Buy a 64-Square-Foot House on eBay!: Of all the strange things up...

× 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, March 15, 2012, by Sally Kuchar

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Over 80 Things You Can Compost Networx

We're fans of composting here at Apartment Therapy, and we've shared a lot of tips and tricks over the years. Recently, Networx put together a pretty big list of items (81!) that you can throw into your compost bin. It's a good reference for beginners or for those looking to add more to their bins besides the usual vegetable scraps, egg shells and coffee grounds.

Here are some of my favorites, but you can find the full list over at Networx:

1. Dryer lint
2. “Dust bunnies”
3. The contents of your dustpan (just use discretion)
4. Soy/rice/almond/etc milk
5. Nut shells (but not walnut, which may be toxic to plants)
6. Pumpkin/sunflower/sesame seeds (chop them to ensure they won't grow)
7. Avocado pits (chop them up so they won't sprout)
8. Old breakfast cereal
9. Popcorn kernels (post-popping, the ones that didn't make it)
10. Old herbs and spices
11. Cooked rice
12. Cooked Pasta
13. Oatmeal
14. Booze (beer & wine)
15. Wine corks
16. Egg cartons (not Styrofoam)
17. Matches
18. Sawdust
19. Fireplace ash (fully extinguished and cooled)
20. Burlap sacks
21. Cotton or wool clothes, cut into strips
22. Balloons (latex only)
23. Raffia fibers (wrapping or decoration)
24. Dried flowers
25. Fresh flowers
26. Dead houseplants or their dropped leaves (make sure they aren't diseased and/or insect-infested)
27. Human hair (from a home haircut or saved from the barber shop)
28. Pizza & cereal boxes (shredded first)
29. Toilet paper & paper towel rolls (shredded first)
30. Old loofas (real, not synthetic)

Note: If you bring your scraps to a compost collection site, make sure to double check what they do and don't accept.

Find it: 80+ Items You Can Compost at Networx

MORE COMPOSTING ON APARTMENT THERAPY:
• All About Composting: Hot Tips, Best Bins, and WORMS!
• 5 Places To Put A Compost Bin In A Small Kitchen
• How To Start a Home Worm Composting System

via MNN

(Image: Flickr member kirstyhall licensed for use under Creative Commons)

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The Way Things Were Meant To Be

The Longmont Times Call reports from Colorado. “What can you buy for $8.5 million? How about a 12,000-square-foot home on Arrowleaf Court in Boulder? It’s listed at $8.5 million. You’d have to come up with $12 million to get into a home for sale on Rozena Court in Hygiene. Get $9 million together and you’ve got yourself a farmhouse that’s currently for sale on Pike Road just west of Longmont. Sounds like a lot of money — until you consider that NewMark Merrill Mountain States came up with $8.5 million and got itself a whole shopping mall.”

“Scott Franklund of Legendary Properties ticked off several homes for sale in the area whose cost approaches what NewMark paid for Twin Peaks Mall. What makes the deal especially surprising is that former owner Panattoni Development Co. paid $33.6 million for the 75-acre, 650,000-square-foot mall in 2007, he said. That’s roughly a 75 percent drop in price. ‘You just don’t see that,’ Franklund said.”

From KJCT in Colorado. “Colorado Springs was recently listed as one of the housing markets where renting is actually cheaper than buying. But here in Grand Junction, some realtors argue just the opposite; saying buying a home is much more affordable in the long run. ‘I don’t know how someone can say it’s less expensive to actually rent. We’re at sixty year lows right now, so that unto itself allows a person to actually buy more or have more purchasing power then they would even last year,’ Brian Donaldson, with Bray Real Estate, said.”

The East Valley Tribune in Arizona. “Agents’ optimism has grown for five months in a row as a result of seeing more buyers and a shrinking number of available homes, said Bob Bemis, CEO of the Arizona Regional Multiple Listing Service. The news is great for sellers who’ve had trouble unloading their homes - but there’s a downside for buyers. ‘They’ll be surprised if they go looking for anything other than a foreclosure,’ Bemis said. ‘If they’re looking for traditional houses, there will be bidding wars. Not two or three, but eight or 10 contracts on the property because we have so few houses in that price range or quality range.’”

