Well, our house hunting today was eye opening. When I spoke to the realtor the other day, he assured me he had been both on the property, and inside the home. The home is over 35 years old, but he assured me yes, it was well maintained, and the kitchen had been updated. 1,577 sq. ft. heated. It is all fenced, and cross fenced, there are 2 barns, 2 good wells, 1 for the hone, and 1 for the existing drip irrigation system, and a 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom mother-in-law cottage on 5 acres. When we got there, the realtor and DH walked to the first barn right behind the house. I was mostly interested in the property, so I began walking it. The pump house behind the home had a sub (submersible) pump, and 2 galvanized (not bladder) tanks. Good so far. Walked the property. The trees mostly lined one side of the property line, and there was a lot of garbage piled under them including the window screens, but there were a couple trees that were more centered in the field. I would have liked a few more trees clustered where the 2 trees were, or a couple more trees in the field, but so far, so good. The ground was soft in areas, but not spongy, or soggy. Ok, this is looking good. The closest neighbor had chickens, goats, a horse. I'm fairly pleased...wait a minute, I'm approaching the second barn, and the roof has caved in on it, and the back half of the barn has fallen down (can't see that from the front). Not a biggie, since the other barn (more like a double car garage) was in pretty good shape. Looking around the fallen down barn for the other well, which is where I told it was at. I can see where electric had been run to the fallen barn, but it was disconnected. Ok. I can see lots of pieces of pvc pipe on the ground that had been cut, but where's the well, and irrigation system? I headed back towards the house, and joined my husband, and the realtor by the decent barn. I told him I could not find the well, or any of the irrigation system. The realtor assured me in a politically correct way that it was a submersible pump, which meant the pump was underground, so unless I knew what I was looking for, I would not find it. That rubbed me the wrong way, but Ok, I could have missed it in some of the rubble, although I did search pretty thoroughly. I mentioned not being able to see the irrigation system, and was again informed it was a drip irrigation system, and unless I was familiar with a drip irrigation system, I probably just didn't realize what it was. Again, that rubbed me wrong, but I guess he may be correct, and I overlooked it, or maybe wasn't looking in the right area. Right in front of the house there is a huge oak tree. A bit close to the house for my preference, but as long as the branches are kept trimmed back good so they don't fall on, or rub the roof, ok. We head to the side of the house, and pass the laundry room, then head into the kitchen door. The mother of the guy that owns the home greeted us there.
The first thing was a very strong chemical odor that assaulted the nose, with a foul smelling undertone. I've smelled that before in the kennels at the vet's office. Maybe I'm mistaken, so I asked the realtor if the house had been painted recently, like within the past couple days. The owner's mother said yes, about 2 years ago. The realtor asked if I was asking because of the odor, and I said yes. He commented that he had noticed it too. The kitchen was tiny, and all original. Where is this updated kitchen? The owner's mother said that they put a new updated refrigerator in 8 years ago. That was the full extent of any, and all updating on the kitchen. In the meantime, she's calling her husband about the well, and irrigation system that I can't find. Continuing on, the living and dining rooms are small, but I can work with that...hardwood floors...WHOA...dog poop all in the crevices of the hardwood floors, and caked up real bad around the baseboards, and under the doors. Urine stains on the baseboards, bottom of walls, on the bottom of the doors...the french doors were clawed up by the dogs having scratched to get out. The dogs were on the back porch, so we couldn't go out there, but the boards on the back porch were rotted, and it was falling apart, so we couldn't have gone out there anyway. There was a barricade in the hallway leading to the bedrooms, to keep the dogs out. There are 2 bedrooms, and 2 bathrooms, but we could convert the little family room into a 3rd. bedroom if we wanted. Each and every bombshell she delivered, the realtor's face sort of "flinched", but he pretended everything was ok.
Her husband just called, and guess what? That area by the second barn had been lowland, so they had brought in several dump truck loads of dirt to elevate it, and buried the irrigation system, but the pump to it had quit working, so they took it out, removed the drop pipe, and cut the well shaft down under the ground, so it too was covered by the dirt they hauled in. By now, I am pretty ticked off at the realtor for totally misrepresenting this property, being flat out dishonest about having seen this place prior to showing it to me, wasting my time, and gas money. Headed to the 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom mother-in-law cottage now...the only door to go in, or out leads right into the bathroom area. No walls, no bathroom door, no privacy. The toilet, small sink, and shower are in plain view from the entire inside of the cottage. Next to the bathroom sink, is a refrigerator, and by that is a wooden tv tray with a small microwave sitting on it. That's the kitchen. Just past that, is a recliner, and a little portable tv. Yup, that's the living room. Just beyond that is a twin bed. Not exactly 1 bedroom, 1 bath...It's 1 room, period.
By my calculations this falls way short of 1,577 sq. ft. heated home that was in the ad. I asked about it, after all, enquiring minds want to know. I was told that the living area of the house is only 977 sq. feet, BUT with the porches, carport, outside laundry room, and mother-in-law cottage it totaled about 1,577 sq. feet, and the carport, laundry room, and porches ARE heated by the sun during the summer, and cooled in the winter. Oh yeah, I could add a window unit to the mother-in-law cottage, if I decided to buy the place for the $200,000.00 they are asking for it. I have yet to see the "newer central ac unit" advertised for the house, and was afraid to ask about it. By this time, I didn't really care.
Finally, the owner's mother leaves, and the realtor wants to know what we think of the place. Well, the garbage needs to be removed from under the trees along the property line, and the fallen down barn needs to be demolished, and hauled off too. The realtor asked, well other than that, how do you like it? I said that the kitchen would have to be remodeled. The realtor asked, well other than that, how do you like it? I told him that the hardwood floors, baseboards, and walls had been urine soaked, and feces had been caked into it bad enough for long enough that they would have to be replaced, and the foundation under the floors cleaned in an effort to get rid of the odor. Again the realtor asked, well other than that, how do you like it? At that point DH said that it would take too much time, work, and money to get it fit to live in, and it would not pass inspection for a VA loan. Well, would we consider buying just the 2 acres where the collapsed barn was at? Well, we are trying to get a place with a bit more land. The realtor persisted, and finally I told him no, it just doesn't suit our needs. He's going to call me back in a few days, just in case we change our minds.
