So we got the keys for the house yesterday. Agent said the previous owner moved out a few days before - the house has clearly been empty for a week or so - it has that musty smell of an abandoned house.
Agent said the house had been cleaned - no, no it hasn't. Now I'm a bit OCD about cleaning, but even by regular standards it's dirty.

So today (Saturday) was supposed to be moving in day, but the electricity company sent a guy out to switch on the metre, or whatever they do, but he didn't complete the job. I guess it has something to do with the nest of redback spiders (aussie equivalent to the black widow) in the box. So now we move in tomorrow night with a can of spider spray and no power and hope the guy shows up on Monday.

Poor Brian has to go to work on Monday with no breakfast or lunch because we've no power, therefore no fridge. And I have to spend the week scrubbing a painting and bringing the house up to my standards.

I knew when we bought it that it was an old house, but I didn't realise the amount of work needed - all stuff that I can do my self, but still it's alot. So, for once I'm glad I don't have a job, so I can tackle this

Maybe you should be on the phone with Mr lying sack of shit agent and see if you can bitch your way into a little compensation for your time, effort and expense to get the house to where he CLAIMED it was. Threats of being reported to real estate boards (or whatever the Aussie equivalent is) just might do the trick!

You never know, maybe you could get a bit of a refund of some of the closing costs (some of which go entirely to the Realtor).

At the very least you will be serving notice that you know he's a liar and can let him know you'll spread the word. Bad PR can be the death of a business.

Hey, at the very least they can send a cleaning crew to help you scrub things down too.

Don't they give you a "final walk through" before you sign the contracts over there? They do here and if it's not up to your standards of "move in condition" then you can delay the transfer of ownership until they fix/repair/clean etc until you are happy.

We skipped the walk through because I knew I was going to be scrubbing, changing, painting and other things pre-move so it didnt' matter to me but if you had no intention of doing even painting, then they should have given you the walk through option.

Pitch a fit and get a cleaning crew to help you at the very least.

(11-25-2009, 06:44 PM)SarahK Wrote: I have thought about doing my own thing - but it'll mean no animals in the house - and I'm not willing to do that! The whole reason for buying our own place was so we could have animals again! There is no way to close the kitchen off from the rest of the house.

Well that is the same over here Sarah. Mark works with a Chef who makes wedding cakes when he isn't working at the kitchens. He rents a small flat just for his cakes. He found it cheaper than a proper commercial premises.

I don't think the agent was lying - I think the previous owner cleaned before she moved all her stuff out - so she didn't clean all the crap that falls behind the presses and stuff and I think she lied to the agent about when she moved out.

We didn't get a walkthrough - just handed the keys. We could kick up a fuss, but i reckon that to anyone else, it wouldn't seem so bad. Plus I'd scrub the place anyway - regardless of any cleaning crew - I don't trust people to clean to my standards.

At the moment the whole place feels a bit, I dunno - you know when your dog has been out rolling in stuff he shouldn't or is just plain dirty, and when you pet him you get a kinda residue on your hands - it feels like that ( we had a dog that always did this, so we're saying the house feels like Buddy!lol!)

As for painting, I was gonna do it anyway, just to put our own mark on the place, so I don't mind that. Living without electricity until we get the guy back out is gonna be less than fun though.

When are we going to see this place?

You saying about the electric reminded me when Marks sister and her husband moved back to Australia after ten years in Holland.
They had a fair amount to buy a place but shrewdly bought a place to rent out near the hospital for nurses and staff and bought another place to live in and modernise.
They sent the photo's and plans they had for the place. I was mortified! Sorry but I pointed out a 'house' that had no water other than an outside tap and no electric was called a shed in the UK. My sister-in-law thought I was funny but I know her husband was upset with my comment and said they could live quite happily like that because of the wonderful weather in Queensland. Eventually they got the place plumbed and electrics added and even a car port to keep the car cool. I still thought it odd to see the washing machine and tumble dryer out on the porch (and why did Miranda have a tumble dryer if the weather was so 'wonderful'?)

Then they sold both places and bought the house we visited- which was wonderful, although hanging on a cliff edge it was like Swiss Family Robinson tree house, all mod' con's including odd gadgets like an internal hoover system- you plugged a hose into the wall and hoovered up and everything went into the bin directly in the basement, no flex or Mr Dyson needed.

They have just bought a Pineapple farm and are on the modernisation trip again and getting a swimming pool put in next year.
Thinking of visiting again

Well then, it seems that the agent never did a walk through. Very unprofessional to say the least. Shyster realtor is probably the actual case.

Grats on the new house

When do we get pics?

Oh look, Vizzy is awake! Viz

Well Sarah, I'm thinking you should chronicle in photos the before and after pics of your new house and post them here! It'll be fun to watch the progress.

hey folks! on the last of my laptops battery till the sparks gets here to turn on the power - should be today. I have scrubbed till I couldn't stand and now I've started painting - I will start takin pics as soon as I get power to charge the camera!

Rhubarb - we have got plumbing and electricity - so we're not quite that bad! Its just the electrictiy company screwed up and are late turning on the power.