# What is your biggest pet peeve when you walk into a house?



## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Filthy dirty carpeting and window coverings. Cigarette smoke or smoke smell. Obviously dirt cheap flooring---especially floated laminate that is supposed to look like real oak, or worse, marble. Any faux paint finishes and especially those that do not fit with the architecture of the house (castle dungeon walls look stupid in a ranch house with 8' walls and ceilings painted white). Faux stained glass or cloud films that don't quite cover windows. Blinds that do not fit. Wallpaper borders of any kind! Painted over coverplates and of course painted wallpaper really sends a signal to me nobody cared. Not interior things but tacky lawn ornaments usually give a clue as to what to expect from an interior. Dead or dying plants or pets. Living and crawling non pets. Greenish CFLs in lamps when everything else is warm white incandescent. Gruesome light fixtures. Hair grease stains on walls behind chairs, sofas and mattresses.


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## operagost (Jan 8, 2010)

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that if I saw dead pets in a house I'd leave pretty quickly too.


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## Tscarborough (Mar 31, 2006)

Clutter of any kind.


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## tpolk (Nov 7, 2009)

someone not handing me a bourbon


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## toeey1 (Feb 10, 2010)

We recently went thru a new house search so this is still fresh for me. My biggest pet peeve was cat pee. In at least 2 of the houses we looked at, it was so overpowering we ended up leaving pretty quickly. Cat pee is one of the hardest substances to completely get rid of. 

The irony is that when we fionally did settle on a house, we ended up with a house that had several cat pee stains. We didnt know it at the time because the sellers were diligent in covering it up. We replaced carpet in 2 rooms and before the new carpet was laid down, I primed the floor with KILZ so it wouldnt smell or bleed into new carpet. The OSB was stained nearly all around the entire perimeter of the room...it was awful.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

My last house I bought at 25% of its value as a short sale

Pet peeves:
I could not breathe in the house...cats & kittens & NO litter box at all
---big drum sander took care of that
Thousands of squatters that had to be exterminated
Windows screwed shut
After I bought the house they cleaned everything out from inside
There was a large clean spot where the mattrress had been on the floor
There was a big square in the middle of the floor that they did not stain/seal
They only did the area at the edges of the rug :furious:
So I hate idiots that should never have owned a house
But like the deal I got as a result

In general I hate the smell of wet dog


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## Bill7 (Dec 18, 2009)

Scuba_Dave said:


> My last house I bought at 25% of its value as a short sale


 
No offense, but that was a long list for such a steal!


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## Bill7 (Dec 18, 2009)

Oh, and I was going to say something like not taking off shoes...


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Bill7 said:


> Scuba_Dave said:
> 
> 
> > My last house I bought at 25% of its value as a short sale
> ...


3 houses that were a mess all together......mine was the most "expensive" of the 3 !!

Actually the list is MUCH longer
NO septic system...just a cesspool pit
Bees, termites & ants..sloped & sagging floors, very little to ZERO insulation
5 layers of roofing & still leaking
No foundation..rotting piers...few if any beams, caved in cement board enclosing the crawlspace, plywood up against dirt in the crawl space
A yard full of broken glass & mirrors
Live wires in the walls, hanging in the crawl space...& in the yard
....the list is much longer then this !!
I earned every penny of equity in sweat & blood


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## CoconutPete (Jan 22, 2010)

Scuba_Dave said:


> There was a big square in the middle of the floor that they did not stain/seal
> They only did the area at the edges of the rug :furious:


My house was like that too! Even the stairs were only stained on the edges of the steps.

Was that the trend back in the day? Giant area rugs w/ wood floors on the edges?


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## operagost (Jan 8, 2010)

tpolk said:


> someone not handing me a bourbon


You win the internet.:thumbsup:


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## Willie T (Jan 29, 2009)

Dark houses. I will never understand stupid 'mood lighting' that makes you feel your way around to keep from tripping over furniture.

I have 12, 4', 40 watt florescent lights in my kitchen ceiling, alone. My bathroom has 4 of the same lights.


