The Tale of the Sale

[Laura2592]

Wanted to update everyone as the sale of my Airbnb had just closed. In typical fashion, it was ridiculous right up until the end. 

1. The next to last guest (vegan bakers who needed an entire kitchen inventory) did indeed have extra people and were caught. I did not want to post about it as they freaked out that I have a Ring camera and I knew at least one of them had hosted before, so I thought they might see my reaction in  the forum. They claimed it was "not disclosed" and tried all kinds of threats and shenanigans (it was fully disclosed). I only had one more guest after them and he was a friend of a friend so I figured if I got investigated indefinitely I could just rebook with him directly. They left poor scores on a retaliatory review which didn't matter as I was not listing the property any more. My review of their group was very brief and factual ("Not a fit for our space. Required items we did not have. Brought extra guests. Did not follow house rules. High usage of items in the space and cleaning took extra time as a result.") was inexplicably removed.
2. My great neighbors were replaced by a family who immediately made it clear they would not keep their property to the same high standard. So my cottage would look out onto uncut grass and trash in the near future.
3. My buyers loan fell through because they shopped their rate to a credit union unfamiliar with rural properties. They were forced to spend $7000 on "repairs" that no legitimate lender would require and at the 11th hour the loan was denied, despite a commitment letter. Closing was delayed by a week while they found another lender. The appraiser went so far as to insist we tear up floor boards so that he could examine a basement that had been filled in and totally inaccessible for at least 80 years.
4. A neighbor across the street who owns a business property with partial border to our yard started calling the buyers directly and making claims that we were in an active lawsuit. Why? Because he was annoyed that we didn't come to him first and ask him to buy the property at a discounted rate. We had one interaction with him in 3.5 years and he passingly mentioned that his family owned the property in the 1980s. So apparently he thought he had first dibs? He was mad that we didn't have signs and no one approached him to ask for his opinion. Uh...ok. He is elderly and may have dementia. We contacted him multiple times and yet he continued to somehow call the buyers directly. I think he must have run into them on one of their many inspections. We had to contact attorneys.
5. The new buyers asked if a builder could come on site and start some plans for "expanding" the house. My heart breaks at the potential. I said they would have to wait until they owned it. 

So all in all, the universe conspired to say "Now is the time to GTFO, Laura." And I listened. When its time, its time. 

Stay tuned for the next adventure! I honestly need a break from ABB for a while but I may do STR on some other platforms. Undecided. But I have earned some rest.

I am very sad to lose my little schoolhouse but very pleased to not have to deal with any of it any more.

[Kelly149]

@Laura2592 removal of that review merits a post on it's own... I don't see anything that merits removal. And did her review of you remain?? not cool

[Laura2592]

@Kelly149it did. I thought she had quite a few reviews and 5 stars across the board but it may have been someone else added to the reservation. I think she blogs about her adventures. She left a forward facing review that was decent enough but sent a laundry list of things she did not read in the listing that she felt "should have been disclosed" and low category scores. For example she was upset that the property was not more isolated (disclosed) had a Ring doorbell (disclosed) that neighbors were visible (disclosed) that there were only 2 beds (disclosed) that the kitchen didn't have a cake stand mixer (not specifically stated but she definitely asked about ever single implement in the kitchen and nowhere was this mentioned) that the stairs were steep (disclosed) that the picnic table had a crack in the seat (not disclosed but also it was not the case prior to her visit, so one imagines her group may have had something to do with that) and that the back step needed some additional repair (this is the only legit complaint and we certainly would have taken care of it had we not been selling.)

I really think she got our listing confused with others she might have been booking based on some of the issues she had with it. At the very least she did not seem to read or even look at all the pics.

[Mark116]

@Laura2592 Is the vegan retreat baker the review from Baltimore?  

People are just nuts.  Our last guests, and I feel another 4 star coming on left with their 4 days of recycling and trash?  I have no idea where they think in Jersey City they're going to dispose of this? We sent them our standard day before check out message where we told them to leave the trash and recycling in the kitchen.  But they carried it out to who knows where along with their luggage when they left and I'm sure this will be deducted from our rating.

Like you, I'm just burnt out playing the losing game of constantly anticipating whatever wild ideas and actions my guests take while maintaining the perky face of hospitality.

[Laura2592]

@Mark116it was the one before from Frederick. She had booked with another person on her profile and I recall more reviews, but I may have been looking at that guest. I can only remember that there were more 5 star reviews., She *is* pretty much a local as Frederick is about 25 mins away, so that should have been a red flag, She said she had 3 guests but it was more like 7. She did add 2 other profiles to her booking and I remember thinking "oh how nice that I can see everyone!" But it wasn't everyone. And it was booked as a "girls weekend" but there was definite evidence that there had been some dudes there as well.

[Kristina46]

Do check their reviews of other hosts before you accept them. Very very telling. 

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  Yikes!  I didn't see the bakers review of you, was that removed as well?   I knew they would be trouble.

