New Orleans home buying
If there’s one thing you absolutely, positively can’t ever leave behind when you are starting to look for New Orleans homes for sale, it’s your sense of humor.
Over the years, we’ve run across naked people, folks in the bathtub, tenants who have had a wee bit too much to drink, dogs that hate us/love us/want to have babies with us, declawed cats that dash out of the door with no warning and spent time waiting for a response to home security alarms. We’ve been in houses that smelled of cat, of dog, of smoke, and of mold. We can laugh about them all now, but the point is that there are things that can (and do) go wrong when home shopping. Most of them have to do with the condition of the property or a misunderstanding of when a house is available for showings.
So here’s a list of things to remember when you are viewing homes.
Pictures don’t always tell the whole story
The photos of a home may be gorgeous, but they don’t tell you if the closets are so small that Tinkerbell would have trouble fitting her wardrobe into them.
There’s no smell-o-vision yet
On paper, a property may be an exact match to your wants, needs, and budget. But until you’ve seen a house for yourself, you’ll never know if there’s a lingering odor in it…from pets, food, or smoke. Some of them may be easy to fix, but others might be cause for more renovations than you are ready to get into. One of my clients still talks about the “cat pee house” that we saw during their home search!
Color is personal
With good photo editing software, an agent can make a Pepto-pink room look lovely online. Don’t be surprised to find some very personal color choices and wall finishes when you actually tour a home. What you thought was wallpaper might be the world’s worst faux finish. It will give you something to tell your friends about.
Updated is subjective
Updated to you, to me, and to the person sitting next to each of us is going to mean something different. Just because a home is advertised as updated doesn’t mean it’s actually happened in the last decade. If you happen to run across a fabulous 70s home, whip out the smartphone, turn on a disco tune, and have a little blast from the past.
Do you have a sense of humor to go along with your home search? Then give us a call at 504-327-5303 and we’ll set up a tour with you. It’ll be fun. Or at least memorable 🙂
