definitely consider myself a clean person.
ReplyDeleteSandy's Space
Hi Sandy! Welcome! It sounds like you guys are just like us when it comes to leaving and moving. We wanted to welcome the new owners last time we moved. We had 22 happy years in that house and we were proud of all we had done to it.
DeleteForgot to say, I popped in from a mutual friends blog. It's always fun to meet new bloggers.
ReplyDeleteOff to visit you and figure out our connection.
DeleteIt's appalling that the house was left like that. Once your son gets settled in, I hope that he will be happy and make many wonderful new memories with you and his sister.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Liberty.
Delete4M and his wife bought a house a couple years ago for (I think) 30k above asking, after 6 rejected offers. So they got off easy compared to your son, I guess.
ReplyDeleteApparently, $51k above asking isn't enough for them to leave the place in decent shape. That just seems like common courtesy, but like common sense, it ain't as common as it should be.
When we bought our current house 22 years ago, we knew we were getting something of a fixer-upper that the previous owner had walked away from (and thus, we got a nice price for the size of the house), but still. He left in November, and left the hot-water heat system to freeze in place, meaning that all the cast-iron radiators had cracked and leaked onto the floors (at least the puddles froze before they wrecked the floors), and the boiler was destroyed. Fortunately, we made enough of a profit on the sale of our previous house that we could put pretty much all of it into getting the house ready to move into. 22 years later, we've finally beaten it into (at least what I consider) a nice place to live. . .
30k over asking a few years ago was bad. I feel as though it really only became that bad in this area about 9 months ago. When we moved into this house, it was fairly clean. The previous owners left a note apologizing that they ran out of time and the movers had packed all their cleaning supplies. They were being transferred to Japan, so we understood they had bigger fish to fry!
DeleteWe are very tidy around here and I could never with a good conscience leave a place messy/dirty. My Aunt is a realtor and I remember when she sold her last house she was checking with all sorts of house cleaners about cleaning their house after they moved out for the next owners. They ended up doing it themselves because the cleaners were charging so much.
ReplyDeleteI think the people your son purchased his home from are careless slobs and I believe there are a lot of people like that.
We often laugh about the state of homes when watching HGTV. Like: Didn't they know someone was coming over with a DAMN CAMERA?
51k over asking. WOW!
I have no idea how much house cleaners charge, but I’m 99% sure I could do a better job! I have an eye for anything dirty or out of place. I haven’t watched HGTV in awhile, but it’s truly shocking how some people live!
DeleteI'm definitely a clean person and a pretty decent photographer, so yeah...you wouldn't find any of those pics on my realtor listings. The selfie pic cracked me up the most! I can't believe it took your son that long to find a house, and he had to pay that much over the asking price, AND they didn't even have the decency to clean it up. What's wrong with people nowadays?!
ReplyDeleteIsn’t that bathroom photo hilarious? First, why take the photo a bathroom mirror? And even if you didn’t realize you were in the photo, WHY post it once you see that??? That’s just plain stupid.
DeleteSome of our house is clean, some of it isn't, but if were selling it, we'd make a real effort to make it look as good as possible.
ReplyDeleteI’m wondering if the previous owners of my son’s house hired a cleaning company before they put it on the market. And then went back to being slobs once the house was sold (in 24hours).
DeleteAh, I'm able to comment now after the earlier glitches! Jenny and I aren't neat freaks but we do keep our house fairly clean and tidy, and we would expect to leave a house clean and tidy for the next owners. Unfortunately as you say it's a sellers' market (in the UK as well as the States) and sellers can get away with scummy houses both when looking for a buyer and when moving out. And having to pay $51,000 over the asking price is extraordinary. They were lucky they could find the extra money.
ReplyDeleteI’m surprised you’ve had trouble commenting since you are also a blogspot.com blogger. My troubles are always commenting on Wordpress. I keep my eye on the realtor websites and have also noticed flippers who buy and sell within a month or two and then make a profit of $100,000+. It’s crazy!
DeleteGood news having your son and dil living closer. When I sold my house 11 years ago I didn't like any of the photos the estate agent took so I replaced them with my own. I would never leave a house/apartment dirty, even when I'm staying in hotels I tidy up and make the bed.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, that’s so sad that your agent took such poor pictures! I’m glad you replaced them! I also don’t leave a hotel dirty besides towels on the bathroom floor to signify they’ve been used.
DeleteCongrats on your son/dil buying a house! And being closer to the family. But $51k over asking... yikes!! And really awful they couldn't clean up. When we moved out of our apartment, we did clean/paint to get security and the woman we bought this house from was very clean. Old-fashioned decor, but otherwise fine. We've been here ever since.
