Oct 10, 201207:56 AMCup of Joe
Your weekly dose of strange parenting news, trends, and polls
The pitfalls of house hunting
Last Friday, my wife and I arrived at our five-year class reunion. It was an evening filled with lots of chatter and a multitude of interesting characters, most of whom we hadn’t seen since graduating from high school. As we made the rounds talking with everyone, an interesting topic seemed to pop up in every other conversation—buying a house.
One story that particularly stuck with me came from a friend who is currently looking for an affordable home large enough to house his wife and two kids.
In his search, he identified a home at an unbelievably low cost—four bedrooms, spacious, and near the woods all for about $100,000. The couple met with a realtor to scope out the place. He described how everything looked great inside the house—new appliances and things were very clean. The realtor then led him to the backyard. The house was positioned next to a large drop-off and, they learned, part of the house next door had toppled down over the edge after a landslide.
They passed on the house.
My wife and I have encountered very similar situations in the limited searching we have done. One house we came across in East Prospect appeared large and beautiful in an online listing, but turned out to be completely overgrown with weeds, had structural damage, was unfinished and likely had a severe stink-bug infestation, based on the hundreds we found scattered across the floor. It really is amazing what a picture can do when taken at the right angle.
With prices at all-time lows, we thought finding a house would be a piece of cake and that we’d have our pick of the litter. That clearly isn’t the case and that is why I turn to you Cup of Joe readers. Do you have any advice for my wife and I as first time home-buyers? How did you find your first house, and did you come across any listings that seemed to leave out that one unforgiveable flaw?
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