I am long overdue for a Blog Post.  Due to high Demand from my Investors and the great opportunity the current real estate prices provide for investment, I have been on an aggressive buying spree.  In order to buy good investment properties, I have to look at a lot of Real Estate.  I have looked at over a hundred properties in the past month.  Most of the properties I look at, have very similar floor plans and I'll be honest, the houses start to blend together after a while. 

Every once in a while a property will stand out for a variety of different reasons, and make you remember it.  Sometimes these reasons are good like, the property has a lot of modern upgrades, or has a very large room addition that will make it rentable.  Then there are the properties that make you remember them for all the wrong reasons.  There are the homes that are left by the hoarders where you can barely see a square inch of floor space below all the stuff.  There are homes that just have so many things wrong with them, bad foundations, walls falling apart due to termites, and so much mold that, one would be just better off tearing the home down.  Sometimes when I am out looking, the homes that standout for all the wrong reasons just make me laugh and they make for some good stories.  

I have decided to share some of these stories or better phrased Scary Tales.  The following is one such story.  

In early July I was out on a Saturday on the Hunt.  I had been through four properties already and had 5 more on my list for the day.  I rolled up to the next house on my list and parked in the drive way.  I could tell from the outside of the house that it was standard 3 bedroom 1 bath shotgun layout.  The house had nice curb appeal but needed a fresh coat of paint.  I walked around the outside of the house and no major red flags to mark in my notebook.

Next I went inside.  The carpet was in pretty bad shape, but I did not see any major signs of pet stains so I was pretty confident I could recover the hardwoods underneath.  The kitchen looked good, the bathroom needed a new vanity, but there was nothing that made me think this wouldn't be a good property to buy.  It was time to go downstairs, after all that is where the major expenses will come in if there are any.

I walked through the kitchen to the stairs leading to the basement.  In this house I was lucky enough to still have the electric on, so I flipped the switch and looked downstairs.  I say a bare concrete floor so I naturally assumed it was an unfinished basement, not a deal killer, but I always finish my basements so I marked in my notebook that I would have to finish the basement.  I walked down the stairs.  

As I took the last step into the basement, I heard a loud splash followed by the very cold soaking sensation that a white cotton sock creates when it gets wet on my left foot.  This was immediately followed by the same sensation on my right foot, because its movement was already committed and I did not have fast enough reflexes to stop that last wet step.

I immediately jumped back up the stairs and that was the end of my home investigation for that property.  When I got back to the top of the stairs, I looked back down and I could see the water that was completely still and undisturbed, just moments ago, rippling from my steps.  I estimated there was at least 5 inches of water in the whole basement.

I had 4 more properties I needed to look at, but I couldn't do it with soaked feet, so I did the only logical thing that there was to do.  I took my socks off and hung my shoes out my window to sun dry as I drove to the next house. 

Now I carry a spare set of shoes and socks in my trunk for just such an occasion.