My Heart Aches for Those Just Trying to Hang On.
This last week was so memorable for me. Not that we haven't seen or heard of the problems faced by those in foreclosure or forced into a difficult short sales before. Having worked with REO properties and having seen the mess, destruction, filth and squalor left behind is one thing, but this last week, I was in a home with real people eking out an existence under conditions that just shouldn't be. I wasn't prepared for what I saw.
My client found a listing on the Internet just outside our search area. The 19 photos looked OK but revealed clutter from toddlers. That happens. His drive-by passed muster... fresh paint... manicured lawn... green grass ... trimmed hedges and flowering shrubs... nice neighborhood with pride of ownership all along the street. Appointment made as requested.
What we found:
- A house full of people - maybe tenants or possibly house sitters for the owner. So many people that there was even a double mattress in the dining room for at least one occupant.
- There was no working heater in the house... and nights are in the 40s.
- There was no stove or oven on which to cook. That was taken by the owner when he moved out, as were the ceiling fans/fixtures, leaving dangling wires.
- Junk, trash and toys were pushed aside to form canyons for passage from room to room.
- The home stank. Multiple causes suspected.
- Any visible carpet was soiled beyond reclaim.
- Every wall needed industrial strength cleaning, painting or some even repair.
- The bathrooms were no better than the rest.
With conditions like this, I'm left wondering what else would be found when the home is vacated and the hidden becomes visible.
The listing is aging. There is a second T.D. that the agent says needs to be settled outside of escrow (can that be right?), and yet this home is priced with comps of an entirely different condition. Let's face it... comps for these conditions would be hard to find. The photos? Maybe they are from an old listing. Who knows.
And yet, these people strongly professed their faith and counted their blessings..... There is a lesson here. My Heart Aches for Those just Trying to Hang On.....
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