House Hunting Horror Stories

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kingjj

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#88375 14-Aug-2011 23:22

For the last few months my partner and I have been searching for our first home. Throughout the process we have visited up to 5-6 open homes a day and got a fairly good idea of the market.

At the back of my mind I haven't been able to forget the really terrible houses that we've seen and the prices that were being asked. From the houses that reeked of cat urine that my partner saw (complete with 3 Siamese cats in the spare bedroom) to the "minor work needed" that was missing the ceiling and floors in the lounge (to be fair due to EQ damage but the owner had priced it at least 50k above the market).

One place we viewed was a lovely Lockwood home that had obliviously been built on a spare bit of land in front of a house (leasehold to boot). No outside land for the house, no fences, one parking space in the other houses driveway and several Holden's sitting in pieces on the lawn (complete with resident stereo-typical bogan drinking a woodie and hanging out of a bonnet at 12:30 on a Sunday!).

Other terrible properties included:
- Unkempt gardeners, interiors and washing strewn everywhere ("Nothing to do but move in!" and a lot of cleaning...)
- Psychotic neighbours dog blocking the shared driveway so you couldn't even get to the house
- A home that was part way through a "re-furb" ("just look at the potential" that was missing parts of walls and a bathroom)
- A "big modern courtyard" as a feature that turned out to be no bigger than your average laundry.
- A 60sqm kitset on a subdivided section with little outside space, RV $195 for sale a $260! In the area and current market that's about $60,000 over the top.

Over time we've become pretty good at filtering the agent 'speak' and seeing past the well staged photos but it still amazes me at what some people are prepared to ask and how little they are prepared to do in order to sell their house.

Thankfully the weekend chore appears to be over, all going to plan we move into our dream home next month.

Would be interested in what things others have seen during their home buying experiences? And if there are any current or former agents on here it would be great to get your input on troublesome vendors.

insane

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#506528 15-Aug-2011 00:42

I guess I'm in the other boat, having a fun time trying to sell a tidy less than ten year old two bedroom unit through Barfoot and Thompson.
Have had at least 30+ potential buyers come through and countless open home days without a single offer. I'd love to know what they are telling their potential buyers as I've had no meaningful feedback at all.

Interestingly enough in the 9 months or so the house has been on the market, Harcourts has managed to sell no few than 4 other units in the same complex, one of which took them more than two months to move.

Clearly not all real estate agents are equal. Going to be giving Harcourts a call when the sole agency agreement runs out.

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kingjj

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#506530 15-Aug-2011 00:58

insane: I guess I'm in the other boat, having a fun time trying to sell a tidy less than ten year old two bedroom unit through Barfoot and Thompson.
Have had at least 30+ potential buyers come through and countless open home days without a single offer. I'd love to know what they are telling their potential buyers as I've had no meaningful feedback at all.

Interestingly enough in the 9 months or so the house has been on the market, Harcourts has managed to sell no few than 4 other units in the same complex, one of which took them more than two months to move.

Clearly not all real estate agents are equal. Going to be giving Harcourts a call when the sole agency agreement runs out.

We found that when we looked at some open homes the estate agents we're really proactive in getting our feedback either at the time or in a follow up call. Others never said anything, weren't interested when told or were just plain rude. It was almost as if they didn't want to waste their time on you unless you were making an offer over and above the price. You do feel for their clients.

trig42

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#506537 15-Aug-2011 02:58

kingjj:
insane: I guess I'm in the other boat, having a fun time trying to sell a tidy less than ten year old two bedroom unit through Barfoot and Thompson.
Have had at least 30+ potential buyers come through and countless open home days without a single offer. I'd love to know what they are telling their potential buyers as I've had no meaningful feedback at all.

Interestingly enough in the 9 months or so the house has been on the market, Harcourts has managed to sell no few than 4 other units in the same complex, one of which took them more than two months to move.

Clearly not all real estate agents are equal. Going to be giving Harcourts a call when the sole agency agreement runs out.

