House Search: You Have to be Kidding Me

I just have to share how frustrated I am with our house search. The condition of some of these homes is just unbelievable. I am a little bit addicted to the site, Realtor.com, so I see when new houses become available in the communities we are looking at. So far, we are not opposed to looking at short sales and foreclosures, because Adam is pretty handy and we might be able to get a larger house in a great neighborhood, for a lot lower price. Each time I go into one, I feel shocked by the poor conditions people allow their homes to fall into. It's not like they are in the inner city or anything. They are in beautiful, established, sought-after communities.

The next city over from us is a very well to do, established community. It has trees, sidewalks, and an adorable main street area. The schools are top in the state (which make the taxes unbelievably high) due to the fact that Ohio funds their schools by property tax. (don't get me started on that)We would love to live here but can't afford it unless we can get a short sale or foreclosure.

So....anyways...I just have to share photos I took from the house I just went to look at in this community. Homes on this road go for over $250,000-$400,000 and this home is listed at $195,000. It states clearly that it is a foreclosure but I was thinking, "how bad can it be if it's in this community? Well, let me show you...

This looks likes a beautiful front porch until you stand under it. The rotting wood and mold was just everywhere. That was the scariest element of this home. There was mold, rot, and crumbling foundation everywhere. (ignore my realtor's bum in the next photo.)

 It's hard to see from the photos but the siding is wood paneled and rotting right off the house. This is causing moisture to get into the home.

The backyard, however, was heavenly. It obviously needs to be weeded and cleaned up, but it was perfect size. There were shade trees, room for Lola and Noah to run around, and to entertain. I loved it!

 Even though the family room and kitchen are ugly as hell and need serious updating, I would be able to overlook that in normal circumstances.  Actually, the main floor of this house was pretty nice.

  Now, this is where it got scary. In the above photo there is an actual pool of water on the floor with mold. I don't know from where, but if it looks this bad to the eye, I can only imagine what it looks like behind the walls.

 The picture below is the "master bath" gross! Someone was living in this bathroom with it looking like this. It's just appalling.

I just had to share how bad this house looked, and pictures really don't even show the worst of it. The baseboards and doors look like someone let Freddie Kruger run around for a while blindfolded. I was so disappointed.