Hey Pandas, What Uncomfortable Things Did You Experience While Home Hunting? (Closed)

I was made homeless when my landlady passed away. I was advised to go to my local council and present myself as homeless. I did this and was denied for not having a local connection by someone that got to jump the housing queue because they worked for the council. I was born and lived my entire life in the area so this royally pissed me off. Now this was happening in january so I had no options for somewhere to even couch surf so after spending every penny i had on a bed and breakfast i was now broke and homeless in winter in scotland. As a last resort I borrowed a tent from someone and pitched it right outside the council offices door so nobody could enter without seeing someone camped outside, and called the local paper to say what was happening. I got a place to live the same day because they were embarassed at having to explain to everyone why I was there.

When hubby and I were trying to get this house, we had to do a little painting on the back of the house and front porch to qualify for the loan we were trying to get (loan required no peeling paint, so rotten wood, good roof). Luckily there was paint was in the garage that matched. Why we were tasked with this and not the realtor, I don't know. It was minor issues that we completed in less than 3 hours.

While we're working on it, another couple comes by to look at the house, and asks if we're having an open house since the front door was open. Awkwardly had to tell them that we were in the process of trying to get it.

We did get it in the end!

Bullet holes in the glass next to the front door. The manager tried to tell me the holes were from the mowing crews flinging rocks. Yeah right, I know bullet holes when I see them. I was already skeptical about the neighborhood but that definitely made me pass on that place.

I'm the veteran, he's the family cook with a massive love for clothing.

I was told over and over how much people appreciated his service and how much they all just loooooved to take care of military veterans like him.

I lost track of how many times the features of the kitchen were highlighted and smarmy jokes made about me getting the massive closet and he can have the hall closest etc etc etc

It's 2021 y'all.

When I was house hunting, I (female) brought my boyfriend with me. To be clear, I was buying the house. I walked into the realtor's office and a man sat us down at a table to look at what was available. He put the listings he had in front of my boyfriend and I said, "No, I'm going to be the one buying" and I took the listings. For the rest of my time there, the realtor wouldn't even acknowledge me even though I was asking questions and would only talk to my boyfriend. I stood up and said, "This isn't going to work" and I got up and walked out. I wish I had called to complain about him, and today's me would have, but I was just so mad I never wanted to deal with that company again. I did find a realtor who would actually look at me when talking about properties, but I'll never forget how angry that guy made me.

While my, then, common-law husband/bf (whatever you want to call him) was working, I had the task of apartment hunting with our young kid in tow. Since we needed a co-signer, anyways, his dad (FIL, you could say) came along to the viewings. The places weren't in the most desirable areas, and so some of the caretakers we met gave me creep-vibes. One caretaker full-on assumed my FIL was my husband. Gross. No. When I corrected him he was confused. Super awkward.

I think the same day, we viewed another apartment. It was a small-ish building. As we were walking back to the car in the hallway, a half naked, middle-aged guy opened his suite door, showing his door plastered with porn, and trying to talk to the caretaker. Remember, I still have my young daughter with me and FIL. I think the caretaker was mortified, he was telling the guy to get back in his suite. Needless to say we scratched that place off the list.

We were having a lot of trouble finding a decent, affordable place. Another day, we went to look at a well-managed complex lot. The caretakers were strict. And discriminatory. He proceeded to tell me, er... lecture me about the 'no parties' policy. Again, I had my young daughter with me. I'm also a young parent, and I looked young for my age in my 20s, too. I assured him we don't party. The caretaker raised his voice at me, right in my face, threatening eviction if we had one party. I hadn't even filled out the application. They called later on saying they refused my application. I didn't mind.

In my twenties I couldn't afford an apartment, so I resorted to renting a room....off craigslist. One place I looked an older gentleman rented to 2 other older gentlemen, best guess they were all in their 60s. The guys were mildly creepy, in that they didn't hide their attraction to me (not a deal killer, just annoying). But when I walked in the place was a disaster, it belonged on an episode of Hoarders. There were stacks of junk and papers everywhere. All the furniture was covered, the only clear spaces were paths to walk from room to room. The kitchen was unusable, they cooked on a hotplate. I couldn't get out of there fast enough.

I did find a place off craigslist, with a slightly creepy late 40s dude, who hoard car parts in the garage (clean house). Lived there 5yrs with no issues. He was really nice and we still talk nearly a decade later.

