Adventures in House Hunting, Saturday edition

[katekat]

What is it with cockroaches? Hmm?  Will someone tell me why owners think cockroaches will make a sale?  Two of the four houses we saw today had them littering the corners of the rooms.  It wasn't what I'd call welcoming per se. 

And, just a word to any of you who are homeowners who are planning on selling your house:

If you did something good like bug bomb your house, go in the next day and sweep!  Seriously.  You do not want people to walk in and see your place with dead bugs in the corner.  Especially not when the bugs are a couple of inches long and have 6 legs that seem to wave in the air.  This is not welcoming.  It will not give them the "Oh honey! We could grow old here!" feeling.  Instead it will give them the "Ewww, this place is filled with awful creepy crawlies, we should run now" feeling instead.

Also, air out the place.  Leave a window cracked.  Or, look into the host of air freshners they offer these days.  All you'd need is one, or two, to actually IMPROVE the gas smell.  Or the musty ucky "we've just sprayed and it smells like a bug bomb" smell.  Yeah, that would definitely be an improvement.

Comments

[dara-starscream.livejournal.com]

Ever gone into a house inhabited by two old ladies when it's been shut up in ninety degree steamy heat? Phew.

Well, at least no one's claiming to have domesticated the roaches and now they help with household chores.
-BJ

[katekat]

Actually, I have...and you know, now that you mention it, maybe one of the houses smelled more like that than like fresh bug bomb... hmmm.

And true - cuz I don't think Neil would ever be able to stomach the idea of roaches being able to do the dishes. *shudder*

[dara-starscream.livejournal.com]

It's just a simple little thing, airing out the house and doing a bit of dusting, maybe dropping a few bucks to a maid service. (shrug) Not that I blame your honey; roaches are just repulsive. I can't even watch Joe's Apartment. Things that make ya go blurch.
-BJ

[katekat]

Exactly! Even a good broom would've handled it!

And yes, I used to have to be the "man" in the family back in LA and kill them when they came into the house, but the Texas bugs have toughed him up and now he can take care of 'em himself. Although there is much girlie shrieking afterwards, and comments like "did you see how BIG it was?" I'm always very proud of him for being so tough and facing his demons... cuz then we can take turns being girlie and shuddering because they're just so creepy!

[tx-cronopio.livejournal.com]

Aw, hon. All valid points, but it's so clear that you are new to Austin.

Roaches exist here. In all kinds of nice, clean places. I guess we just get used to it.

Other than the insect life, did you see any nice places?

[katekat]

Nah, I do understand that Texas comes with bigger bugs. But when they're dead and massed in bunches of six in the 4 corners of every room, it's not like one or two died between the time they cleaned the place and the time we visited - it's definitely something else. We counted 40 in the first place, and only 20 in the second.

that being said, the other 2 places had *no* bugs to speak of inside, and although one of 'em wasn't what we were looking for, the 4th (or really, the first we saw) was totally beautiful and is on our master LIST. It's only got one drawback, and we're hoping to find a way around that. Well, that and the fact that we've only seen 10 houses so far and don't want to make an offer if we're not completely *sure* about it. But it's definitely a big *maybe* at the moment! Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't get bought out from under us before we decide! *grin*