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## Thurman (Feb 9, 2009)

As a "Household HandyMan", my worst pet peeve is when the homeowner and I reach an agreement to do the work, then when I show up on time and prepared: There are animals within the house and small kids running loose. I love animals and kids-really. But it can be so hard to do a job with the dog/cat crawling under the sink with you and the kids taking the tools off while Mom is in another room watching TV or on the d**n phone loudly. Just give me room to do what I was hired for, then IF I want to stay a minute and play with the dog/cat or kids, that's my decision. David


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## Termite (Apr 13, 2008)

Cat poo. Cat pee. Cat litter box. General smell of cat....Repulses me. I like cats well enough, but they ruin houses. And inevitably, the cat owner says "we clean up after them and keep the litter fresh so you can't smell them"....And they believe it. Cat people, your homes have an odor, if ever so faint.


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## Leah Frances (Jan 13, 2008)

Thurman said:


> As a "Household HandyMan", my worst pet peeve is when the homeowner and I reach an agreement to do the work, then when I show up on time and prepared: There are animals within the house and small kids running loose. I love animals and kids-really. But it can be so hard to do a job with the dog/cat crawling under the sink with you and the kids taking the tools off while Mom is in another room watching TV or on the d**n phone loudly. Just give me room to do what I was hired for, then IF I want to stay a minute and play with the dog/cat or kids, that's my decision. David


I have three dogs that run loose in my yard. Most of my tradespeople who regularly come into the yard know them and play around with them. But I always try and keep the dogs under control when needed. 

I've started trying to meet people in the driveway to find out how they feel about the dogs - this was after I got a call from the driveway from some movers I hired. They weren't getting out of the car until the dogs were LOCKED UP. And, well, good for them. 

My pet peeve about houses is when I am expected to remove my shoes at someone's house. I HATE seeing that pretentious presumptuous pile of shoes next to the door. Of course, if my shoes are overly wet or soiled, I am happy to remove them. But as a matter of course, it's irritating. 

OK. OK, yeah, it's cause my feet smell.


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## johnnyboy (Oct 8, 2007)

ANIMAL SMELL! ugh. Abandoned animals especially, but even well kept animals with weak bladders are pretty bad.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

Thurman said:


> As a "Household HandyMan", my worst pet peeve is when the homeowner and I reach an agreement to do the work, then when I show up on time and prepared: There are animals within the house and small kids running loose. I love animals and kids-really. But it can be so hard to do a job with the dog/cat crawling under the sink with you and the kids taking the tools off while Mom is in another room watching TV or on the d**n phone loudly. Just give me room to do what I was hired for, then IF I want to stay a minute and play with the dog/cat or kids, that's my decision. David


This is why velcro tape was invented. You construction glue or hot gun glue one side on to the pet, child, or Mom. Staple the other side to a wall, ceiling fan blade, or whatever. Aim well, heave and toss. This approach will not solve your problems but will bring absolute silence to the project long enough to work a sink basin wrench. The only problems I have ever had with the approach are when, in trying to get everybody attached at once, I threw the cat to the wall and Mom to the ceiling fan blades. Never, ever velcro a big fat cat to a drywall wall is the lesson I learned.


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## user1007 (Sep 23, 2009)

johnnyboy said:


> ANIMAL SMELL! ugh. Abandoned animals especially, but even well kept animals with weak bladders are pretty bad.


Actually you can buy natural bacterial bug mixes that will break down anything that animals cause, even pet urine in soaked carpeting and the floor under it. People usually don't want to pay for as much as is needed though so they skimp. Or they just pour flowery fragrant stuff on the carpeting without injecting it down through into the subfloor. The bugs just eat what they like and die. Just like they have been doing for ages. 

Instead, homeowners will, however, pay oodles for fancy cat litter they forget to change and that has cute glowing crystals the damned color blind kitty ignores if the litter box is filled with liquid and shall we say poop? Dog gets taken out once a week?

