s/o shocking/weird hosts... Shocking/weird open houses/real estate tours

[Cecropia]

Is one technically being hosted when walking through a house for sale?  I don't know, so I started a new thread.

 

Dh and I were only a couple of years married, kidless, recently graduated (read: poor), looking for a starter home on the rural outskirts of a college town.  Dh was willing to do some sane level of fixer-upper work.  We will never forget one of the first houses our "realtor" took us to see.  Note that it wasn't priced super low compared to other houses in that neighborhood. 

 

Several people were sitting on the couch facing away from us, smoking and watching tv in the dark living room (no lights but the tv screen, all shades were drawn) as we walked in.  No one put a light on at any time so that we could properly see the living room.  The downstairs bathroom was missing the suspended ceiling and the bathtub was coming away from the wall, and it was obvious that nothing in there had been cleaned for some time.  Upstairs where the light was good, there were cat feces and beer bottles strewn across the carpets and holes in the bedrooms' walls (our best guess, made by fists).  On the way out, I stepped around a white cat on the stairs and something just did not look right, so as we stopped to make the obligatory small talk and thank the occupants, I was sneaking glances at that cat... I suddenly realized it had some number of extra toes on its front paws so that its feet resembled mittens, like this cat.  I'd never heard of or seen polydactyl cats before and it was a little hard to keep my countenance right then.  That whole walk-through was such a bizarre experience!

Edited November 29, 2016 by Cecropia

[Laura Corin]

Handcuffs on the bed posts in the bedroom of one flat I viewed in London.

[Farrar]

I will never forget the bathtub that was in a bedroom. So weird.

[Barb_]

Another filthy house. A backyard so full of doggie poo that you couldnt take a step into the yard. More poop than grass. At the same house--the bathroom counter completely covered with products and piles of laundry shoved into corners of all the bedrooms. The crib and playpen were overflowing with papers and tools, and other odds and ends. The owners weren't there but the realtor who was sitting in the corner on a stool gave me a sad smile as we exited, lol

[historically accurate]

Someone left their dirty jeans with panties stuck in them in the middle of the bedroom - looked like they had just stepped out of them. 

 

The confederate flag and swastika on a wall of a teenage boy was definitely not that "Welcome Home!" feel I was looking for in one.

 

My parents actually bought the house that had washing machines lining the driveway (about 10 total). That house also had the card to the Crisis Pregnancy Center in the non-functioning dishwasher.

 

 

[scrapbookbuzz]

Oh my lands! I've never heard of these things happening. Seriously. Are you sure you aren't all in some parallel universe??  :coolgleamA: 

[Farrar]

Oh, I remembered another one. There was a house where we went into the basement and discovered a bar. Not like the kind you've have in your house, but like, oh, this was clearly an illegal basement bar.

[Guest]

.

Edited September 11, 2020 by Æthelthryth the Texan

[Raifta]

There was the one with the bloody handprint on the wall in the living room and the giant poofy wedding dress falling off a hanger in the bedroom closet.  We did not buy that one.

 

But we did buy the one that had vinyl style restaurant seating in the living room, a bar (yes, like an illegal bar) in the dining room, everything from floor to ceiling was painted dark grey, there was thick fabric stapled to the windows (those that weren't broken and covered with plywood), the water was turned off so we couldn't test to see if there any of the plumbing worked and there were giant footprints on exterior and interior doors where people had kicked them in to avoid having to possible unlock a lock that they didn't have the right to unlock.

 

To be fair, the house bought was twice as big and half as expensive as any of the others we looked at and seemed like it would be livable with a bit of work (paint and a few windows).  Seems like it worked out as we are still there almost 20 years later.  

 

 

[gardenmom5]

I'd question if they were sellers or tenents. I toured one that had a tenent who wanted the house ( it needed work. Starting with a driveway to the garage.) He was there during the tour, and made the house unwelcoming. It was a mess.

[Julie Smith]

I remember reading, I think it was on this board something along the lines of...

 

I just had baby in the hospital. The three of us got home and feel asleep exhausted on the bed. My boob was exposed from exhausted breast feeding. Turns out the real estate agent was bringing someone around and they opened the door and saw us all sleeping like that.

