It finally happened, my worst nightmare! I had some clients call me the other day to list their home that had been a rental for the past 5 years. We met at the office, quickly went over the comps in the area and then were going to go over to the home for pictures and measurements as the renters had finally moved out the night before.
As we drive up, I compliment my client on how clean the home looks on the outside and how this was going to be great for selling it as the curb appeal was amazing! He said "Thanks, I have a service come out every Friday and take care of the property. I don't want the neighbors to be upset or even know it is a rental. That usually makes a neighborhood worth less and I didn't want that to be my property."
I thought that was pretty cool! So, we pull into the driveway and walk up to the house and the first thing we see s what looks like a screwdriver mark on the deadbolt. That's a little weird! But, we proceed to go inside and are just overwhelmed by a horrible smell! It smelled like a house with 50 cats and no litterbox! The only problem was these people didn't have any pets!
We got out of there as we just couldn't handle the smell even long enough to take pictures or measure and had to re-group outside and figure out what was going on. I originally thought it was just really strong cleaning products, but then someone walked up while we were there and they startled us! They asked, "Where Jimmy?" "Ahhh, Jimmy doesn't live here anymore, he moved and we don't know where."
That is when we figured it out! This was a drug house and they had used it to manufacture Meth. His $289,000 home, just dropped to $125,000 in less than 20 minutes. It was my worst nightmare to have to tell this client that he was going to have to call the EPA and have this house basically condemned! We called the police, who came out and confirmed our suspicions and gave us the number to the EPA and told us we had to have the house boarded up by the end of the day to avoid being fined.
The lesson here, is if you walk in to a house that smells of ammonia and don't see any sign of pets, get out and get out fast!
Todd Clark - broker
Kastings & Associates
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739
Todd Clark and the Friendly Home Team
Knipe Realty
Todd@IFoundYourNewHome.com
Phone: (503)524-9494
Fax: (503)622-8739
I am a licensed Realtor who specializes in Washington County, Oregon and also work in both Clackamas and Multnomah Counties including the cities of Aloha, Beaverton, Canby, Clackamas, Gladstone, Gresham, Happy Valley, Hillsboro, Milwaukie, Oregon City, Sherwood and Tigard. All information contained in these posts are copyrighted and cannot be used without prior written approval authorization from the author me Todd Clark. If you are looking for an outstanding agent please give me a call I would love to help you with all your real estate needs.
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