An illustrator/cartoonist friend had a lovely old place just North of NYC I almost bought once. It has a simple farmhouse with a stream and protected forest land in at least one direction. His studio was gorgeous and built in the loft of an old horse barn. 

Wish I had known about the bugs I found to get rid of pet stuff then because I would have bought the place in a heartbeat. The stench, even with horses not having been in the place for 25 years got to me though. It wasn't awful but lingering.


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## jpsmith (Jan 29, 2009)

thekctermite said:


> Cat people, your homes have an odor, if ever so faint.


The very same can be said about dog people. I'm aware that my house smells, despite my attempts to make it not. We have no carpet, just an area rug in the living room, runner in the hallway, and small rugs by the doors and in the bathroom. We're very clean people. The rugs & hardwood get vacuumed twice weekly and the floors get washed with murphy's ever week, but still, dogs stink. They get baths every 3-4 weeks, more often if they get muddy. Still, they stink. Yeah, our dog odor is very mild compared to a lot of other people with pets, but I know people without pets can definitely notice it when they come into our house. Dogs are dirty, but they're so worth it.


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## Clutchcargo (Mar 31, 2007)

Edit: My previous comment was off topic... Anyway deleted and now back to topic.
One of my pet peeves is work that looks like it was obviously done by the homeowner. If I were looking at buying that house, I would deduct from the price how much it will cost to make it right at a pro's rate.


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## ClumsyCarpenter (Mar 10, 2010)

Clutchcargo said:


> Edit: Previous note was off topic... Anyway back to topic.
> One of my pet peeves is work that looks like it was obviously done by the homeowner. If I were looking at buying that house, I would deduct from the price how much it will cost to make it right at a pro's rate.


That's a depressing comment on a "DIY" forum


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## jpsmith (Jan 29, 2009)

Clutchcargo said:


> Edit: Previous note was off topic... Anyway back to topic.


Were you referring to my comment? If so, I think it was on topic. One poster said that a pet peeve is pet odors, cats in particular. I was rebutting that others may well feel the same about dog smells. A home buyer could very well be put off by a house that has been lived in by cats or dogs.



ClumsyCarpenter said:


> That's a depressing comment on a "DIY" forum


I think Clutchcargo means jobs that look like they were done by somebody that had no idea what they were doing. A job can be done by the homeowner and look great, or it can look like a total hack job. I'd assume he means the latter is his pet peeve.


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## Clutchcargo (Mar 31, 2007)

jpsmith said:


> Were you referring to my comment?


 No not at all, I was commenting on ScubaD's comment. I was having a bad day yesterday and changed my tune. Anyway, the title of the thread is about *pet* peeves, right

Edit: I just realized how that got misconstrued... now I get it. 
I meant I deleted my previous comment because it was off topic.

I should have said... DIY work that was poorly done and clearly done by the homeowner. My point is if you are going to DIY it, DIY it right and DIY it so that it looks pro. That includes everything from painting to framing to tiling to finish work, etc.
DIYing it right is what this board is all about.


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## DUDE! (May 3, 2008)

Okay, I just decided that I'm not inviting any of you over to my house any time soon. Yes, the dog and 3 cats aren't the most pleasent smelling, especially during winter months when the house is closed up. :wink:


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## Bill7 (Dec 18, 2009)

DUDE! said:


> Okay, I just decided that I'm not inviting any of you over to my house any time soon. Yes, the dog and 3 cats aren't the most pleasent smelling, especially during winter months when the house is closed up. :wink:


Yep, me too. I live in the country (ag community+mud, dust, mice, etc.). I have 2 labs (they are pets), 2 indoor cats, and a few outdoor ones. Yep, my house smells. I clean it the best I can.

I always ask tradesmen if they are bothered by the dogs, and I keep these nuts out of their way...or try too. The cats will it and watch, and if the dogs feel the need to supervise, I make sure they stay out of the way. You all know how supervisors are...:laughing:


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## ews (May 12, 2010)

This may be usual but I want to know the maintenance history of a home.