[Ottakee]

We looked at one house where they had painted the living room but did NOT move the couch.....instead they painted AROUND the couch.  Same thing in a smaller bedroom.  They painted AROUND the crib instead of moving it to paint the whole wall.

[Guest]

We looked at one house where they had painted the living room but did NOT move the couch.....instead they painted AROUND the couch. Same thing in a smaller bedroom. They painted AROUND the crib instead of moving it to paint the whole wall.

Whoa. I've seen people paint around toilets but never around furniture!!

[Guest]

We had one home we visited with renters still there who left it a mess and kept following us around criticizing the home, because they wanted to stay in it and be the only ones in the potential buyers pool.

 

The same day (I think the very next house?!) we were looking around and went into the master bedroom to find the husband was in bed asleep, apparently a shift worker. It scared the snot out of us and we never did see the bedroom or master bath.

 

This is why I prefer totally vacant, unstaged houses!

[sangtarah]

We once were taken to a rental house that was a split level in a good neighborhood. The house was dated, but not terrible. Very dark inside from the position of the lot and all the trees. It had a slight odor, but we were trying to be polite and traipsed through. One strange room had no windows and the carpet was being replaced. In another of the darker rooms, there was a stain on the floor, and my husband reached down to investigate it. It was black mold, growing on the carpet. The agent non-chalantly shared that the house had an issue with mold and it was getting addressed!

I was so stunned that I practically ran my kids out the door. My girls have asthma, and I'm allergic to mold. I still can't believe that the company okayed that house to be shown!!

[Barb_]

I remember reading, I think it was on this board something along the lines of...

 

I just had baby in the hospital. The three of us got home and feel asleep exhausted on the bed. My boob was exposed from exhausted breast feeding. Turns out the real estate agent was bringing someone around and they opened the door and saw us all sleeping like that.

I remember that!!! I still cringe thinking about it 😂

[bibiche]

We looked at a house that had, in a wide open basement, a sort of stage in the middle atop of which sat a throne. Throne as in toilet. Now that was bizarre.

[bibiche]

This site always makes me laugh. Sounds like some of your experiences would fit right in: http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com

[The Girls' Mom]

We've had several doozies.

 

A house in MN knocked you over with animal urine smell.  A large portion of the walls were painted black or dark purple.  One room was filled with dirty terrariums of snakes.  There were cats, but I'm not sure how many...a lot.

 

A house in TN was everything we were looking for.  It was a cheap foreclosure on land.  There were several minor repairs and painting needed because the people that lost the house took every fixture available and spray painted a few rooms.  But what made us run away was the basement.  We walked down there and the entire thing was covered in mold!  Thick furry mold.

 

Another TN house was so filthy that you had to walk trails through the house.  Dirty underwear, trash, tons and tons of mail and magazines.  Including porn magazines.  It also reeked, absolutely reeked.  

 

 

[dirty ethel rackham]

We saw some real doozies when we were house hunting.  One house (a small starter house) had SIX nearly indentical printed fabric wall hangings of Dogs Playing Poker.  There were only 7 rooms.  I remembered nothing else about that house.  Another house was filthy ... you could see mouse feces in the corners of most rooms, the screens were torn, there was week-old food moldering on the counters.  Another house looked really nice from the curb ... landscaping was very neat, the pics inside looked dated, but immaculate.  When we opened the door, I gagged from the smell of smoke.  I almost felt like it was blowing us out of the house.  Apparently, the owner was a chain smoker.  Otherwise, the house had good bones and would have suited our needs.  We lost the house in a bidding war and I am thankful that we did. 

 

When our house was on the market, I was teaching Sunday school at 9 am and went to 7:30 mass.  I was in a rush so I probably wasn't as neat as I should have been.  But, dh was taking the boys to church and I figured he would tidy up a little.  Well, my kids were not as cooperative as he expected.  When we got home, there was a realtor's car in the driveway.  I was irked that we didn't get a call to warn us.  After they left, we walked in.  I found breakfast dishes on the table and my pajamas with the underwear still in them on the bathroom floor.  I was mortified. 

