IS IT OCCUPIED OR NOT? (Cheri)

For a while, Mark and I would take bets on whether houses we saw as we drove past were currently occupied.

I was going to make a chart of definitive factors and wobblers, but it became obvious that there were no definitive factors.

One day we were driving to see a piece of vacant property, but stopped at a house that we really liked.  It had a peaceful view of of a small lake off the side, and room for a garden.

It wasn't actually super old, and was in a neighborhood of large homes, all on nice rolling acreage, but it needed attention.  You could see boxes against the windows and the side porch was absolutely filled with random abandoned furniture.

We walked onto the front porch and I held my hands to the window to block the sun so that I could see inside.  We drove on, to see the vacant property, but it was right against a freeway and noisy.  On the way back, we stopped and chatted with the neighbors closest to the house that we had located.

Only after some time chatting did the neighbors mention that a lady still lived in the house that we had been close-eyeing!  The house was evidence that she had problems; in fact sometimes she simply slept in her car, in her own driveway.

I really wanted to contact her and offer to buy the home, but you really can't negotiate with someone who shouldn't be in charge of her own affairs, can you?

(After the fact, I had visions of putting my hands to the glass, then my eyes, and seeing the business end of a rifle facing me!)

Anyway . . . some of our factors are:

• Are there chairs on the porch, or cars nearby?

 

• Is there a houseful of belongings in the yard?

 

• Do vines or bushes cover entire windows on the house?

 

• Is there a Christmas wreath on the front door and Christmas is upcoming or not too far in the past?

 

• Has a tree fallen on the house?

 

• Is there evidence of a fire?

You can't consider any individual factor conclusive, but a combination of factors can educate your conclusion.

Truthfully, while this can be humorous I do want to be gentle, because these issues are not always a matter of choice.  I finally realized that often these are situations where no rental agent was involved; people live in homes that have been passed on to them and they are their only assets.

Here is a house that we were sure of, however:

You had to get closer to see the deciding factor:

(See the "Land For Sale" poking out of the doorway.)

Finally, me having fun being "arty" with a view of a building in the back: