I decided to add a new feature to the blog called “Adventures in Real Estate” after having some conversations with other Realtors and discussing strange and/or funny situations we’ve run into in this business we love called Real Estate. Hope you enjoy reading about my crazy real estate adventures!
The most recent odd thing that’s happened to me was while I was showing homes to a couple and we were scheduled to view a foreclosed bank owned home that stated on MLS in the Realtor remarks “tenant occupied”. We rang the bell at the front door and were greeted by a woman – the tenant. As she continued talking and telling us about the home, it became apparent to us that she was the previous owner of the home before it was foreclosed on, and the bank was leasing the property back to her. The house seemed a mess and for a minute, myself and my clients thought, “well, they are packing and moving”. But after viewing two more rooms in the home, what else became immediately apparent as we continued our journey through the home was that this woman was a serious hoarder – and this was not all “packing”. It was like the show Hoarders on A&E – stuff everywhere. We could have been on hidden camera for all I knew.
The living room and master bedroom weren’t bad – you could walk through in those rooms. But the rest of this 3,000 square foot home was jam packed with boxes, bags, etc. – it appeared that perhaps someone in the family was a compulsive shopper as I spotted many things in shopping bags that still had tags on them. The home had been built in recent years and my clients actually liked it (what they could see) but the issue was that in some rooms, there were so many things everywhere that we could not open closet doors to check out the closet space, or see the condition of carpet under all the junk. But otherwise the kitchen and pool area were a big plus.
After we left the Hoarder’s house I called the listing agent to ask when the tenants lease was up. The thought I had was that if my clients did like it (what they could see), we could put in an offer that was contingent on the tenant being out by a certain date and put in an extended inspection period so my clients could re-inspect once all the junk was out. But guess what the listing agent told me? Nope. The bank won’t allow that. You have to buy it with the tenant in it, even though she was on a month-to-month lease. I couldn’t understand this – no lender is going to allow someone to buy a primary residence with a tenant in it at closing. It seemed this hoarder was going to be difficult to remove and might require eviction by whomever was going to purchase the home. In my opinion the bank should have already evicted the woman at foreclosure to sever all ties and get the junk out if they wanted to recoup their loss on this property. Now requiring the new buyer to do an eviction is going to cause a buyer to offer far less for the home.
In the end my clients did really like the house – they have amazing “vision” as most people would have turned around and walked out without a second look! But ultimately they decided they were not going to pursue it because they didn’t want to go through the hassle of trying to evict a hoarder and what dramatics that might bring. The search for a home with them continues…
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