House Hunt Day 1

I've learned a lot today.

Firstly, I-285 is INSANE to drive on. From the moment you shoot on and acquire cruising speed (55mph posted) you realize that you will cause an accident. The only way to survive is to accelerate to attack speed (80-85mph) so you don't become roadkill. I was literally zipping on the loop at 75 and getting passed like I was going the other direction. Once I hit 85 people were still passing me, but I didn't want to go any faster. Everyone else had Audi's and BMW's and I was scared my poor Civic couldn't handle this American Autobahn. City driving is the same, posted speed is 35mph but everyone goes 55. Sure makes quick work getting around!

After my extreme driving experience,I had the chance to look at two places today. Both had the lock box with a key so I could let myself in without hearing the sales pitch of a realtor. Little did I know that this equates to  shithole properties.

One was on the south end of town in Riverdale (we shall refer to this as Acceptable Shithole), and the other was located west in Douglasville (henceforth known as OMGWTFBBQ Shithole).

Acceptable Shithole was nice. Large living room, large kitchen, big dining room, and nice sized bedrooms went well on this 2 story dwelling. Even the garage was huge (: That was the "acceptable" part. The "shithole" part is the cabinets. After opening them to check for mold (huge problem at 21) I was greeting by mold growing on mold, literally. It was a Mold Castle. Other drawers were scratched up like a puma was trapped in them. The place was also a bit dirty with smudges on the walls. Nothing that a cleaning crew couldn't handle. I would give this place a B if they could manage to redo the cabinets and clean up a bit.

Then comes this beauty, OMGWTFBBQ Shithole. The different in the listing pics and what I saw today is like going from Taylor Swift to Amy Winehouse. To start, I walk upstairs and there is crap all over the kitchen. The cabinets are surprisingly redone, so there isn't any mold or heavy damage. However, there was food and booze in the fridge. The floor was filthy. One bedroom had marker ink all over the carpet, crayon on the wall, the door was nearly in 2 pieces, and toys everywhere. The master had a tv and a knocked over lamp. The backyard had a plastic tub with more toys and a small dog pen (no dog).

Now as I'm going about this house, I'm afraid I'm going to stumble upon either a meth head, a meth head cooking meth, or a dead body. This in mind, I make my way to the daylight basement. As I descend the stairs, I'm greeting with 3 doors. I pick one and I am greeted by the massive 2 car garage (yay!). However, there is a studded wall (no drywall/insulation) that divides the garage into a 2 other rooms (remember the doors?). Inside these "rooms" was a ton of clothes, toys, and insulation. It was like the drop off at a Goodwill.

I honestly could not believe that someone would pawn this off as a rental. It was atrocious. No wonder the rental agency doesn't want to be there with you.

So to make things better, I talked with a REAL realtor from Coldwell Banker. She gave me a list of sweet places that I haven't seen online. Two of the places are literally 6 min away from my office. I could literally walk to work (30 min by foot). They are a tad more expensive, but if they look like actual houses that someone would live in I think they will be worth it.

I hope tomorrow is more promising than today was. Bleh...