That would be terribly sad if the new owners gutted the property and made some kind of hideous 'expansion' as those almost always look pretty bad unless a good architect is involved.

I'm lobbying that we rent our place, but my partner doesn't want to give up the flexiblity and is afraid we will get a 'bad' tenant, so we'll see.  

[Laura2592]

@Mark116thus far they are pretty awful.

We left them some paint, extra tiles, pots with plants that are well established in the yard and on the patio, stuff to seal the roof, and old iron outdoor furniture plus a few odds and ends that came with the space like the framed info about the schoolhouse and pic of the last class of kids. They closed, then took pics of the entire contents of the shed we left piled up on their porch and demanded we come get it. What? They walked the property prior to closing. Have a yard sale. Put it up for free online. Super entitled and odd. Every single house we have purchased has had some leave behinds germane to the repair of the place. Otherwise you are stuck trying to find what tile is in the bathroom etc. Apparently they are so offended we tried to be considerate that they threw living plants in a pile.  Who does that?

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  I thought this was an older couple who were going to retire to the school house? 

Anyone who throws away live plants is a POS in my book.  I even once, yes, it's true, many many years ago living in Boston, took a plant off my neigbhor's porch because the temperature had dropped and the tropical plant would surely have died out there.  It was long before anyone but the super rich had cameras, so maybe they wondered what happened to it.  It lived happily for many more years with us.

[Laura2592]

@Mark116yes, it is an older couple who apparently thinks the world revolves around them.

The funniest part is that we left some hand sanitizer as you walk in the door. They made a huge show that we left "trash" and used that as an example. Okay. One pump container of hand sanitizer.

We had the iron pot rack hanging over the sink. Came with the house-- its not ours. and further its affixed to the ceiling with bolts. They threw that on the trash pile.

We also left a flat screen that was on the wall in the back bedroom. It had also come with the house. They didn't throw that out....

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  That's weird.  Maybe they're taking the stress of the lender/closing debacle out on you. 

When we bought an 'income' property a few years ago the sellers left a TON of stuff, not so much that you would need professionals to remove it, but a lot of stuff nonetheless.  It was interesting.  We combed through and found a few gems, including the coffee table that now sits in the Airbnb, gave away what was else was usable and threw out the rest.  No big deal.

A reasonable person, especially if they didn't demand as part of the sale that everything not nailed down was taken out, would realize that leaving paint and tiles is to their benefit.  No idea again why you would throw out plants, objected to free hand sanitizer or throw [they are expensive now] an iron pot rack on a trash pile.  

[Laura2592]

We've bought and sold 7 properties in the last 8 years-- mostly income and a few we have lived in. Never once was there absolutely nothing in the space. These people even threw the toilet paper we left as a courtesy on the "trash pile."

I think they wanted out of the sale after the lender failed them. They had put down a very large deposit which would have been ours as they wasted so much time. Our agent made that clear. So they were stuck and now they are nasty. Not our problem. Our agent is contacting theirs and hopefully that will be the end of the issue. Just super weird.

[Mark116]

@Laura2592   Maybe they're germaphobes?  Or, as you suspect, they are now full of rage that the house ended up costing them more than they anticipated.

When we sold that 'income' house, there was a $40 concrete bench from Lowes in the front yard.  It did not come with the house,  was not attached to the house, or listed as coming with the house.  We had bought and installed it so we removed it.  The buyers went nuts, threatened to cancel the sale [we told them to go for it, that they were in breach of the contract, etc. etc.].  But, I mean, seriously, over a bench from a big box store that cost $40. 

As I get older I find that irrationality is much more the norm than ever I expected.

[Laura2592]

@Mark116  I have had buyers complain that decorative items were not left-- one at the closing table. She had gone through a closet with a bunch of pictures sitting on the floor and wanted a decorative wall piece/was threatening to walk. It was NOT on display when she visited the property and was deep in the bowels of a storage space at that point. I had to promise to dig it out and deliver it to her when I could, which I did. It was like a $40 piece of an old pediment I had gotten at an antique store in San Diego and never found a home for. Just super strange that she was so fixated.

I have never had anyone bitch that they got extra stuff with a sale. As someone who buys exclusively old houses, I always look forward to the discoveries after closing. I have found some really good stuff.

[Mark116]

@Laura2592  Yes, these same buyers from hell had, at a late date, after saying they were fine with a few things left in the basement, demanded it was 'broom clean'.  Okay, whatever. 

So we removed everything that had been in the basement.  Then they complained that we were taking out 'antique' light fixtures and they wanted them back.  These were literally 2 or 3 boxes of old, crap light fixtures that had been taken down when we bought the house.  I'm a pretty good judge of craftsmanship & value, even if it's in a style that I personally don't find attractive, and these were cheap fixtures 40 years ago.  So, we happily gave them back the boxes of ugly, old, and not in an antique way light fixtures.

maybe some people have sticker shock when buying a house and that stress  manifests in weird obsessions on meaningless details.