ReplyDeleteI always stage my pictures for things going online so there aren't weird things in view. LOL. We're not dirty hoarders... but depending on the day/room... there could be a lot needing attention... but we always get to it. The dust though... it just won't go away. Ever! LOL.
Thank you and hi again! I know what you mean about staging your photos so weird stuff (or personal) is not included. I do that on Instagram. Dust is never ending. The Swiffer dry cloths are the only things that seem to pick up dust for me.
DeleteI would be livid. Is common courtesy dead? And those pics? Sheer laziness. Wow.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry you had to deal with that. Your son is lucky to have you. Also, super hooray to son and daughter now living so near each other!!!
Sheer laziness . . . You sound like me! Lol! I was glad my son agreed to me meeting him there to clean. I didn’t want to step on his wife’s toes, so to speak, but I knew she couldn’t take off another day off work. I actually don’t mind cleaning, as there is a true sense of accomplishment when finished.
DeleteSo true on the sense of accomplishment! Today I was on a cleaning kick--tackled several floors with the vacuum and a sponge, then washed bathmats and couch cushion covers. I love when that feeling strikes me. Only wish it struck more often. ;)
DeleteThat is a lot in one day! I tend to write Clean Sink on my to-do list and then am able to cross it off five minutes later! Lol!
DeleteSmart! You get endorphins from crossing things off a to do list, I've heard. You may be on to something there! :)
DeleteIt’s definitely a good feeling!
DeleteOur home was clean when we moved in, but I still scrubbed it top to bottom before unpacking. When we sold our town home 15 years ago, it was shining clean before the new owners moved in. It took us a few months to sell, so I'd still go over every few weeks just to wipe up any dust and run the vacuum for a freshen up. We are hoping to be selling our current home within the next year and I will make sure that before the new owners move in, it will be clean enough to eat off the floors. Even then I will leave a gift basket of cleaning supplies just for their own peace of mind to go back over my work before unpacking.
ReplyDeleteThat sucks that your son bought from such disgusting people, but I'm glad no other major issues have popped up since.
We were lucky here that we had a few weeks in between our move to clean this house before we moved in, but mostly, to paint and carpet. The previous owners had a small dog and good grief, did that thing shed. The fridge must have sucked in all its hair because the inside of the fridge was full of dog hair. Good luck on selling your house, though you will not need any luck in this market! Are you building?
DeleteEw to the dog hair in the fridge. I have 3 dogs and I have never had dog hair in the fridge. Gross. Then again, I am so freaking clean, there probably isn't much dog hair in my house other than on the dogs.
DeleteI'd like to build because we just aren't built for anymore full home remodels. The house I move into I need it to be up to my standards with only cosmetic touches if need be. Right now everything is up in the air though. Jason quit his job in February and there have been a lot of offers coming his way since then and they all require relocating upon acceptance of the job. That won't give us any time to build if I am wanting (and I am REALLY WANTING) our next house to be our forever home.
Omg, I had no idea about the job situation and possible relocation. Anything in Ohio??? I was 49 when we bought this house, which is our forever/dream home. You get that age and finally realize, it’s now or never! We are happy we took the plunge, though it has required some bigger upgrades than we initially hoped when house hunting. But, we couldn’t pass up the good price! The owners were moving to Japan and it was a company sale, so I guess they weren’t trying to make a profit. Keep me posted on everything! XO
DeleteUnfortunately, nothing in Ohio or really anywhere in the Midwest has been offered. Florida has been laid out and a company in Texas is pushing real hard for him to make the move there. He's been doing independent consulting for that company for a month, mostly remote work from home, but he's had to travel there already to help with their day to day operations.
DeleteThat's great that you found your forever home when you did! I'd be ok with a steal on a house if it left money on the table for upgrades. Though I'd have to hire out because I'm just over doing it all ourselves. But then I see the hell you've been going through with crummy contractors and that gives me pause as well LOL. I'll be 43 this year and I am at the now or never phase too. I don't want to be settling in somewhere only to be moving again a few years later. It's exhausting!
Well, it sounds like a new adventure, wherever you end up. I think it’s important to change things up in our middle years. We are good painters, but that’s about it when it comes to DIY. My husband tries, but plumbing always confounds him and we never have the right equipment for major tasks, like ceramic tile removal. You should have seen us when we cut and installed crown molding in the LR at our last house. We were like, “Are we idiots? Why can’t we figure this out?” LOL! We eventually got it right.
DeleteIn all fairness, it is hard to get those angles right on crown molding, but I can see you guys standing there baffled just like we did before we figuring it out LOL
DeleteWe still crack up about it. That old adage, measure twice, cut once? We were measuring six times and still confused!