[OneStepAtATime]

DH and I were touring a house that even our real estate agent got an odd vibe from.  The house looked really pretty from outside.  Older home, well kept yard, newly painted, vacant.  The main floor was very oddly laid out but we thought we might be able to work with it.  Then we realized that there were doors that went nowhere.  And trap doors in some of the floors.  And we couldn't find a true kitchen.  Just what might have once been part of a galley kitchen that had been converted to ...well, we weren't sure. When we got into the basement there was one tiny light bulb and no other light or light fixtures for a HUGE basement with multiple rooms.  Thankfully our real estate agent had brought a flash light just in case.  In the basement were stairs that went nowhere.  There were doors that led to nowhere but more wall.  There were walls not connected to other walls.  It was like a puzzle box.  We didn't make an offer.

[G5052]

I have one. Upscale neighborhood inhabited by the type of people who have an entry in Wikipedia.

 

The house is advertised as a teardown because it's old, small, and in horrible shape.

 

The realtor and her assistant set up, and immediately have a flood of people including people who want to make an offer that day. The realtor's assistant gets her boss to look out the kitchen window. There sits the husband of the former tenant in ratty clothes. He is feeding a bunch of feral cats by hand. The realtor sends the assistant to tell him to leave immediately. He grunts and ignores her. She threatens to call the police, but doesn't because of the attention it would cause. They decide to steer people away from looking out the back and keep on with the open house. 

 

That night the realtor buys cat traps because the cat rescue league is out of them. In that area, you can legally trap feral cats as long as they are taken to a shelter or rescue facility. In the morning, they take five trapped cats to the rescue league. None of them have collars. It is a law in that area that pet cats must have collars.

 

The back yard is clear, and the second open house starts. Then the assistant sees the man again. Now he is crying. There are no cats. So once again, the realtors steer people away from the window, hoping for the best. When the last person leaves, he is still in the back, crying. They call the police, who escort him away and call his wife to get him. The wife tells the police that he has dementia.

 

An offer is accepted.

 

Some days later, the realtor's assistant goes by to check the property. And the man is there again with more cats. They put out the traps again overnight and take more cats to the rescue league. They ask the police if they can park an unmanned cruiser in front of the house. They do, and the police agree to patrol more frequently.

 

By all reports, the man never came back. The buyers never said anything about seeing him and had the house torn down a month later.

Edited November 30, 2016 by G5052

[Amber in SJ]

We went to see a house that was standard empty on the inside, but all around the outside were the carcasses of dead rats; on the front & back lawn, in the flower beds, under the windows, under all the shrubs, everywhere.  Easily 100 dead rats.  Yikes!

 

Another house had no regular doors inside.  All the doors to the bedrooms & bathrooms were pocket doors.

 

A third house belonged to an elderly practicing Wiccan.  The realtor told us she died in the house.  A huge crow sat on the mailbox post and screeched loudly the entire time we were in the front yard and when we went to the back yard it flew over the house & perched in a tree and continued cawing at us the entire time we were there.  I am sure it had a nest nearby it was protecting, but it was pretty freaky.

 

Amber in SJ

 

 

[KatieJ]

Oh, I remembered another one. There was a house where we went into the basement and discovered a bar. Not like the kind you've have in your house, but like, oh, this was clearly an illegal basement bar.

 

 

We looked at one house where they had painted the living room but did NOT move the couch.....instead they painted AROUND the couch.  Same thing in a smaller bedroom.  They painted AROUND the crib instead of moving it to paint the whole wall.

 

 

 

The same day (I think the very next house?!) we were looking around and went into the master bedroom to find the husband was in bed asleep, apparently a shift worker. It scared the snot out of us and we never did see the bedroom or master bath.

 

This is why I prefer totally vacant, unstaged houses!

 

We had all three of the above experiences happen to us as Landlords.  The guy who was asleep was an illegal renter, sleeping on the couch as we arrived, and he hid in the bathroom until we left.

 

The bar was actually the local university party house.  They cut a hole in a wall in the basement and turned the den/office into a DJ booth. 

 

Oh, yeah, we've had some fun experiences.

[KatieJ]

We also toured a house where Grandma's bedroom was the front living room and she was asleep in the rocking chair in there.

