I spent the afternoon previewing homes with another agent since we are trying to use the buddy system lately. We were viewing 500k homes for an out of town buyer. Our first prospect was a 500k short sale on 2 acres in a popular established area with similar homes. These are typical stucco ranches with 3-4 car garages and newer features. Most were built from 2004 to present.
I was anticipating an inviting tastefully decorated interior with some unique features typical of these custom homes. Upon entering my eyes were immediately drawn to the filthy green carpet riddled with food and pet stains. The high end kitchen had nice features but they were difficult to ponder when my eyes kept diverting to the massive amount of flies layering the windows.
Downstairs had a unique odor and once again I was intrigued by the number of flies roaming throughout the basement. I never found the source for the flies but by then I had quit previewing and headed for the front door. We were both grateful that it was just a preview and not a showing with her out of town clients although I'm sure it would have been the topic of discussion for the rest of the trip.
Basically this would have been expected in a 60 thousand dollar REO after evicting transients, but this was a $500,000 home in a nice area. It was still occupied. This was a short sale and obviously the objective was to get an offer and negotiate to prevent foreclosure. The responsibility lies with the owner to clean their home, remove foul odors, cooperate with showings, and actively participate in the short sale process. I'm pretty sure I'll see this one on the auction block.