When was the roof last re-shingled, any plumbing work, electrician work, what about the furnace. 

I want to know the the previous homeowner kept up on these things because deffered maintenance is a mo fo.


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## jogr (Jul 24, 2007)

I have to agree with the pet odors, especially cats.

I almost forgot multiple layers of anything. What I mean by that is when repairs and "improvements" are done by covering up existing work. Sometimes one cover over makes sense but when you find multiple layers of floors or siding or whatever it bugs me.


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## Sam1215 (May 15, 2010)

Well, it changes dramatically between before/after I bought it.

Before I bought it, I generally don't get bothered unless they dramatically over rated the house, which wastes my time.

But, *after* I bought it? I don't care about paint, carpet or landscaping. When that's in bad shape I get the property for significantly less.

What bothers me is when I find major problems that were not disclosed before I made the purchase. That'll get me every time.

------------------------------------
Sam Reninger
Home Buyer, Materials Supplier:
http://www.cheap-wall-mounted-air-c...rConditioner-PortableAirConditioningUnits.php


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## Bushman (Mar 28, 2010)

Cob webs and dust. On an occupied home. If they have that and are trying to sell you the house it gives insight to there overall cleanliness.
Cat pee for sure. I have cats don't get me wrong but the only time they come in the house is when I am getting ready to boot them back outside.
Sticky cabinets.


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## Snav (Aug 20, 2009)

If anything is dirty, messy, unclean or odorous - I know I can clean it and sweeten it up so that doesn't bother me, actually.

But real peeves are:

Lack of lighting in kitchen/hallways
Linoleum sheet flooring (some of it is high-end and nice - but most is junky crap)
Hardboard walls in a bathroom instead of tile (you know, tub-surround stuff)
Faux wood paneling *everywhere* (not just in a livingroom or kitchen as is traditional)
Dark colors in small areas - closets, hallways, bathrooms (carpet/ceiling/accessories/etc)
A defined entry way (if it's small) is a waste of space.
Lack of doorways in/out of rooms (kitchen should have at least one outside door - livingroom should have more than one doorway to the rest of the house)
Lack of a back door - I *must* have a backdoor so I can get to the backyard.

All of these things, though, I can fix - just give me a hammer and 10 grand and I'm bacon :laughing:
All of these things were present in our home when we bought it - I'm still working on them


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## Leah Frances (Jan 13, 2008)

Snav said:


> Lack of doorways in/out of rooms (kitchen should have at least one outside door - livingroom should have more than one doorway to the rest of the house)
> Lack of a back door - I *must* have a backdoor so I can get to the backyard.


We've got four doors out of our kitchen :laughing: Two go into the back yard. One into the house. And one up the back stairs. On top of that we have four windows too. No need to say we don't have any cabinets hanging on the walls - no room! :laughing:


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## Snav (Aug 20, 2009)

Leah Frances said:


> We've got four doors out of our kitchen :laughing: Two go into the back yard. One into the house. And one up the back stairs. On top of that we have four windows too. No need to say we don't have any cabinets hanging on the walls - no room! :laughing:


YES! Another point - not enough cabinets and storage space!

ACK! :laughing:


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## racebum (Mar 8, 2010)

toeey1 said:


> We recently went thru a new house search so this is still fresh for me. My biggest pet peeve was cat pee. In at least 2 of the houses we looked at, it was so overpowering we ended up leaving pretty quickly. Cat pee is one of the hardest substances to completely get rid of.
> 
> The irony is that when we fionally did settle on a house, we ended up with a house that had several cat pee stains. We didnt know it at the time because the sellers were diligent in covering it up. We replaced carpet in 2 rooms and before the new carpet was laid down, I primed the floor with KILZ so it wouldnt smell or bleed into new carpet. The OSB was stained nearly all around the entire perimeter of the room...it was awful.


they make a product called molecular modifier that's pretty decent with cat pee. {i own a carpet cleaning business btw} the biggest problem with cat pee is the soak into the pad. small spots i can usually treat by soaking modifier, letting it sit and then using the van extractor to steam it all out. a 18"18" area often gets a good 5 minutes of steam extracting after treatment. MOST of the time i can get it out or so faint you have to have your nose on the carpet to get a whiff. if the carpet isn't too hard to get up; replacing that section of pad can really get the odor down.


