Do you ever get the feeling about a home you are showing that it has been really prepped a bit too good? The listing agent must have a background in camoflage! I am not talking about staging, but rather what I refer to in the real estate trade as "Real Estate Camouflage!" Carpets look like they've been dyed, ceilings are painted strange colors. Instead of a white ceiling paint, try hunter green or or some dark color. Why darker colors? To hide water stains of course! I always assume that if my vision were real good, I would be able to make out the outlines of water stains on the ceiling by their daker edges. It's hard to do when they are painted hunter green! When you think about it it make sense for the seller...it is probably a lot cheaper to paint the ceiling rather than replace a roof, and clean gutters. The newly painted basement floors also remind me to look if there are sealed cracks I should be looking for! I once showed a home that had carpeting in one section of the basement that looked out of place, I tripped over it. And underneath the basement slab had shifted upwards about 2 inches. It ran the entire lenght of the foundation! A scary event! Another time in a model home, that had a basement, my client and I went down to the unfinished basement in the model home. We heard water dripping. A few of the lights were conveniently missing so I went out to the car and brought back in a flashlight from my real estate toolbox! The strangest thing was the wall in the basement looked totally brand new. Upon closer examination, someone had gone through great lengths to re-cement and entire wall over deep epoxied foundation cracks that were just so bad the water was flowing through them like Niagara Falls! Another home I saw a dehumidifier in the basement...to me it can be a red flag! A dehumidifier may be great in removing a little extra humidity, but is not a solution for removing effervescence when water is wicking up the framed members of the home. it is setting up more than a mold problem. There is a major foundation and engineering problem.
When you see something that looks totally out of place, stop and think what could be taking place? What are they going out of the way to hide? What do you tell your buyer? Will you list a home where the seller divuges they have major issues? Why won't a seller or listing agent disclose that the home has issues?
Comments(15)