2008 International Plymouth Ice Sculpture Spectacular

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Tales From The Foreclosure Front

In the last month, I've shown more vacant, foreclosed homes than I care to admit. It's really kind of sad to see the sorry state of some of these homes.

Last Saturday, with sub-zero temperatures, I had appointments to show three homes, all foreclosures under $100K. The necessities for showing these homes are long johns and flashlights (they have no power) and snow boots (driveways and walkways never get cleared). Additionally, a strong constitution is advised because you never know what you're going to find.

One time, we saw a refrigerator that looked like it had exploded with some kind of liquid on the floor and oozing black stuff everywhere. Because of the stench, we didn't get close enough to investigate further.

Back to my Saturday appointments. We couldn't get into the first home because the door was frozen shut.

The second home had been sold by a fellow agent in 2003 and had been in great shape so I was hopeful. Unfortunately, the previous owners must have loaded the place with cats because the smell was overpowering. The flooring had been stripped to the subfloor, but it clearly didn't help. Plus some of the windows were broken (above) and the entire Living Room ceiling paint was peeling off (right).

As we entered the last home, we noticed a nicely remodeled Kitchen, hardwood flooring, nice layout and bedroom sizes, great neighborhood...promising. Until we got to the bathroom. Check out the shower surround in the photo on the left. The rest of the bathroom had even been updated!

Foreclosed homes seem to range from those just needing a good scrubbing to better to bulldoze and start over again. Some of them are just a mystery, like the ones with every light fixture, switch, appliance, cabinet, and outlet yanked out.

I'll be really glad when the market turns around and foreclosed homes are a thing of the past. For now, I'm just praying for warmer weather!