Night on Clothes Mountain
Yesterday, while the inspector was at our house with the buyer, I went out with our real estate agent to look at houses. Wowie. A couple of cute little prospects, and some seriously scary ones, too.
We're looking to really take a step down on our mortgage and get some of our equity out of our current house, so most of the houses I looked at yesterday are currently rental properties. Most of the renters are college students, although one house was occupied by a family of hippies.
(The fifth house? It was EMPTY.)
And the hippie house? Oh lord. In addition to Peasant Skirt Mountain and the Birkenstock Valley, there was The Bedroom That Could Not Be Entered. Full to the ceiling with crap. Look, you wanna call your second bedroom a "recording studio" and sit around smoking pot in it and burning incense until the pores of the walls are infused with Patchouli, fine. Whatev. But when your three kids have to sleep in the same bedroom with you and your partner, because the third bedroom is full of dirty clothes, broken toys, old magazines, and boxes of unknown crap, you have a problem.
Similarly, slacker college boys, when you've let the kitchen get so dirty that the only way to properly clean it is with two gallons of gasoline and a Zippo, it's time to get a fucking grip on yourselves.
So, can you guess which house I'm considering?
Comments
I mention this because I was just thinking about how HORRENDOUS my brother's house is. He used to be Mr. Neat Guy. Then, he married It. She never cleaned up and one could say it's a mental illness or part of her mental illness (untreated, only a marriage counselor years ago told her she needed treatment, incl. drugs, for bi-polar and if she wasn't willing to do that, my brother should divorce her--rather, they started having kids).
Anyhoo, point is now their whole house is like your photo but add to it 3 little girls toys and clothing. Tons of it. Tons.
I don't think it's all about the mental illness per se. Perhaps in our culture of consumerism and materialism, for those who cannot actually afford the Next Big Thing or the Pricey Labels, maybe they simply stuff themselves with junk, trying to fool themselves that it makes them "okay" and "up with the Joneses."
Or they're just nasty dirty gross fs but this is some pervasive shite.
Yowza. I was thinking along the same lines as DKN--NOTA.
I mean, I'm bad when it comes to clutter and disorganization, but this all makes me feel like an OCD neat freak.
and I can tell you that if I had a child or 6 I would make an effort to keep things sanitary for their protection. I mean--I try to keep the disgusting food mess to a bare minimum anyway (like in the trash can and occasionally the sink) but I would actually have a reason to do housework if anyone besides the dog were living with me.
Um. Added good luck to you on the house hunting.
I believe I see a gigantic orange bra on the flo. It seems to have basketball sized cups?
I hope you saved some big caulk.
Empty wins?
As a coutesy I hope you left a bug bomb in the other four apartments in the "on" position.
We moved into a hippie house and I found a great Bob Marley t-shirt stuffed in a window gap. Screw the gap. That shirt is mine!
I think real estate agent blanched when he realized I was seriously considering the house, and he's trying to rush another client into getting their home on the market, because he thinks it'll be better for me.
Well, you do like a good challenge and a project. Sounds like the hippie house would keep you out of trouble for a while.
When I was shopping for my condo/townhouse, the one I liked the best was the empty one, with new carpet, new paint job and new blinds. It was also the cheapest and the closest to my job. It really was meant to be.
You'll know what you want when you see it!
Cos filth you can clean, and original tile and clawfoot tub sounds good.
And if you have a little cash... or get a good deal on the price... you can switch out the appliances in the kitchen pretty easily.
And have stuff you picked out, instead of paying for someone else's kitchen upgrade, based on their thoughts on what an average house buyer wants to see.
Hire a dumpster and a couple of husky boys for an afternoon, and shovel the place out.
Or keep looking.
C'mon, it is really fascinating walking through what other people live with.
I'm willing to bet that if you run into the Clothes Mountain People walking about in public they look perfectly normal.
If your idea of "perfectly normal" is Unwashed Hippy in Peasant Skirt and Birkies.
LW lives in Berkley. That is perfectly normal! ;-)
Presumably, when the renters move out, they take their crap with them (or you throw it out) and no matter where you move, you have to clean it -- esp. with the aforesaid upbringing.
His desperation takes the form of little snarky emails about the property.
And is it where you want to be.
Cos it won't grow legs and move to a better place, no matter how full of proto-matter it may currently be.
And mess is one thing, a roof replacement is another.
But if your stuff is all off in a pod, blowing through doing floors and painting is not that bad.
Or at least certainly sucks less than trying to do it on top of your stuff.
Oh.
And the other real question is where it stands, price-wise, in relation to the more move-in ready ones.
Would you be paying a premium for something squeekyclean?
Not only would I have to pay a premium for "squeaky clean," but all the squeaky cleans have FUCKING CARPET. God, how I hate carpet. This house, at least I could see the wood floors and see what shape they were in.
Closer is best. Dirt and clutter can be dealt with by your OCD, you'll be so happy cleaning.
Tell realtor to get a grip, that you'll be taking that one unless he can find something closer with wood floors for cheaper.