We recently asked members of the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the weirdest things they've ever encountered at an open house. Here are the stories of the houses they'll never forget.
1. The three-bedroom, 18-bed home...
"My fiancé and I had been going house hunting consistently for a few months. There were definitely a few hit or misses on some of the open houses, but there was one particular house that I remember.
"We walked in and we were warned by the listing agent that the tenants were still in the home so don't be alarmed. No biggie. But as we kept looking through the home, we noticed some very strange things. First of all, each of the bedrooms (about 3) were PACKED with twin beds and bunk beds. There were about 6 or more sleeping areas in a small 10-foot-by-10-foot room. Not only that, but there was actually someone in one of the rooms, just lying on the bed in his pajamas and playing computer games. Didn't even flinch or acknowledge when people kept going in and out of his room.
"The backyard was also set up as some sort of clothing shop area. Tons of clothes hung up on racks with mannequins messily scattered around.
"This was clearly a rental house gone wrong, and the owners were trying to scramble to sell it before these tenants destroyed it.
"Funny thing is the house was sold within a week. Goes to show how intense the housing market is lately."
2. The quirky house with "innovative" sink placement...
"We went to look at a house and right away had a funny feeling about it. The pictures made the house seem much larger than it actually was and left out a lot of, hmm...let’s say quirks the house had. The main thing they didn’t show was what was waiting for you at the very top of the stairs. Just as you got to the second floor there was an outdated sink just chilling at the top of the stairwell."
3. The DIY living room garage...
"Toured an old farm house with OUR real estate agent and was told the owner and her real estate agent would be in there as well. Okay, kind of odd but not the biggest deal. There were ramps leading up the steps to the ricketiest front porch ever. Knowing this home would need some work we went in the side door to discover just how much work. Ended up being way more than we wanted to tackle, but we did learn the reason for the ramps. They had a very nice, clearly rode motorcycle in their from room sitting on a tarp. We didn't ask what was stored in the much newer, nicer shed! Even our real estate agent said in all his years of showing homes he'd never seen a motorcycle in the front room."
4. The viewing that took place during a family reunion...
"Went to a house viewing, not quite an open house, but it was prescheduled with the owners. When we got there, the entire family was home in the living room. It even seemed like they had invited extended family or friends over. Every room we went into had someone in it. Then when we went into one of the bedrooms there was a napping baby that no one had warned us about. We woke up the baby, decided to not finish the tour, and promptly left. I think we could’ve really liked that house, but it was just so awkward being there during what seemed like a family get-together even after we had called two days before to make sure it was okay to view."
5. The floor plan that was a little too open...
"In a room next to the kitchen, there was an outdoor hot tub. Inside. Right beside the hot tub was a toilet. No sink and no privacy. Kitchen. Hot tub. Toilet."
6. The basement that doubled as a dentist's office...
"My husband and I toured the cutest cottage. It was so light and open upstairs and just [had] a great old house feel. Until we went to the basement. The original owner ran a dentistry practice out of the basement, and there was an exam room still there complete with light from the ceiling and the small square sink."
7. The beautiful house with a bizarre, zero-car garage...
"I toured a house once, and the house was extremely nice. It had an open floor plan, big bedrooms, and updated bathrooms. The one issue was when you went into the garage it was only three feet deep and the original automatic door was disabled because of that. The people who renovated this house took out a majority of the garage to add a dining room. Needless to say I didn't buy that house."
8. The houses that prompted the question "why?"...
"Back when we were house-hunting, we came across homes for sale that left us wondering.
"The first was odd in its decor. The majority of the rooms of the house could have easily been mistaken for the prop shed of an old undersea movie. There were antique diving suits, stuffed fish, nets, etc. The color scheme could be described [as] underwater blues and greens.
"Another stop was at the house that had a most distinguishing feature…an 8-inch-by-10-inch hole in middle of the living room that looked down into the basement (family room, perhaps). It seems there was an elevated brick platform directly beneath the hole. After pondering this for a while, we concluded they probably had an old, wood-burning stove or something that sat on the bricks and heated the house. But that doesn’t stop us from referring to it as the human/animal sacrifice house."
—Craig P., Facebook
9. The house that gave everyone fleas...
"Went to look at a house, not an open house but just looking. We went in through the basement up stairs. Opened the door and there was this horrible smell so bad I almost tossed my cookies. Had to leave to get air (from what I saw, it was nice). We went to look at another house because I couldn’t get past the smell. My real estate agent said that they didn’t weatherize the toilet properly. We were driving down the highway and noticed we had fleas jumping all over us (me and my husband) called our real estate agent since we were following them and they said they had fleas too...go to the next house seemed ok then one of my real estate agent notice a small hole in the wall in one of the bedrooms, put his finger inside, and a bee flew out. Not one of our best days. FYI did not purchase either house or go back again."
Images via Getty.
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