They found rats in the crawl space.

Builder got hesitant about us getting an inspection, said the house would be complete, and was nowhere near finished. The builder seemed more interested in making the sale than making sure the was ok. Turns out, the house had a LOT of issues in the end. Glad we walked. Eff that.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Squeaky floor noises.

Tell me you're joking

No,
If I walk around a house and the floor makes squeaking noises in a lot of places I am not buying it.
Not easy to fix.

To each their own... this rules out pretty much any house with an older hardwood floor. I also find squeaky floors annoying, but hardly a deal breaker.

We recently passed on a couple houses because of poorly designed expansions. Our preference was to buy with a nice expansion (which is what we got), and we were open to doing one ourselves. The deal breaker was paying for an expansion that was ugly and that we'd eventually want to redo.

Neighbors warned us the house had been built on a flood plain. We bought elsewhere in the neighborhood and that house is a disaster - completely flooded basement every time it rains.

Loved several houses in a gorgeous historic neighborhood. Too many break ins and gunshots nearby and I knew I’d never want to be home alone or leave my kids at home alone. (Not in the dmv area)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Squeaky floor noises.

Tell me you're joking

No,
If I walk around a house and the floor makes squeaking noises in a lot of places I am not buying it.
Not easy to fix.

The huge deck was unpermitted and probably needed to be torn down (and city was unlikely to grant a permit for a new one).

Visited home during a storm and saw that there was poor drainage as well as bad gutters. Having experience mold and damage before, we nixed it immediately.

Anonymous wrote:Elderly had been under a conservatorship for several years due to alcoholism. Daughter and husband rented home and would only do the bare minimum to keep house livable. We knew there would be a lot of delayed maintenance and hidden repairs.

*owner

DP, and different houses:

1). Not fast enough. First time home buyer, first time in a spring market. Didn't call agent until after the open house. By the time I had ducks in a row, it was already under contract. Although, in retrospect, I am glad I didn't get that house. The prior owner had personally put in a number of unique custom features - but, essentially, what I loved were the finishes (albeit not white marble or anything like that).

2). Outbid (significantly). But, that time, I got my ducks in a row and moved quickly. It helped me come to terms with the fact that I was willing to stretch my budget further than I originally thought -- but also that I wasn't willing to stretch so far beyond a certain point just for the dream of a SFH. So, when the "good enough" townhouse I actually bought came along, I moved quickly and to make a strong offer within my budget -- and thankfully it worked out because I both love the house and feel comfortable with the payments.

Elderly had been under a conservatorship for several years due to alcoholism. Daughter and husband rented home and would only do the bare minimum to keep house livable. We knew there would be a lot of delayed maintenance and hidden repairs.

bad realtor

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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?

They did. With the low inventory they really had the advantage.

The low inventory works against them on the other end, though. High probability they won’t be able to find and actually win the bidding war for something else they like.

Too dark inside. It's position on the street made it very dark on the interior. I couldn't see myself happy there. Bought around the corner. Love the neighborhood. Don't regret passing on the first house.

Anonymous wrote:

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?

They did. With the low inventory they really had the advantage.