Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

Hi

Went to view a house today and the women showing is around from Estate Agents seemed to think that buying a house with numerous cracks in the walls was fine to do.

When I pointed out they looked like subsidance due to the length direction and daylight coming out of them she said "ah but the bits to the side of them are fine"... pointed out they matched the other two large cracks on opposite wall. She still thought it all was character and quaint so gave up.

Shame really as nice land round about.

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

[went to see a house near Noosa though it would be decent as the price tag was large, the vendors knew we were coming so was very disappointed when we walked in the place was filthy I can honestly say the sheets where black on the unmade beds the house stank and what was floating down the toilet is not worth describing, the estate agent pointed out a separate studio attached to the house which was equally as bad with extra ventilation (gaps in the weather board) think this area had been used for massage therapy with a little extra thrown in!!!! When asked for feed back told them i was well offended at being brought to a hovel ! and having a vision to see through the surface was not the the answer, have a feeling if you come from UK the estate agents think you are rolling in money. Think our house need that American house doctor. Good look with house search we ended up building our own as i was adamant i would not pay for someone Else's retirement. willo x

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

We went to look at a house once - it was so bad, there weren't even any walls in the kitchen & half of the rooms & the bathroom was literally falling apart :scared: .

Ohh that's right, silly me, I forgot to mention we bought it :eek: :rolleyes: .

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

Went to see one that was very under-priced for the area/proximity to the beach. Estate Agent said the price was because it needed some work doing on it. Went inside became immediately obvious that the entire house needed gutting - foul '70s decor, horrible musty smell. Went into one of the back bedrooms and their was a stain on the floor that was quite obviously human shit - along with the accompanying smell - wife nearly gagged. Went into the kitchen - bag of rubbish on the inside door handle absolutely crawling with ants. Went into the main bedroom - was going to step out onto the balcony - agent pulled me back and said he didn't know how secure it was. To top it all, the agent then pointed out that the front garden we'd been admiring had been sold off and that a house had planning permission to be built on it just 3 metres!!! from the front door. On the feedback form I suggested the vendor nuked it.

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

:D

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

Bloody hell! Sounds like there's some rotters out there! :eek:

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

We've always bought the daggiest house in the street and done really well out of them. The more people that are put off by bad decor and other people's furniture choices - the more we like it. Got two fantastic bargains that way. Cheap paint jobs and hired furniture don't trick me ;)

As long as the building inspection comes back clean - doesn't matter if the paint colours are from the 70's and the garden's overgrown.

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

Are you sure you weren't looking in New Zealand?

We looked at some right crap in Oz. The agent's testing you out and thinks you're a cashed up Pommy.

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

One house I saw recently link below

http://www.domain.com.au/Public/Prop...did=2005456618

It has been on the market for a good 5 months and as we have our UK property up for sale decided I would have a look around. It looks lovely from the pictures and mentions tastefully decorated. It was filthy the kitchen had some dodgey looking doors, the bedrooms were grubby. Dont even start me on the state of the cabin it was a health hazard.

The agent said he has a few jobs to finish to which I replied its been on the market for 6 months how long do these odd things take. I think when the photos were taken it was sparkling they have just let it go.

I also hate it when they try to talk you into buying it. He advised me to see one property which was a bit to close to the bush which still had scortch marks from new years day. I said its a bit close to the bush, he said it just goes to show how good our fire fighters are, it wont be a problem dont worry. I got really pissed off and said, look mate I know what I want and where I want it and you saying dont worry isn't going to stop me worrying. I know if a house feels right for me so could you stop trying to push me into something I don't want. he shut up at that point. I now make a point of telling pushy agents that if they annoy me and usually they apologise and shut up.

Jo

Jo

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

Ants? Filth? Sheer luxury!

My sideline is buying old run down houses, doing them up and selling on.

The last one I bought was owned by a heroin addict who kept cats, and hadn't cleaned the place in 12 years( cockroach central). 2 minutes after walking in the house I felt itching on my legs, looked down and my legs were black with fleas (it took two weeks before they stopped itching). Time for the flea bombs! Fleas seem to be a regular thing for me in the run down houses I look at. :(

The house before that I had to spend a week just clearing it out before I could start work on it - 12 ute loads of rubbish. Mind you, amongst the rubbish I found a few gems - an old cast iron fireplace which I restored and put in the house, a lovely old sink which I restored as well, and a spare toilet!

The house before that (which was on the UK) had a live wire coming out in the bathroom a few feet over the bath. And the family living there before I bought it had 3 young children - very scary stuff!

One rule I have though - if any termites are found in the house, walk away.

You do get immune to the filth after a while - which is a good thing! The one thing that amazes me though is how people can live like that for year after year - makes me shudder.

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

You sound like our rental agent, after we got the call that our rental house was trashed, she waded through knee high rubbish, 400 bottles, used condoms :scared: blocked toilet, rotted carpet, maggot ridden food, and vomit, she calmly stood there in 32 degree humidity ( I'll never forget the smell!) and said oh dont worry we see much worse than this. :eek:

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

I quite agree about the filth and wall paper/colours as I can see past that if the house is sound and anyway every Aus house you look at seems to have had the worst possible pictures of it taken with the laundry all over etc. or nothing cleaned up. It was amazing what you could put in the washer, tumble dryer and dishwasher in a hurry when we were selling.

I want a house with few trees around but is solid enough that it will stand a gust of wind or two. Quite agree with the nuke comment as well as we did look at one house on reasonable plot and all 3 of us even the eleven yr old came away saying would pull the house down first.

I'll even pass on the pool for the right house and build that later. One house we viewed had rat traps/poison all over outside if that's enough to put you off straight away... :scared: .

Ant's i've got them now just get the talc out, redbacks they are in the ceiling and the patio chairs so kill them on sight... snakes we haven't had yet but hubby will be leaving when they come in ...LOL.

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

I'm afraid that what is described abve is applicable to a HUGE percentage of houses here. And not just the cheapos either - we saw houses in the $2m - $4m bracket which needed the health and safety people out!

After 6 monthswe decided that the standards around Sydney were uniformly low and decamped to where we are now, which is a bit more civilised. However, none of the places we looked at over the last 12 months were that appealing so we are building - that will be another saga no doubt........

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

We think the same as you. Worst house in the best street is the one to buy. Crap decor & dirt are easily sorted out. It's the way to successful property development.;)

Re: Buying a house in Aus... whats the worst you've looked at???
 

Just have to find the crap house that's really good and i'm laughing. Oh! and convince the hubby to buy it... :D .

We looked at one that was a very good house and would have bought but just couldn't figure out how to get the kid to school which is a big nightmare if you both work. Stupid women just said you drop off and pick up... ddddeeeeerrrrrrrrr if you are at work you can't do that.