From the Management: First-Time Homebuyers, We Still Want To Hear Your Horror Story (There's Cash To Win!)

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Tuesday, March 13, 2012, by Sally Kuchar

Dearest readers, you probably know by now that we're gearing up for our first-ever First-Time Buyers Week come later this month, as we've put out several requests for your stories, tips and advice for folks who are looking to purchase their first pad. Thanks to all who have submitted, we greatly appreciate it.

A reminder: we're seeking out your truly terrible tales of home-buying as a first-timer. During the last week of March we'll post the horror stories right here on Curbed SF and have a vote for who has suffered the most. The SF winner's story will go up against all the winners from the other Curbed cities on our National site. The winner of that aggregated showdown will win a $2,500 gift card to the home store of their choice. Think you have a story so rotten it could score the $2,500 prize? Send it to our tipline. Standard contest rules apply.

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Rookie Roosts Week: First-Time Homebuyers, We Want To Hear Your Horror Story (There's Cash To Win!)

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, March 5, 2012, by Sally Kuchar

Dearest readers, you probably know by now that we're gearing up for our first-ever First-Time Buyers Week come later this month, as we've put out several requests for your stories, tips and advice for folks who are looking to purchase their first pad. Thanks to all who have submitted, we greatly appreciate it.

Now we're seeking out your truly terrible tales of home-buying as a first-timer. During the last week of March we'll post the horror stories right here on Curbed SF and have a vote for who has suffered the most. The SF winner's story will go up against all the winners from the other Curbed cities on our National site. The winner of that aggregated showdown will win a $2,500 gift card to the home store of their choice. Think you have a story so rotten it could score the $2,500 prize? Send it to our tipline. Standard contest rules apply
[Photo via Shutterstock]

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Horror Stories: Gawker has published stories about terrible...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, January 30, 2012, by Sarah Firshein

Gawker has published stories about terrible roommates. A snippet from the winner: "Later that day I came back from class or some activity and she had taken her hunting knife to my mattress, a lot of my clothes, our rug, our bean bag chair, and had killed a squirrel with it and left it in my bed." [Gawker]

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? Previous: Home Is Where the Art Is...

? Next: Immaculate Hudson Valley Mansion of John Jacob Astor III

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Reminder: Renter Horror Story Polls Open Until Noon EST!: Renters Week 2011 may have come...

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Monday, November 14, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

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? Previous: No More White Boxes! Unique Rentals from Around the World

? Next: Watch a Modest 450-Sq-Ft Studio Unfold Into Four Rooms

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Horror Stories: Vote For the Worst Renter Horror Story in SF

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, November 10, 2011, by Sally Kuchar

In honor of Curbed's Renters Week, we shared three of the most horrifying renter horror stories with you. But whose San Francisco horror story is the worst? Lovely readers, it's time to vote. This poll will be open for 24 hours; voting irregularities will be strictly policed. The winner of this poll will advance to the national round, and have a shot at winning a free month's rent (up to $2,500- sorry 1%ers!). Cast your vote after the jump. But first, a quick recap.

Renter Horror Story #1: Bernal Heights Rental Came With Mice, Layers of Sawdust

"A shared bathroom (in between two rooms) that was the size of a closet and was complete with plywood doors meaning you could hear?everything that went on inside including the aftermath of your?roommates hookup's late night burrito feast, immediately following a?lengthy round of loud intercourse."

Renter Horror Story #2: Noe Valley Apartment Comes With Unmentioned Mold Infestation (complete with photos)

"After a couple of days of living there I was waking up with a sore throat and the dog was waking up swallowing really hard, something he doesn't do. I also noticed that the towels didn't dry, and when I hung the shower curtain on the wall to protect the sheetrock crumbled in my hand. Hmmm."

