I’ll be blunt. I’m still pretty bitter about our latest home purchase. I’ll preface this by saying that this was the first time we bought a home that wasn’t a new build, so this was all new territory for us.
It was in the midst of the pandemic that we figured it would be a great idea to sell our tiny home on the outskirts of Austin and move to Indy. Everyone always asks why, and I’ll tell you that, at the time, we were looking for an adventure. At that point, my partner and I had been married for ten years and had moved a total of eight times, twice cross country. We wanted a place where there would be seasons so our kids could experience something other than sweltering heat.
Since this was during the pandemic, we didn’t fly out to Indianapolis to look at homes. Instead, we just did virtual visits with our amazing relator.
We finally settled on a home in the Geist area. If you remember, during this time, homes were flying off the market, and in order to be competitive, we decided to put in an offer and say that we’d purchase it as is, with the exception of any major issues.
I should have realized the red flag when our realtor said they took our offer over others because we’d purchase as is. At the time, we were just excited to be moving, so we overlooked that and started figuring out when the closing date would be.
Here are just a few of the horrible things that happened: After our final walkthrough, the homeowners ripped televisions and other items off the walls, leaving massive holes in areas we weren’t expecting. Because this was our first time buying something that was not a new build, I didn’t realize that we could call and transfer the gas, light, and water before purchasing into our name. While I’m not trying to fault them, the homeowners disconnected everything the week before we moved in, so we went a week without water, a day without electricity, and a few days without gas. Did I mention we were moving in the middle of fall with two babies and three animals? I was livid. The homeowners thought that “as is” meant they could stop cleaning the home after we put in our offer. I cannot tell you how much literal poop I had to scrub out of toilets, not to mention the crusted pee that their teenage son left on the floor and walls. I’ve since learned that you can request a deep cleaning in the paperwork so that the homeowners must clean before you move in.
The original homeowners (i.e., not the ones we bought the home from, but rather the ones they bought the home from) were lovely folks who were master gardeners. They put a koi pond in their backyard and cultivated a lovely garden. Sadly, the homeowners we bought the home from destroyed the space. Weeds and leaves overran all the beautiful plants and flowers. We discovered that the photos that were used in the listing were taken earlier in the year, and nothing else was done to the yard to keep it up. This meant we got to come to a backyard that had a fire pit filled with cigarette butts and random golf balls everywhere.
I can go on and on about the abundance of disgusting things we found in the house that we had to clean out while trying to wrangle two small kids and continue working from home. While it’s been almost four years, I’m still pretty bitter about the people who left such negative energy in our home. Thankfully, our incredible realtor provided us with so much guidance after the fact and was just as astonished as we were with all the horrible things we dealt with. We’re pretty sure their own realtor told them things that weren’t true, which led them to act and do the things they did. Again, I won’t name names, but every time someone on a Facebook group asks which realtor to go with, I write mine and then clearly state that they should NOT go with the one the previous homeowners used.
We’re making the house ours and giving it some much-needed love and attention. While I don’t love what we went through, it makes me even more conscious of the changes we make. I want to ensure we’re doing everything for the better of us, our kids, and any future buyers. We love our time in Indianapolis, in our neighborhood, and with the amazing friends we’ve made here. I wouldn’t trade it for anything except maybe a house with a pool.
