Reason you didn’t buy that certain house?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The staircase rails weren’t to code.
Realtor told us, “oh, the same family has owned since ‘89, the family owns a plumbing business” - figured there was a lot of unlicensed work done over the last 30 years that we didn’t want to untangle. This was last year where inspections were being waived left and right in our market.

Stair rail codes change all the time, so don't be surprised if a house built in 2001 has rails that are technically "out of code" - means very little. A lot of "unlicensed work" is to code it just was done without pulling permits. You can hire your own inspector and then use any major defaults as the reason to walk away from a contract. I'd like to see any seller hold back the EMD for structural, electrical, or plumbing defaults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The friend realtor we were working with suggested a very low ball price on our house, making the gap too large for the house we wanted to buy. We should have talked to more realtors. We would have gotten a wider range and could have made the deal work.

Because that house we wanted didn't work out, we ended up buying a vacation home, which changed the trajectory of our lives. Everything happens for a reason.

Well now I'm curious! how did buying a vacation home change the trajectory of your life? I'm asking this sincerely, not in a snarky way.

I think we always assumed we'd live in the same area, with the same group of friends and our kids would all be in the same school through HS. Our hometown area was part of our identity.
When we bought a vacation home, we made new friends in different parts of the country. It just opened our eyes to living somewhere else with a lower COL (like, hey, "these people are really cool and they live in XX. Maybe we could live in XX too?" We made the leap five years later.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The friend realtor we were working with suggested a very low ball price on our house, making the gap too large for the house we wanted to buy. We should have talked to more realtors. We would have gotten a wider range and could have made the deal work.

Because that house we wanted didn't work out, we ended up buying a vacation home, which changed the trajectory of our lives. Everything happens for a reason.

Well now I'm curious! how did buying a vacation home change the trajectory of your life? I'm asking this sincerely, not in a snarky way.

I think we always assumed we'd live in the same area, with the same group of friends and our kids would all be in the same school through HS. Our hometown area was part of our identity.
When we bought a vacation home, we made new friends in different parts of the country. It just opened our eyes to living somewhere else with a lower COL (like, hey, "these people are really cool and they live in XX. Maybe we could live in XX too?" We made the leap five years later.

I love that PP! Moving to a new area can be really adventurous and fun if you keep an open mind.

[Anonymous]

Chimney issues

[Anonymous]

The seller wanted I think close to 2 months to continue living in the house and withdraw from the contract if they didn't find a place they liked better to buy. It was too risky for us due to school start dates and our lease ending but I'm still kind of sad, it was a very different flavor of house (SFH vs rowhome). We would have had to remodel the kitchen to put in a dishwasher though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The seller wanted I think close to 2 months to continue living in the house and withdraw from the contract if they didn't find a place they liked better to buy. It was too risky for us due to school start dates and our lease ending but I'm still kind of sad, it was a very different flavor of house (SFH vs rowhome). We would have had to remodel the kitchen to put in a dishwasher though.

Wow. That’s a lot to ask of a buyer.

[Anonymous]

Photos of the family - they were ugly. I couldn't enjoy sitting in a bathtub in that house.

[Anonymous]

Bad juju.

[Anonymous]

Would-be neighbor had a MAGA flag.

[Anonymous]

Different houses

1. Possible foundation area, large hill behind the house with evidence of small mudslide
2. Cat pee smell, perfect house, great area, low price because of cat pee smell
3. Very unequal bedrooms for kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The seller wanted I think close to 2 months to continue living in the house and withdraw from the contract if they didn't find a place they liked better to buy. It was too risky for us due to school start dates and our lease ending but I'm still kind of sad, it was a very different flavor of house (SFH vs rowhome). We would have had to remodel the kitchen to put in a dishwasher though.

Wow. That’s a lot to ask of a buyer.

+1 It does happen but rarely. Known as a home of choice contingency. PP, did they ever actually sell it?

[Anonymous]

Unreasonable sellers. We came within $10k of what they wanted and they refused to budge. Sat on the market for over 2 years and ended up going for less than we offered! Luckily for us because we found a much better place for us for less money

[Anonymous]

Liked two houses but, felt a creepy presence in both houses. One time I felt this presence in a house tour in Nantucket and was told later it was haunted!

[Anonymous]

We were deciding between two and one had sliding barn doors and wainscoting everywhere, which are not my style. So we went with the one that was more of a blank slate.

[Anonymous]

leaking windows over 30 years, smells in basement (wet and rotted), broken fireplace unrepaired, and big trees with shades covering the whole backyard (no sunshine).