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## racebum (Mar 8, 2010)

Scuba_Dave said:


> My last house I bought at 25% of its value as a short sale


that's a crazy deal. most the shorts around my area sell more like 25% off, not 25% of :thumbsup:


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

Cigarettes! I realized it's your right to smoke in the privacy of your own home but does it really take that much effort to take that smoke outside? Or at least in a bathroom with a good vent fan. And no, a HEPA filter doesn't get it. Plus all that second-hand smoke makes kids sick. And it really smells disgusting.


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## Sparky8370 (Jan 7, 2009)

Clutchcargo said:


> No not at all, I was commenting on ScubaD's comment. I was having a bad day yesterday and changed my tune. Anyway, the title of the thread is about *pet* peeves, right
> 
> Edit: I just realized how that got misconstrued... now I get it.
> I meant I deleted my previous comment because it was off topic.
> ...


That has got to be one of the most irritating things to come by, especially when they were just smart enough to get themselves in trouble. My BIL just bought a house like this and it's obvious that the homeowner did most of his own work. The most frustrating part is knowing that this guy was probably proud of the "great job" he did and sat back and admired it.


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## Shamus (Apr 27, 2008)

If it’s a home I’m working on or one I’m interested in buying it’s the same peeve.

I want to see everything structural. What was added or modified? If I see poor workmanship in the basement, the attic or an addition, I can assume that anything done was probably, if not always, done in that same manor.

I can remove stains, odors or correct a bad paintjob for a small amount of money. Structural gets expensive.


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## Red Squirrel (Jun 29, 2009)

I saw a lot of crazy stuff but my #1 pet peeve while looking for a house was how dirty some of them were. I don't expect everything to be **** and span, the owners need to continue with their lives even if they're trying to sell it, and getting called by the agent at all sorts of times of the day can be annoying and often don't have time to clean, but at least cleanup major messes, like dog pee! This one house I went into, I nearly stepped in a puddle of dog pee! They had their dog trained to pee in this one spot in the basement, where they just put a small piece of carpet to absorb the pee. EWWWW!


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## Mike in Arkansas (Dec 29, 2008)

Put me down as being bugged by painted woodwork in old houses
Went to an open house in our neighborhood Sunday just out of curiosity. House was priced WAY over it appraised value. Last owners just paid too much for house (I'm talking 100,000) but that's neither here nor there. What bugged me about this house other than all the pink walls was that the wood work had been painted the same pink color. Now this house had a beautiful quarter sawed white oak mantel that completely surrounded the fire place. Very elegant and decorative and one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Yet all the rest of the woodwork was painted and I couldn't help but wonder what it looked like before painting
House was probably built in the 30's and if the trim was anything like that mantel it would have been spectacular unpainted. Couldn't help but feel sorry for the sellers as it's been for sale at least 3 years and they've reduced the price from over 300K to 290K and now 265K. No way is this house going to sell anywhere near that. Knob and tube wiring, no AC, all pink walls and wood, bad kitchen, faux painted shelves right beside that beautiful mantel. I'd gladly pay big dollars for the mantel if I had a place (maybe even if I didn't) for it and for what I believe were original lighting fixtures. Also the original edge sawed old growth pine flooring. Many of the boards ran the entire length of the rooms. Breaks my heart really for a family to make a mistake like that and I wish them the best where ever they are.