DeleteOkay, I know it's been a seller's market but who doesn't clean up to take photos for the sale? And I can't leave a place dirty. I even cleaned like a maniac before we turned our little rental back over. I mean, for your own pride, you should clean. But the first home I bought, the owners left it in a disgusting state - trash everywhere, crumbs, food in the fridge. You know that they did make sure to take away before they left? Toilet paper from both bathrooms. Classy, huh?
ReplyDeleteI guess lots of people have no pride in their homes or in their appearance, in general! It’s shocking how some people live. When my oldest was a home health care case manager, the majority of clients lived in filth. And for my daughter to complain, it must have been bad, because she’s not exactly a tidy person, either!
DeleteI'm so happy that your son and his wife got a place that is closer to you and in your daughter's neighborhood. Excellent!
ReplyDeleteThat being, I'm appalled at the mess these people left behind. This is outrageous. We had horrible tenants at my parents' house that food and other crap all over the place.
My apartment is cluttered, but I'll certainly clean up before I leave. Some people are so thoughtless and rude.
I can't believe those realtor photos. NASA has chimps that could do a better job.
Maybe you should burn sage to drive out any bad feelings so your son and daughter-in-law can start anew.
We are so happy to have them live closer to us! It will be really nice to see them more than once every other month. Yes, I’ve always heard that house renters are often the worst when it comes to upkeep. Aren’t the realtor photos ridiculous? I have more where those came from in an upcoming post!
DeleteOoooooh yes my house is clean. And NEAT. But I know whereof you speak because our Audrey cleans houses for a living. She cleans mine, haahaaha! When she's not attending to her established customers, she is kept very busy by a friend who is a realtor. It's CONSTANT, the work to clean houses after homeowners have moved out. I think it's certainly true that some realtors allow new owners to move into a filthy house like the one your son is experiencing (HORRIBLE!), but many realtors hire someone to do the cleaning between closing and new occupants. It's depressing what your son and his wife had to go through to get that house. But I'm so glad it's done and that they live near a sibling. I hope they will be SO happy there! xoxo
ReplyDeleteI’ve never heard of a realtor paying for a house to be cleaned, unless maybe it’s vacant for some time. The previous owners in this instance stayed rent free for a week after closing as part of the contract. The only reason my son and DIL didn’t move in the day they finally got the keys was because they had a flight to NYC the next morning. I’m also glad it’s over and they are very happy there!
DeleteI would never leave a mess like that. I wasn't raised that way and it is just the right thing to do. Congrats that you son finally got a house. What a nightmare dealing with all of that before they finally got an accepted offer.
ReplyDeleteI really was surprised that a house could get that messy in such a short time. Maybe it’s the difference between having 3 vs. 4 kids? Lol, but I didn’t let me kids walk all over the place while eating when they were little.
DeletePeople have no regard for others!! They got $50k over their asking price and stopped caring about the condition of the home. It's a disgrace. Living closer to a sibling and you guys is definitely worth the extra cleaning though. Congratulations to them!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Jax. Welcome home! Hope your blog is up and running again soon. Miss you!
DeleteGlad they were able to find a house--but that seems to be a lot extra. The lack of cleaning is a lack of manners.
ReplyDeleteThere are a lot of rude folks out there.
DeleteAfter reading this post and then all the comments, I have to agree that the over asking price was steep, but you already knew that and as you said, it's a seller's market now. So sad, when people not only take advantage of that but then do not have the courtesy to clean up and after your son and DIL let them stay longer after signing! There was no excuse not to leave the house spotless, but then it seems these folks were not the nicest folks, just saying.
ReplyDeleteIt was certainly shocking. It’s possible that they were lovely people who just don’t care about cleaning? We will never know!
DeleteHappy Birthday!
ReplyDeleteThank you!
DeleteWaving hi as I make my blog rounds.
ReplyDeleteSandy's Space
I'm glad they finally found a house, even if it did end up being dirty. It seems like it's so hard for people to find houses right now. I know I can take better house photos than that. I took pictures for a Realtor when I was going to school, and mine were a lot better than that! I think I'm pretty clean and a lot of people accuse me of being OCD, which makes me question other people's cleanliness even more. I refuse to buy scoop your own bulk items because people are so nasty and long before COVID I wouldn't even consider getting bakery items where people can reach in and select their own. My sister and I did cleaning for the same Realtor I took photos for. It was really good money, but OMG, you don't want to know how some people left places.
ReplyDeleteLol, aren’t people gross!?! You’re the second person to mention a realtor paying someone to clean a house. I’ve never heard of that! I don’t buy in bulk, either. And I’m glad salad bars area thing of the past!
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