Ugly House Photos

We’re trying to find something nice to say about this house.

They saved money by not paying for a building permit for the room addition?  The back door is eco-friendly?  They recycle?  The electric panel is accessible?

They save time & energy by not having landscaping?  They didn’t waste money on a concrete driveway?  It’s a big lot?

The refrigerator is included with the sale?  The house has gas service?  The gas line serves as a cup holder?

The cabinets look new?  There’s a window above the sink?  Nice.

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Some thumbtacks and a piece of cardboard will cover up that hole nicely.  Buyers won’t even notice.

We’ll install our own electric service panel without city permits.  We’ll put the weatherhead on a six foot pole ourselves.  There’s no need to consult with the local power company (gosh, their 42″-48″ max height rules suck anyway).  Yep, we built the house ourselves too.  Who needs attic space?  Just make the roofline flush with the rooms’ ceilings.  It’s hot in Phoenix, so if you put the water heater outside in the sun, it’s like getting hot water for free.

We added electric wiring to the outside of the house.  Junction boxes mark where the wires go inside the house.

Don’t ask, ‘cuz we’re not telling.

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What were these people thinking?!!  Let’s hook up our dryer’s vent to the gas water heater and maybe it will help heat up the water.  Right.  So the blowing air won’t affect the gas flame.  Hmmm.

How about we store bleach and detergent next to the gas water heater??!!

We don’t need to maintain this walkway do we?  Buyers won’t fall & trip when they visit.  That’s what insurance is for, right?

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These three San Diego homeowners are going to be in for a shock when the buyers run away or ask for electrical repairs after seeing these safety hazards.

Electrical spaghetti.  Watt where they thinking?

Creative wiring.  At least they’re labeled??

Air freshener and nightlight too.  Wanna bet the outlet’s not GFCI protected?

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Back of a home with two room additions, mostly likely bathrooms.  But the rooms were not built on a foundation.  They are held up by concrete support piers, the kind you see under old homes with wood floors.  It is very doubtful they were built with city permits.  The two white boxes on top are evaporative coolers.  Water runs down the slatted sides and a fan sucks in outside air; the water cools the air.  The gas water heater sits on the ground.

There’s a guest house in the back that needs a new roof.

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I’m embarrassed and ashamed to admit we have houses like this in Phoenix.  Looks like some of the houses I saw in Cambodia.  What a shame.  All of those crazy room additions.  All without building permits.  All built on dirt, I’m sure, which is a great conduit for termites.  Someone probably lives out there.  Believe me, that is quite common.  I did social work in the poor sections of Phoenix for many years and met clients living in places like this.  Notice the satellite dish on top of the roof.

A close-up of the back of the house.  At least they installed guardrails for the ramp, right?  Safety first.

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Dumb, dumb, dumb.  A heavy block fireplace placed nearly in the middle of the room.  And blocking the window.  And ugly to boot.  And probably not built to city code.  It’s too heavy to be temporarily moved to that position.  So what possessed someone to build it there?  So they could cover up the ugly carpet?

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I showed this Phoenix foreclosure home to clients this morning.  It’s listed for $40,000.  Four bedrooms, 2 baths, 1530 square feet.  Sounds like a great buy.  Until you see it inside.  Another example of amateur remodelers.  The entire house was a mess.  Dirty walls, bad floor tile, human waste in both toilets, dented A/C unit, roof leaks, etc.  The owners did not take care of the home.

This is the master bathroom.  They started to remodel but stopped when the bank took the house back.  The biggest and scariest problem with this home is that they replumbed the house not in copper but in pvc sprinkler piping!  The entire house.  You can see the white pvc pipe in the photo.  They used blue hot glue to seal the pipes.  And they did not try to conceal the sprinkler piping; they did not fill in the drywall holes throughout the house.  What other building codes were broken?  This is a house you run away from.

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Poor little house, with its dirt back yard.  The front of the house faces Interstate 17.  How nice.

The kitchen has newer cabinets, but the rest is in bad shape.  Look how they added electricity after the room was built.  Let’s put an electric 220v stove right next to the sink and next to the non-GFCI outlets.

The $50 bathroom remodel.

Quality workmanship.

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Wanna bet this homeowner in El Paso, Texas didn’t get building permits for his house?  It looks like it’s about to fall apart.

Here’s the bathroom.

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