What gives you the ICK when viewing houses?

[FlowerBitLove]

Partner and I viewed some houses today and we both agreed that one house was definitely not for us because we got the ICK.

Never happened to me with a house before plenty of times with boyfriends though

Just wondered if others got it with houses and what caused it.

Bit worried about something in ours causing the ICK too now!

I once went to view a house to do an exchange & there was at least two different cats per room & overflowing litter trays in each room including bedrooms & bathrooms, I only stayed until I couldn't hold my breath any longer

The word ick gives me the ick.

fake grass
high gloss kitchens
repainted upvc glazing (white to grey)
rose gold handles, switches and lights
Cheap DIY wall panelling tik tok / insta style
dirty carpets

It stank of dogs and weed.

cheap laminate flooring

I don’t get this? If you want a new floor it’s not particularly difficult to remove? Or do you mean you would only buy house if it already had lovely floors?

id take cheap but clean laminate over mouldy carpets any day 😂 one you can live with whilst you save up and one you cannot!

Unmade beds
Grease
Smell of smoke

Fwiw it’s the stink of dogs/weed/smoke for me for sure. That and a large unkempt garden with massive trees or hedges or even worse scrap.

The neighbours.
The state of the neighbours property
Proximity to the road
Crime rate in the local area
Parking
Damp
Condition of the windows
Age of the boiler & bathroom suite
Smells

I got the ick factor viewing a house where the man of the property had an office which had a ridiculous coded keypad lock on it. Like a proper, no one comes in here sort of lock. He'd emptied all the computers out for the viewing but you could see where they should have been.

There was just a vibe of something very very wrong, like a bad energy in the house. That office in particular gave me the creeps.

Had the estate agent said what he did for a living (I did ask but the EA said the guy was vague) maybe it would have made more sense - but as it was, I felt like some bad things went down in that office. But I will never know.

On paper the house would have been perfect for us but there were things about it which just gave me major creep vibes.

It was a heavily male dominated decor as well - as if his wife and daughter were visitors. I can't explain. The whole thing just seemed off.

This reminded me of when my parents were selling our house- they showed someone in my room and I had no clue they were coming! I was sat in my bed eating a chicken and mushroom pot noodle and watching the XFiles 🤣🤣

All of the things described above can be dealt with. For me it's things that can't be changed:

Unkempt house next door
Main road
Lack of light
Location
No parking
Downstairs bathroom (unless it can be resited upstairs)

They ended up buying it so can't have put them off 🤣

Most carpets
Wallpaper
Weed smell

@Shellsbelles you beat me to it. And manky towels on display.

Having said that we once viewed what I thought was a lovely house and DH was put off by the attitude of the male owner and what he perceived as the very surly attitude of two teenage boys. I loved it.

We bought a probate sale in the end.

Unwashed human or dog smell
Plug in diffuser smell
Sometimes the vendors (if they insist on meeting you) - you can assess very quickly whether they’re going to be a pain in the ass by how they talk about their house & motivation for moving. I passed on two different houses because of this.

Our vendor was lovely, we just knew he’d be decent to deal with & he was.

Carpets in bathrooms and kitchens, unpleasant smells, owner following me everywhere!

I hate viewing houses with the owner there. We saw one recently and the owner followed us around all the time. Then the poor lady got upset because her husband had died (not recently) and she was downsizing. We were very sympathetic but its really not what you need. We fekt we couldn't discuss what we were seeing in each room with her sat on our shoulders, as didn't want to offend her.

Oh yes, strong smell of zoflora or plug ins too.

Dog smells, for sure.

I couldn't get rid of the dog smell in the hallway by the front door despite ripping out all the carpets in the house. It was particularly strong in winter. Then one day coming back from the shops, I accidentally dropped a carried bag with 3 bottles of Chardonnay which seeped into the bare concrete, uncarpeted floor and it seems it has gone. The hallway has been tiled now.

When I moved in to my current place, it was filthy and there was a maggot on the wall.

But - inexplicably the thing that bothered me most was the lingering smell of toothpaste and deodorant in the bathroom. It just felt WAY too personal, like I could smell the actual people !

Once viewed a house ...went into a bedroom and there was a teen in bed !!!,

Reminded me of a time when I viewed a house and the wife was asleep in bed, so we couldn't look at the master bedroom!

Also time when the estate agent said under no circumstances can we look in the spare bedroom.

Pets put me off unless they are very clean and quiet.

Blown down fences

Overgrown gardens.

Overblown prices and shiny, brand new kitchens that look cheap. Conservatories dressed as rooms. Rooms with naff built in wardrobes. Totally paved drives and gardens. I also loathe dirty interiors, if you are selling then at least clean the walls.

State of neighbours gardens, plus general appearance of the road
Age and condition of cars on the street
Damp

One where the home owner followed us around from room to room explaining things rather than just letting us look - we were with the estate agent so it's not like we were going to steal anything. Felt really awkward.

One with dirty breakfast plates and a messy ketchup bottle left on the table.

An open house which was really busy, it wasn't that nice and the estate agent told us he'd already had an offer over asking price. We just left after that as had no intention of offering over asking price so hope for the sellers sake he was telling the truth not just trying to inflate the bids.

What was it that gave you the ick op?