Lessons Learned on the House Hunt

For those of you who have not picked up on a small detail in my life...I am looking into capitalizing on the extremely sad housing market here. I spoke with a realtor a couple of weeks ago and he sent me my first set of listings. On Monday I saw four homes. I received a second set of listings (condos this time) yesterday and tonight sent a list of both condos and homes I would like to see.

This is what I have learned from a whopping two weeks of looking at homes:

• You shouldn't take pictures of a dirty house and post those for potential buyers to see. This includes, but is not limited to: dirty dishes in the sink, wet towels on the back of the office chair, beds not made, "gifts" from any pets on the floor, and laundry in the floor.
  
• Pictures listed can cover a multitude of "sins". While a picture may be worth a thousand words, they also lie.
• When it says that there is a washer and dryer hook up and a shed that is code for the washer and dryer hook up is actually in the shed.
• Diamond in the rough is code for "needs TLC" which is also code for prepare for some back breaking work.
• "Quaint home in charming neighborhood," "older home in mature neighborhood," and "located in the historic district" can mean that this house is in the ghetto.
  
• Located in Central Tampa with easy access to 275 and downtown also means located in the ghetto.
  
• It doesn't matter if a home has hardwood floors, ceramic tile, wood burning fireplace, granite counter tops, and stainless steel appliances, if it is painted lime green, it's in the ghetto. Trust me, I drove by just to make sure because I decided the outside could always be painted.
  

Out of the four homes I saw, two had some potential. One was too small and the other backed up to a major road. This next set seem to have some potential, but I've already learned that the truth comes out when you walk through the front door! I guess we'll have to wait and see what happens...I'll keep you all posted!