 

Another one where the homeowner was home and adamantly telling the realtor that he had no intention of selling and he didn't understand why she didn't get that message.

( we were really considering an offer on that house until we met up with him in his study.)

[Stacia]

When I was a pre-teen, we were moving. Our front door was kind of hard to shut & a realtor had stopped by with some people while we were gone, but hadn't shut the door properly when he left. The front door was standing wide open.

 

A squirrel had come in the house (which we realized after we were home & had shut the front door, then saw the squirrel tear by us in the upstairs hall). It ran into the bathroom & my mom slammed the door shut because another realtor was on the way & my mom didn't want a crazed squirrel running through the house. When she checked back in the bathroom a bit later, it had tried to get in the toilet (for water?) but drowned. She realized this as the people were coming up the front walk. She slammed the lid to the toilet shut & hoped they didn't open it. (We don't know if they did or not, but they didn't put in an offer for the house.)

 

Later, a neighbor came & fished out the squirrel for my mom.

 

I still feel sorry for the squirrel.

[Farrar]

Oh gosh, I remembered another one - a very sad one. We toured the house - other people were touring it too. And we went into the front bedroom and realized that the current owner was in there - an elderly man, clearly actively dying in a hospital bed. Alone. No one had warned us. It was quite a shock. And very awkward. He was pretty out so I don't know that he even knew.

 

We actually bid on the house... we went over the asking by a decent amount but not by enough. We didn't get it.

[MrsRobinson]

Dead squirrel in the middle of the living room floor.

[Guest]

We went to see a house that was standard empty on the inside, but all around the outside were the carcasses of dead rats; on the front & back lawn, in the flower beds, under the windows, under all the shrubs, everywhere.  Easily 100 dead rats.  Yikes!

 

Another house had no regular doors inside.  All the doors to the bedrooms & bathrooms were pocket doors.

 

A third house belonged to an elderly practicing Wiccan.  The realtor told us she died in the house.  A huge crow sat on the mailbox post and screeched loudly the entire time we were in the front yard and when we went to the back yard it flew over the house & perched in a tree and continued cawing at us the entire time we were there.  I am sure it had a nest nearby it was protecting, but it was pretty freaky.

 

Amber in SJ

 

I live in this house! I dream of replacing them, but talk about some $$$ and construction. Apparently the people who had this home built thought pocket doors were where it was at! :) 

[scrapbookbuzz]

I think the "puzzle box" house sounds interesting. The one with all the double bolts on bedrooms and closets? CREEPY!

[historically accurate]

This one wasn't an open house, but I bought my first house when I was 24. I went to closing, but the lady I bought it from followed me home. I didn't realize it until I pulled up at my new house and she pulled in behind me. She wanted to show me some more features. My family was all standing there waiting for me to return with the keys. They had painting & cleaning supplies as well as some sledgehammers, etc. Awkward!

 

Come to find out, her children were making her move to an assisted living place and she didn't want to go. I felt bad, but she could show me her "beautiful blue carpet" all day long, but I wasn't keeping it.

[OneStepAtATime]

Does it count for this thread if it was my MIL that was odd?  DH and I were trying to find a house and we had 3 days to do it.  We had been living out of state but were moving near where DH's parents lived.  MIL decided to come along for the ride.  I love her and we get along well, but she can sometimes just pop something out that isn't expected.  There was a house sort of near where she lived that was in our price range and seemed a good fit from the MLS listing.  We drove up and waited for the real estate agent to find the key and get us in.  The yard needed mowing and there wasn't much in the way of landscaping but it wasn't a bad looking house.  MIL looked around the yard and stated quite loudly "It looks like dead bodies are buried here.  I would not buy a house with dead bodies."  The look on DH's face and the real estate agent's face were priceless.  I have no idea what my face looked like...   :laugh:

[kewb]

The two I remember from when we were house hunting newlyweds.

1. The house was filthy.  And the family was sitting in the living room as we walked through the home.  I tried to look past the filth to the potential but no.  Too gross.