Nice house, semi-secluded being set back from a dead-end road, a little distance from the neighborhood and no neighbors visible. But...there are a few 'Beware of Dog' signs, a locking gate, numerous outdoor motion-sensor lights, a security system, and key locks on every window, plus key locks on bedroom and even hallways doors. Very unusual amount of security, particularly inside the house. Based on the age of the owner, and my agent's firefighter experience, this was all but certainly housing at least one person with dementia.

Nope...just an old woman who grew up in a very unsafe country. This was probably her first time living without bars on the windows, so she took some extra precautions. I ended up getting the house and the biggest threat is probably a raccoon getting in!

My son went to pet a small dog on a couch, but it was the homeowners abandoned toupee.

What I don't like the most is that I can sense that they're judging if I'm not a drug addict, a felon, or something else.

Appointments getting canceled or moved to another day when I’ve taken the time off from work to see the apartments

This is so gross...but there was a used sanitary pad just lying on the bed for all to see. That was a big nope; couldn't get out of there fast enough

I tried to buy last year during the midst of quarantine when the banks were offering super low rates…I’m talking 1.5% low! I didn’t have a lot of savings to put towards a down payment so I had to get a starter home, which was fine as it was just me, my husband, and soon to be baby. The problem was and to my understanding still is any house we even slightly liked or were within our price range would get sold within 24 hours of posting. Many people would buy them sight unseen even. The realtor told me that it was wealthy people buying them up to flip to see as an investment. I always knew the rich were greedy with money, but apparently they are greedy in every aspect of life to the point where they won’t let a family buy a home without seeing a way for them to get even richer. So we’re still stuck in an apartment. Maybe one day we’ll be homeowners 😏

Racism. The kind that they look to your face and they say the house /apartment is taken. You come out, you call and because you have no accent since you actually grow up in the country, they say, you can come for a visit because the place is not yet taken.

House hunting with my eldest daughter a few years ago. An empty house, needed some work. Didn’t mind that. But when we went upstairs there were dead flies everywhere- I mean a carpet of dead flies! Horrid! No thank you!

We were looking at an apartment in a beautiful historic building. We had found the lost cat of the managers and after meeting them they said there was a vacancy. The application was pretty thorough, but cats! so we proceeded to the interview and tour phase. It was all going fine until one of them realised that my working shifts was going to be a problem for the other tenants, who would not like the stairs being used during the night. Basically they expected us to be indoors by dark and to stay there until morning. I wish it was some kind of vampire thing. They were just unreasonable. I swear I could see the thought forming behind her eyes when she figured out that not everyone works daytime hours. The uncomfortable part was her assuming I didn't know how to walk up and down stairs like a grown-up, or to close a door without slamming it. Mind you, I was only 43 years old at the time.

A basement with a false wall around the perimeter that had concealed observation ports. I found the entrance in a closet. There was barely enough room between the false wall and the actual basement wall to move, but the false wall went around the entire basement. You couldn't notice the lost space because there were several rooms down there.

It was very unsettling and my imagination went wild with the things that could have gone down in that basement. I did not make an offer on that house...

We got our house very cheap because the owner died and our realtor knew that his children were so keen to sell it that they would accept any reasonable offer as long as it would mean that they could lay their hands on some cash very fast.
And so we ended up sitting in the waiting room at the realtor's office to sign the contract and hearing 3 people talk about what they are going to do with the money we paid to get their house.

I was looking at a vacant duplex apartment in a nice section of town. I could afford the rent, it was convenient for everywhere I needed to go, so, I went back to the office to fill out the application and forms to rent it.
I asked if I could go back and take some measurements for curtains and furniture. An agent accompanied me with the keys.
After we opened the door, we found a note on the floor from the downstairs neighbor complaining about last night's party and all of the noise and disturbance it caused. The nightly parties had to stop NOW!
The agent and I read it. The agent said that the place had been empty for 3 months, it was immaculate and there was no evidence of any "party".
The prior tenant had passed away in a care home, that's why the place had been vacant for so long and the locks had been changed after their property was put in storage. Truly, there was No evidence of a party, nor a break-in.
I withdrew my application.
Apparently the downstairs tenant was a real handful and I didn't want to participate in her antics.

Years ago while I was in college my friend and I decided to find an apartment together. We found several to look at in one day. The first place we went, the landlord took us into a house that was still actively lived it. He said the occupants should have been out the day before and seemed genuinely surprised to find that they were still living there. The place was a mess. Clothing everywhere. Dishes everywhere. Garbage everywhere. Nothing was remotely packed. He proceeds to tell us to look around. We both felt uncomfortable about this but kind of peeked around the place. When we comeback to the living room the landlord is smelling some discarded panties and when he sees us shoved them into his pocket. We did not take the apartment.