Renter Horror Story #3: One Bedroom Apartment is "One Event Away From a Major Fire"

"Two days before the wedding, with my grandparents' flight due to land at SFO in an hour, we lose power and begin to smell smoke. I try to replace the fuse, but it blows. I go through three more fuses and they all blow, too. A call to everyone's favorite landlord, and he's there in a few hours with his handyman #1. HM #1 looks at our old knob-and-tube wiring and says that the whole place needs to be re-wired. It's one event away from a major fire. He says we'll need to move out for about two weeks while he drills in through the ceiling and installs all new wiring. Our landlord insists we can live through it. "Just move all of your stuff away from the ceiling," he says."

Time to vote:

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Horror Stories: Disgusting Mold Infestation Is San Francisco's Best (Worst?) Renter Horror Story

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Friday, November 11, 2011, by Sally Kuchar

Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner for Curbed SF's Renter Horror Story contest. Noe Valley Apartment Comes With Unmentioned Mold Infestation is a tale of a lady and her dog who move into a "janky" apartment in Noe Valley that had potential for awesomeness. As the writer puts it, "I can paint janky." But as time wore on and towels didn't dry and sheetrock crumbled upon touch, the renter feared that maybe her apartment needed more than a paint job. After some investigating (looking under a plastic and wood slat dropped ceiling), she stumbled onto a complete mold infestation. Her story's here, and yes, there are pictures. You've been warned. Now SF's best horror story advances to the national competition, where it has a chance at winning a free month's rent (up to $2,500). Congrats to our winner!
· Vote For the Worst Renter Horror Story in SF [Curbed SF]
· Noe Valley Apartment Comes With Unmentioned Mold Infestation [Curbed SF]

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Renters Week 2011: Polls Open: Vote For the Worst Renter Horror Story NOW!

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Thursday, November 10, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

At the tail beginning of the Renters Week 2011 hullabaloo, we implored Curbed readers to send their goriest Renter Horror Stories with brighter, rent-free days ahead promised to the person with the best tale to tell. We published the two finalists yesterday—Mandy in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and Chelsea, in Syracuse, N.Y.—and now it's up to you to decide which of these lasses is in the running for one gloriously rent-free month—the winner will face the winner of all the city-site polls (concurrently running) right here on Curbed National tomorrow. Editor's Note: This poll will be open for 24 hours and voting irregularities will be strictly policed.

Here again, the semifinalists:

Renter Horror Story 1: Cockroach, Mice, and Wolf Spiders [link]
SNIPPET: "Yes, those were WASPS living in the wall right outside said balcony door. And giant wolf spiders stringing their webs over our BBQ and balcony furniure, rendering the lake view unenjoyable. Then those spiders found their way indoors. How? We never did find out. Plus [...] I found cockroaches under our kitchen sink. The last straw was the mice. I stored our cat's food under the kitchen sink. One evening I reached for a bag, tipped it over the pet food dish and out tumbled two mice."

Renter Horror Story 2: Bedbugs Ignored For Three Months [link]
SNIPPET: "It turns out, EVERY BUILDING in the complex is infested. [...] The landlord refused to pay for the extermination, and told us if we refused to pay the $1,400, we would be evicted. Livid, my boyfriend and I called the health department (who said they could not help us) and the town code enforcer, who, as it turns out, was friends with the landlord. The property manager’s husband, who is head of maintenance, got into a verbal altercation with my boyfriend, calling him a liar because the exterminator only found one bug in our place. We had bed bugs for three months. "

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Curbed's Horror Stories: Real-Life Hoarding Possibly Sadder Than the Televised Variety

× Like us and you'll find top breaking news in your Facebook newsfeed. Sign up for our daily email newsletter and get top stories and breaking news delivered to your inbox. Tuesday, January 18, 2011, by Sarah

Above: a positively grotesque apartment occupied by one who suffers from compulsive hoarding. The photo was sent to Curbed NY by said hoarder's across-the-hall neighbor, who writes, "I found out I was living across from a hoarder. She had been accumulating junk for over 20 years and it had gotten to the point where every inch of her apartment was covered from front to back… And only a thin wall separated us. Of course the A-hole real estate agent who showed me the place conveniently forgot to mention this."

Here's the full horror story. >>

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