allen levine
Member
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- 12,368
- Location
- new york city burbs
IF Long Island has taken one of the largest hits in history, and there are more forclosures than ever before in history, well, I had the most discouraging experience today house hunting with my son.
Just turning 28, having a good job, and needing room to expand, my son decided its time to move out and move on, and he wont rent.(he considers it tossing away money)
While I dont think hes ready, hes saved enough for a down payment so I cant really tell him what to do.
But I can stay close and offer my advice.
Today, he didnt need any advice. What we saw was close to horrible.
Western nassau, eastern suffolk county, taxes averaging 8500-11000 yearly, for small capes and small ranches, properties averaging 45-105 foot lots, homes averaging 1200-1400 sq feet. Those figures are enough to make most say forget it, thats ridiculous, but this is a fact on LI, but what we saw today, eh.
First home, it was nothing less than a pig sty. Shame on that woman and her son who lived there. Im no neat freak, nor do I mind messy homes, but filth, so much filth I was sticking to the tile floors that obviously havent been cleaned since the 80s.
The kitchens were originals, maybe 40 years old, as were the bathrooms.
The appliances were so old I found it a bit incredible they still worked.
The scariest thing was when we went down into the basement. First, the stairs were narrow, steep, low ceiling, and no handrail. Im sure this is well below code for any place, but we went down to the "half finished" basement.
Oh my god! That was what I thought. The son, around 35-40, was living down there in that partly finished basement.
IF I owned a pig, it would live in a nicer place, and if they both knew we were coming, as they did, how on earth do you not pick up the tonnage of dirty clothes, and other assorted crapola we had to step over to view the rooms.
It was an unbelievable experience, I never realized what filth people actually live in!
It was a very small home, all furnished with knockdown style stuff from Korvettes from maybe 35 years ago, but I wouldnt knock someone for being poor, but for living in that crapola, shame on both of them.
315 thousand dollars, there wasnt an inch of that home that didnt need redoing. Not an inch.
On to the next one, well, this one was a short sell home, the bank owned it now and the sale price was less than the mortgage left.
It was offered at 325, reduced 75 thousand over the past 8 months, but it should be condemned. Period.
In her defense, the real estate agent had no prior knowledge of this home, she just took us because her office had a key and it was vacant and right in the area we were at. The entire basement/downstairs, was coated greenish black with MOLD!
I should have smacked her in her kisser for taking me into a home that poses a risk to my life and my sons life. She claimed to have no knowledge until right then and there.
Although most of this one was very old, at least half a bathroom was redone maybe 15 years ago, and the kitchen had cabinets hanging on the wall still.
Windows were broken, doors were off, all the screens ripped, it was unlived in, but I believe the bank should take the loss and condemn it.
The mold will probably cost 20 thousand dollars or more to get out, maybe impossible to get out, it was all the way up the walls.
Cracks in the plaster near the upstairs ceilings(as in the first home), with water stains running down the walls, not even an attempt was made to conceal the leaks from the roof. The evidence was clear.
I wanted to go home, Ive seen enough, something is wrong with either these areas or this real estate agent must have been dropped as a child on her head.
Just turning 28, having a good job, and needing room to expand, my son decided its time to move out and move on, and he wont rent.(he considers it tossing away money)
While I dont think hes ready, hes saved enough for a down payment so I cant really tell him what to do.
But I can stay close and offer my advice.
Today, he didnt need any advice. What we saw was close to horrible.
Western nassau, eastern suffolk county, taxes averaging 8500-11000 yearly, for small capes and small ranches, properties averaging 45-105 foot lots, homes averaging 1200-1400 sq feet. Those figures are enough to make most say forget it, thats ridiculous, but this is a fact on LI, but what we saw today, eh.
First home, it was nothing less than a pig sty. Shame on that woman and her son who lived there. Im no neat freak, nor do I mind messy homes, but filth, so much filth I was sticking to the tile floors that obviously havent been cleaned since the 80s.
The kitchens were originals, maybe 40 years old, as were the bathrooms.
The appliances were so old I found it a bit incredible they still worked.
The scariest thing was when we went down into the basement. First, the stairs were narrow, steep, low ceiling, and no handrail. Im sure this is well below code for any place, but we went down to the "half finished" basement.
Oh my god! That was what I thought. The son, around 35-40, was living down there in that partly finished basement.
IF I owned a pig, it would live in a nicer place, and if they both knew we were coming, as they did, how on earth do you not pick up the tonnage of dirty clothes, and other assorted crapola we had to step over to view the rooms.
It was an unbelievable experience, I never realized what filth people actually live in!
It was a very small home, all furnished with knockdown style stuff from Korvettes from maybe 35 years ago, but I wouldnt knock someone for being poor, but for living in that crapola, shame on both of them.
315 thousand dollars, there wasnt an inch of that home that didnt need redoing. Not an inch.
On to the next one, well, this one was a short sell home, the bank owned it now and the sale price was less than the mortgage left.
It was offered at 325, reduced 75 thousand over the past 8 months, but it should be condemned. Period.
In her defense, the real estate agent had no prior knowledge of this home, she just took us because her office had a key and it was vacant and right in the area we were at. The entire basement/downstairs, was coated greenish black with MOLD!
I should have smacked her in her kisser for taking me into a home that poses a risk to my life and my sons life. She claimed to have no knowledge until right then and there.
Although most of this one was very old, at least half a bathroom was redone maybe 15 years ago, and the kitchen had cabinets hanging on the wall still.
Windows were broken, doors were off, all the screens ripped, it was unlived in, but I believe the bank should take the loss and condemn it.
The mold will probably cost 20 thousand dollars or more to get out, maybe impossible to get out, it was all the way up the walls.
Cracks in the plaster near the upstairs ceilings(as in the first home), with water stains running down the walls, not even an attempt was made to conceal the leaks from the roof. The evidence was clear.
I wanted to go home, Ive seen enough, something is wrong with either these areas or this real estate agent must have been dropped as a child on her head.