 

2. The house was railroad car style.  With 5 teenagers hanging around.  A sleeping adult in one of the bedrooms. Each bedroom had a bunch of beds. I left wondering if it was some sort of foster care situation. 

[RioSamba]

Our house was on the market last spring. We moved out and were up in the mountains (about 90 minutes away) during the open house. Our agent texted that it went well, but someone had "explosive diarrhea" in one of our bathrooms during the course of the day. She texted a picture. It was extremely gross. She knew we were up in the mountains but did not even flush the toilet, much less clean it up or offer to send in a cleaner.

[happi duck]

I was the weird tenant once.

 

We rented half a duplex from a friend. We knew it was going on the market and the landlord showed us that we were written into the contract and could not be kicked out.

 

We were asked to show our side. I always stayed and listened in to interject when people started talking about kicking us out!

 

I'm sure I'm someone's crazy story!

 

The place was sold to another landlord and our first landlord was very appreciative of how nicely our side showed. (I wasn't sabotaging our friend)

[barnwife]

A "burn house" was listed for sale.  The owner/landlord is in the driveway, grabs the key from the trim on the top of the door, and says "I have to take my dog to the vet, just lock it up when you're done and put the key back. They found her on the couch, you'll see where she set the cigarette and where she was sitting".  Yep, sure could.  

[Guest]

Our house was on the market last spring. We moved out and were up in the mountains (about 90 minutes away) during the open house. Our agent texted that it went well, but someone had "explosive diarrhea" in one of our bathrooms during the course of the day. She texted a picture. It was extremely gross. She knew we were up in the mountains but did not even flush the toilet, much less clean it up or offer to send in a cleaner.

That's horrible!! I think I would've fired her over that! I wouldn't expect her to clean it herself but I would've expected her to have it dealt with since the house was under her care at the time.

[scrapbookbuzz]

Our house was on the market last spring. We moved out and were up in the mountains (about 90 minutes away) during the open house. Our agent texted that it went well, but someone had "explosive diarrhea" in one of our bathrooms during the course of the day. She texted a picture. It was extremely gross. She knew we were up in the mountains but did not even flush the toilet, much less clean it up or offer to send in a cleaner.

 

I'm surprised the Realtor even let the person use your toilet. I've been to many an Open House and never would I think to use the owner's bathroom, much less visit the house!, if I were that sick!

[RioSamba]

I don't think she knew that someone was using the bathroom. At the time it bothered me that she did *nothing.* We are friends, so I thought that made it even stranger. Oh, well! We are still friends, and now it's just a weird story! We sent a cleaner😷

[Annie G]

Wow- I thought my story was weird but it's clearly the LEAST weird in this whole thread. 

 

We were looking for rental property and the agent opened the front door, showed us the foyer, then opened the door to the foyer coat closet. It had a bar to hang coats, a shelf above that for storage, and a toilet.  There were coats hanging on the bar- some on the right side of the toilet and some on the left.   

 

We passed on that one. 

[Jyhwkmama]

We heard of a house that was being offered for half the average neighborhood prices. The owner died and the daughter wanted it sold as quickly as possible( found out later she wasn't the rightful owner) He was a really eccentric old hermit who drew for Walt Disney decades ago. The house had heavy velvet drapes, a big portrait of his wife on the staircase that people claimed he talked to as if she was still alive, hundreds of cat food cans everywhere( no cats found),cement angel statues all over the yard, and stuffed dogs. Real ones, his old pets. But the house was fantastic so we bought it.

Did you find anything interesting once you moved in?

[ikslo]

Huge pile of cigarette butts swept into a pile in the corner of the dining room. Must have been a couple of cases worth. Noticed black grout in the entryway, which didn't really work with the tiles.

We bought the house - cheap. Wonderful old woodwork and 3 stone fireplaces. High ceilings.

 

When I was re-doing the entry I discovered the "grout" was really matted dog hair. Neighbors said their dog had been dead over a year. Eewwwww. Cigarettes were still there in the corner when we moved in.

 

I miss that house, though. But it was in the city and expensive to heat.

 

ETA: Forgot to add the weird host part - the owners were just leaving as we got there to tour, and the woman walked by us and mumbled to her husband that she didn't see why they had to leave every time there was a showing -ain't nobody gonna buy a haunted house.