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## Leah Frances (Jan 13, 2008)

Mike in Arkansas said:


> Put me down as being bugged by painted woodwork in old houses
> Went to an open house in our neighborhood Sunday just out of curiosity. House was priced WAY over it appraised value. Last owners just paid too much for house (I'm talking 100,000) but that's neither here nor there. What bugged me about this house other than all the pink walls was that the wood work had been painted the same pink color. Now this house had a beautiful quarter sawed white oak mantel that completely surrounded the fire place. Very elegant and decorative and one of the most beautiful I've ever seen. Yet all the rest of the woodwork was painted and I couldn't help but wonder what it looked like before painting
> House was probably built in the 30's and if the trim was anything like that mantel it would have been spectacular unpainted. Couldn't help but feel sorry for the sellers as it's been for sale at least 3 years and they've reduced the price from over 300K to 290K and now 265K. No way is this house going to sell anywhere near that. Knob and tube wiring, no AC, all pink walls and wood, bad kitchen, faux painted shelves right beside that beautiful mantel. I'd gladly pay big dollars for the mantel if I had a place (maybe even if I didn't) for it and for what I believe were original lighting fixtures. Also the original edge sawed old growth pine flooring. Many of the boards ran the entire length of the rooms. Breaks my heart really for a family to make a mistake like that and I wish them the best where ever they are.


It's tough with historic homes. Chances are the trim was painted originally. 

My house (1805) has scads of gorgeous trim - all of it was originally painted dark brown (almost black) and faux finished with a brown grain. I'm not going back to that, but stripping the trim and staining it would be really contrary to the house.


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## DownRiverGuy (Nov 24, 2009)

Cats and cigarette smoke are killers...

We toured one home that the agents brother owned... one of his family members was living in the home while they were trying to sell it... PS she was there smoking and in her robe... classy...:no: the home was FILTHY!!! And there were three cats running around during the tour... add ontop of that the fog of smoke anddddddddddd we're done with that house. (The house was also just trashed and alot of noticeable hack work).

We've been touring alot of foreclosed homes so they are NEVER clean. I'll agree with you guys thou... I can tear down ugly stuff... I can't redo a foundation.


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## Jim F (Mar 4, 2010)

Just know that if you have dogs or cats in your house, that is what your house is going to smell like. My wife loves her dog and 3 cats so we do the best we can to change the litter and let the dog out. Fortunately, the cats stick to the litter box and the dog has bare minimal accidents. A bigger pet peeve for me is people who get dogs and cats as pets then either let them run loose or tie or otherwise keep them outside all the time. What's the point of having a dog outside annoying your neighbors? What sort of pet is that? They are social animals that need to be part of a clan.


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## Mike in Arkansas (Dec 29, 2008)

Have to agree with Jim F here. If I were looking at a home to buy and there was a neighbors dog that barked constantly while I was in the yard I would never consider a purchase. Nothing makes me madder than owners who won't keep their dogs from barking. Now i don't mind an occasional bark or two but consistent barking when I'm out makes me want to throw poison meat over the fence.


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## racebum (Mar 8, 2010)

DownRiverGuy said:


> Cats and cigarette smoke are killers...
> 
> We toured one home that the agents brother owned... one of his family members was living in the home while they were trying to sell it... PS she was there smoking and in her robe... classy...:no: the home was FILTHY!!! And there were three cats running around during the tour... add ontop of that the fog of smoke anddddddddddd we're done with that house. (The house was also just trashed and alot of noticeable hack work).
> 
> We've been touring alot of foreclosed homes so they are NEVER clean. I'll agree with you guys thou... I can tear down ugly stuff... I can't redo a foundation.


you mentioned a lot more than i'm addressing BUT, most smells wind up in the carpet. most can be steam extracted by the pros. if not new carpet often runs as low as $10.50 per linear foot on a 15ft roll. it's not too crazy to recarpet. hardwoods run 1-6 bucks a square foot and so does tile. floors aren't super crazy especially if you're DIY


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## JakAHearts (Apr 20, 2010)

Old faded terrible ugly plastic light switches and/or covers make me cringe. My aunt redid her whole kitchen and it looks beautiful except there are original 1970s light switches on the wall that were probably once white and are now some shade of yellow.