We found that when we looked at some open homes the estate agents we're really proactive in getting our feedback either at the time or in a follow up call. Others never said anything, weren't interested when told or were just plain rude. It was almost as if they didn't want to waste their time on you unless you were making an offer over and above the price. You do feel for their clients.

I know what you mean! Some agents are absolutely useless and seeing them makes you wonder how they have the gall to charge what they do.

IMO the best thing about the recession/downturn in real-estate is that it got rid of a lot of agents, and it seems (in my area at least) that the fittr/better are surviving.

nate

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#506663 15-Aug-2011 11:30

As the son of a real estate agent who was in the industry for 20 odd years (he's now retired), some of the stuff Dad had to deal with was pretty comical now I look back on it.

I've seen all the various ways to deface someone's photo. Moustaches would be the most popular, followed by dark rings around the eyes and devil horns - taggers really aren't a creative bunch. Plastic anti-graffiti coatings were a godsend - a wipe of a cloth and the graffiti would be gone.

I remember an offer Dad did that had a condition of being subject to the approval of the couple's 12 year old son. Another purchaser put an offer in, and also wanted the vendor's brand new HSV, with an offer $100k less than the advertised price - the purchaser, not surprisingly, declined. I lost count of the number of vendors who had untidy places, and wondered why they still hadn't sold after six months.

My biggest annoyance was when the odd person would complain about his fee. Sure it is high, however if it's taken three months to sell, plus advertising (and costs, like mobile phone, gas, insurances etc) it works out quite reasonable. Also most good agents work ridiculous hours (7 days, late into the evenings) so it does take a toll on their family life.

oxnsox

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#506695 15-Aug-2011 12:03

Despite what the Real Estate code of ethics or whatever say, some agents work better for buying thru whilst others are better to sell thru. Some work hard for what they earn and others don't.

But you did the right thing by looking at lots of places and getting your own 'feel' for 'the-market'.
At the end of the day it only takes one person to buy any place for any given price... seller and buyer expectations and emotions don't always make it an easy process.

xpd

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#506700 15-Aug-2011 12:10

After our recent house hunt....

One in Glenfield, big place but all lights were fluro (and Im talking the full sized office jobs), and a river running under the house into the downstairs rooms soaking the carpet.

Another in Glenfield we were really keen on, had a LOT of work done, but they couldnt provide us ANY paperwork to show permits etc, theyd even dug up the footpath for drainage. When queried about it, they just kept giving answers of "was done before law required it" "the council knows about it" and so on... went to auction. Found out they wanted $100k more than the GV.... we left it at that. It did sell in the enda few months later but not sure what for.

Another on Whangaparaoa Peninsula, photos looked good, 4 bedrooms etc, massive backyard - pity the 4th room was a few sheets of gib shoved up in the garage - didnt even use the whole length of the garage, just a corner effectively killing the use of the garage. LOTS of weatherboard replacements needed.... one thing I did notice was that under the house was an old car...probably around 1940s maybe - didnt see make tho, could have been worth a few $$$ ;)

Another in Stanmore Bay that we actually put an offer on (they were asking $445, we went a lot lower), all went well until the house inspector noticed the roof was rooted and be lucky to last another year. Went back and asked if seller would drop price to allow for replacement ($8k-12k for a new roof) - they bascially told us to fudge off - so we did and bought a nicer palce few mins down the road. The dodgy roof place is still on the market at the same asking price we saw it as, and still has the same roof.

Gavin / xpd / FastRaccoon / Geek of Coastguard New Zealand

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openmedia

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#506940 15-Aug-2011 18:10

We recently sold up and didn't use an agent, instead using a combination of Homesell plus a friend who's starting a business around helping people sell their places. A tidy and declutter made a huge difference and we had a offer within a week, and sold so quickly we had to bring the move in date for our new property forward.

Generally known online as OpenMedia, now working for Red Hat APAC as a Technology Evangelist and Portfolio Architect. Still playing with MythTV and digital media on the side.