Edited December 1, 2016 by ikslo

[bethben]

Not as weird as some of the others, but we were in the basement of a house and went to turn on the light in one of the rooms.  Animal planet started playing on the tv and the room walls were covered from top to bottom, side to side with animal pictures.  Ultimately, my very allergic to cats husband started having an allergic reaction while in the house so it was definitely a no go.  Apparently, they loved animals there.

[QueenCat]

Oh, I remembered another one. There was a house where we went into the basement and discovered a bar. Not like the kind you've have in your house, but like, oh, this was clearly an illegal basement bar.

 

That sounds kind of cool.

[MamaBearTeacher]

Once I was looking at apartments for rent. There was one with an excellent location that was very attractive on the outside. It was not cheap. The woman whose job it was to show it looked professional but she seemed fed-up and unfriendly. When I went inside, the kitchen and bathroom were one room. There was fridge, stove, kitchen sink and toilet right beside it, then shower, all forming a u-shape around the small room with the shower head aimed at the middle of the kitchen floor. There was no partition or even shower curtain around the shower. The place was filthy too. I ran out of the building! I did not know that kind of room set-up was even allowed.

[Guest]

We looked at a house that had zero visible walls. Every wall (living room, kitchen, bathroom, all rooms) had shelves with teddy bears on them. Thousands of teddy bears.

 

Sad story-we were looking at a house. The realtor showing the house was married with 2 kids. I needed to nurse a baby and she said, "No problem, I nursed eight". At first I was confused but I assumed I heard her incorrectly. About a year later I was talking to someone who knew her and found out that her first husband had killed their six children and himself.

[pinkmint]

This site always makes me laugh. Sounds like some of your experiences would fit right in: http://terriblerealestateagentphotos.com

Clicking this link almost gave me nightmares before bed. Lol.

[HomeAgain]

We looked at a rental once.  It was rather nice and spacious until we got to the kitchen.  The entire thing could have fit INSIDE my dining room table.  There was a small countertop stove, a separate oven, and sink, plus places for cabinets if we so desired.  Still, we were willing to keep it as a possibility until we asked where the refrigerator would go. The lady explained that her granddaughter currently was renting and didn't cook, so didn't need a fridge.  If we really needed one there was a place on the back porch we could use if we wanted.

 

Hmm...no. 

I can't remember if it was the same house that had the washer/dryer hookups in the detached garage (like, 50 meters away from the house) but it wouldn't surprise me. 

[Home'scool]

When we purchased our first house the previous owner was so attached to it he turned into a complete weirdo about it.

 

First, he didn't want to sell it to us because our last name is Italian and "you know Italians, they like to cement over everything and I have some beautiful landscaping!" Uhh, no, the landscaping consisted of various wildflower gardens that were just overgrown weed centers. And Italians like to cement over everything? I think he was afraid we would be burying bodies and cementing over them.

 

After he rejected our first offer he came back a month later and was willing to sell us the house - he had no other offers, the house had already sat for a year.

 

He followed us home after the closing under the guise of showing us how to run the pool filter, etc. He pulled his car into the garage to park and proceeded to make himself right at home. He even asked if he could sleep over that night as he came in from out of town and would rather stay in the house than with friends! I had to finally be forceful and tell him that it was time for him to pull his car out of our garage and leave!

 

He called a few times after that to check in but we never answered his calls and finally he went away.

[Ravin]

When we were house-hunting recently, at one house the teenage son let us in (mom had given the go-ahead to our realtor and was on her way home) and didn't bother telling us his little sister was asleep in the master bedroom. Fortunately the kid didn't wake up when we walked into the room!

 

At another house, they were in the middle of decontamination of a very bad mold situation. It stank of chemicals and gave us all a headache.

 

At yet another house, there was a dog in a crate in the master bedroom, who barked and howled piteously until we came into the room. Presence of people  cheered it up, and it commenced noise again when we left the room. This dog, I'm thinking, would not be a very good watchdog!

 

At that same house, the master bedroom had a 2-closet setup, but we couldn't see in one of the closets because the whole closet had been made into a gun safe.