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## Troglodyte (May 4, 2010)

Have to agree with JakAHearts, replacing aged, damaged or ugly faceplates and switches is one of the easiest and cheapest things to do for a home and makes a world of difference.

My biggest pet peeves:

- Lack of cleanliness
- Lack of overhead lighting in any room (or in large closets).
- Kitchen lighting that causes shadows onto a counter or sink you are standing in front of
- Any signs of apparent lack of care for the house (broken/cracked electrical faceplates, burnt out bulbs, furnace filters with caked on dust, etc. By the way, I think that the furnace filter is one of the best things to check out for an indication of the care and attention of the previous home owner.
- Staging, yes I hate staging, if I see staging, I assume the owner's are money-grubbers and everything they DIY is cheap, not always true but often enough from my experiences


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## hyunelan2 (Aug 14, 2007)

The number one has got to be clutter or just generally a mess. Closely followed by untamed children running around. Dogs, I understand their curiosity. But why could you not tell your children they need to go play in the yard, or just not be a menace while people are looking to buy the house.

One house we looked at buying last year, had actually LOCKED the door to the master bedroom. Let me say that again, the door to the master bedroom was locked. Now, if you are trying to sell your house, people need to actually be able to see the house. It wasn't like we just showed up unannounced and asked to see the place - or realtor scheduled it over a week in advance. The layout of that house had potential too, but the general mess, pet-stained carpets, and clutter would not have ever been able to leave my mind.




When I sold my last house, we showed by appointment only. Whenever anyone was coming we not only made sure we did a full cleaning, but gathered the dog -and all signs of the dog (toys, bowls, etc)- and made sure we were not even at home. That way people could look without feeling weird or rushed. Sold the house in under 3 months in early 2009.


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## Durt Ferguson (Apr 14, 2010)

Well, we are closing on our first house on June 9th. I've always been a DIY'er and basically was getting my fix on my friends and siblings houses until now. I hate shoddy work and when "close enough" attitude is used to compensate for it. Here's the list (the much abbreviated one) I came up with based on looking at houses :

- Bad trim. Missing pieces of trim. Trim that shows all the imperfections/bends of the wall. If there is no molding around a doorway, don't cut the baseboard molding at 90 degrees when it meets the doorway. Take 5 minutes and put a return on the end. Gaps where molding meets (guess what, that corner that looks 90 degrees? It's not)
- Bad drywall repair jobs. Another thing that people like to use "good enough" on. Somehow when they paint over it and it sticks out like a sore thumb, they can look at it day after day and not be bothered?
- Letting the landscaping go to hell.
- Painted-over faceplates.

General disrepair. We looked at one house where there was a crack running up one of the interior walls, nothing had been cleaned, the kitchen had a plastic drop ceiling with flourescent lights above it and half the panels were cracked, the concrete stairs up to the front door had seperated from the house by about 3" and were crumbling. The old nasty fat dude who lived there was sitting in the kitchen smoking, with sauce stains all over his wife beater, and talking about how we should go see his dog out back, and the dog loves people. Well that house was way overpriced, especially for the condition. The house we ended up getting we got a great deal on, and is a few streets over, and in amazing condition.


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## operagost (Jan 8, 2010)

Turd Ferguson said:


> - Painted-over faceplates.


This is a big one. How hard is it to remove two to four screws? I suppose maybe they don't want to kill the power, but it's pretty easy to mask the plate too.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

My last house they painted over the faceplates AND the outlets :furious:


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## JakAHearts (Apr 20, 2010)

Scuba_Dave said:


> My last house they painted over the faceplates AND the outlets :furious:


No worries. My previous owners painted the base trim, wall, outlets, covers and door trim all lime green. Plus the butted new floating floor up against the base trim and then used a piece of plastic quarter round w/ a wood look sticker to cover the small gap. It was umm... awesome. hahahha :laughing::laughing::laughing:

Also, the plastic wood look didnt even match the floating floor wood.


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## Snav (Aug 20, 2009)

Not just the face plates, though - it just can't stop there!

Any clumps of dirt, pet hair, cobwebs or unsightliness must forever be captured with a holy dome of washwhite paint - high gloss for the ultimate eyesore.

I mean, if it ain't broke then don't fix it, right?

*facepalm* LOL

And bugs - I've found evidence of bugs being captured in paint, too.


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## Troglodyte (May 4, 2010)

We have an extra large hallway (10' wide) which has a large ceiling fan on it. Previous owner painted the hallway pink and they didn't take the ceiling fan down and whoever painted painted the entire base of the ceiling fan pink. My guess is they hit a little bit of the ceiling fan, and tried to make it look intentional after. That fan was the first thing to go.


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Did the fan still turn ?
My last house the kitchen had a cathedral ceiling & fan
But they didn't buy a down rod & it would hit the angled ceiling


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## Leah Frances (Jan 13, 2008)

Scuba_Dave said:


> Did the fan still turn ?
> My last house the kitchen had a cathedral ceiling & fan
> But they didn't buy a down rod & it would hit the angled ceiling


:laughing: IDIOTS :laughing:


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## Troglodyte (May 4, 2010)

Was the ceiling damaged where the blade kept hitting it?


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## Scuba_Dave (Jan 16, 2009)

Troglodyte said:


> Was the ceiling damaged where the blade kept hitting it?


There were actually light weight beams that the fan was hitting
No idea why they just didn't buy a longer down rod & fix the problem
I think this is the pic after I fixed it...$2 part maybe ?

I had to restain the beams & repaint the ceiling
I actually gutted the whole kitchen (except for ceiling) & redid it


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## gma2rjc (Nov 21, 2008)

Uneven paint lines where a colored wall meets a white ceiling or where two walls (each a different color) meet.


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## Snav (Aug 20, 2009)

Scuba_Dave said:


> There were actually light weight beams that the fan was hitting
> *No idea why they just didn't buy a longer down rod & fix the problem*
> I think this is the pic after I fixed it...$2 part maybe ?
> 
> ...


WELL DUH!
After ALL that work they didn't want to undo any of it and redo any work, especially the wiring.

Crappy DIYER psychology 101 - when 'done', stay 'done', no matter what. :laughing:


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## kaciuba (Jun 2, 2010)

I went to this home open in the hopes to buy a place once and the owners had these huge blow up photo's of themselves up all over the place. They were these nude sepia shots of them holding eachother and looking in to eachothers eyes and all that artistic crap. It was the biggest turn off. You just couldn't see past these photo's to visualise how you would use the spaces. I didnt have the heart to tell the real estate agent but im pretty sure he knew it was a problem and didnt have the heart to tell the sellers! i think the place is still on the market...


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## CoconutPete (Jan 22, 2010)

kaciuba said:


> I went to this home open in the hopes to buy a place once and the owners had these huge blow up photo's of themselves up all over the place. They were these nude sepia shots of them holding eachother and looking in to eachothers eyes and all that artistic crap. It was the biggest turn off. You just couldn't see past these photo's to visualise how you would use the spaces. I didnt have the heart to tell the real estate agent but im pretty sure he knew it was a problem and didnt have the heart to tell the sellers! i think the place is still on the market...



OK.... so just to clarify. You went to an open house and the place had nude photos of the current owners on the walls?:laughing:


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## AvalonGirl (Jun 1, 2010)

Pet peeve list is long!
-Clutter - maybe I'm obsessive compulsive, but too much 'stuff', every surface covered, I have to leave soon.
-Dirt - especially on top of clutter. If you are going to have objects d' art, dust them please!
-Greasy dirty handmarks around lightswitch plates, above/below door handles and kitchen drawer pulls - uuggh! This may be #1.
-Stained grout - so easy to clean and seal the grout.


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## NitrNate (May 27, 2010)

- cheap flat wall paint, especially when it's all white or light-colored
- nasty bathroom showers, i.e. mildewed grout/sealant
- wallpaper
- white appliances


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