“For the first time since the home-buying frenzy that peaked in 2005, agent Christine Loschiavo has been advising clients to bid above the asking price. It’s becoming harder for traditional buyers to compete with investors and also Canadians looking for second homes, she said. ‘Chandler is the worst place to try to buy a house right now for a good price,’ she said. ‘I have to tell my buyers to overbid.’”

The Casa Grande Dispatch in Arizona. “Like a roller coaster ride, Arizona’s housing market reached a peak and then descended over the last decade. And the areas that grew the fastest, like Pinal County, have been hit the hardest. ‘During the housing boom in the mid-2000s, the value of homes in the Casa Grande area increased by almost 50 percent,’ said Debbie Yost, broker of REMAX/Casa Grande Yost Group. But as the housing bubble burst, values plummeted and many homeowners who purchased during that period were stuck with pricey mortgages and high interest rates. During 2011 alone, more than 2,200 homeowners in Pinal County and 325 in Casa Grande went through foreclosure. For many, it has seemed like the only option.”

“‘People have been giving up and walking away,’ said Yost, who has been selling real estate in Casa Grande since 1980, ‘but now there are reasons not to. Each situation is different, but now there is a road map and a number of options.’ The other options for those behind on their payments, as the panel will discuss, are refinancing, modifying their loans, short-selling or deeding-in-lieu of foreclosure. ‘There’s this idea that it’s almost impossible to short-sell,’ Debbie said. ‘That’s not true.’”

The Arizona Republic. “Verrado opened amid a housing rush in 2004 but soon plunged into a downturn of historic proportions. In the years that followed, executives and planners at DMB, the developer that built this community, came to realize that the old approach to master-planned communities would have to change. For them, Verrado was the turning point. Nearly everything there today tells a story about the way things were meant to be before the crash.”

“The changes all come back to the 2,000 homes that encircle Verrado’s Main Street: When the community opened, DMB estimated it would sell at least three times that many homes by 2012. Instead, today, it is a town, but a far smaller town. At least 6,000 vacant acres sit unobtrusively outside the developed area,”

“In 2004 amid a marketing blitz. people flocked to Verrado during the last two weekends of January to try to be one of the community’s first homebuyers. They filled out information cards that were placed in giant fish bowls in hopes their names would be drawn. But by 2006, it was clear something was off-track in the metro Phoenix housing market. By 2007, metro Phoenix builders had begun walking away from deals and giving their lots back to lenders.”

“DMB principal Mark Sklar said people ask him often if this real-estate crash is as bad as the last one. ‘I have to laugh and say it’s about 30 times worse. During the last crash, GM and all the major lenders weren’t failing at the same time,’ he said.”

The Daily Courier in Arizona. “Kathi Dollarhide simply wants her Yavapai Hills property to be somebody’s home. That goal appears within reach for Dollarhide, who expects to sell her former retirement home through the short-sale process. ‘I want to see someone living in the house. That’s what it was built for,’ she said. ‘It was never an investment. It wasn’t meant to sit there until the market turns around and some bank decides, ‘OK, now we can sell it.’”

“The short-sale option makes Dollarhide one of the lucky ones. This past week, state and federal officials announced a $25 billion deal to settle possible state charges over allegations of improper foreclosures. Marshall Vest, director of the Economic and Business Research Center at the Eller College of Management at the University of Arizona, believes the settlement will help some homeowners. Vest said the settlement will help keep people in their homes rather than have to walk away from their properties.”

“But Vest agrees with the ProPublica argument that the settlement won’t help millions of homeowners. ‘There’s still a lot of people who won’t get help,’ he said. ‘The amount of dollars just aren’t big enough to help and, of course, not everybody would qualify.’”

From KTNV in Nevada. “Home values in Southern Nevada have fallen 65 percent in six years. Two out of three homeowners are now underwater. Shauntele Harless is one of them. She’s moving out of her home while she tries to get Bank of America to agree to a short sale of $80,000. Harless says she tried to work with the bank. ‘I even tried to pay $260,000 for it just as long as they would lock my rates and they wouldn’t do it,’ Harless said.”

The Las Vegas Business Press in Nevada. “Economic analyst Jeremy Aguero calls it the ‘three-finger salute,’ hitting the control-alt-delete keys to reset real estate values in Las Vegas to current market conditions. Forget about the peak. ‘Nobody sober would ever suggest we’re going to get back to the peak,’ Aguero said at Preview Las Vegas, an economic forum presented by the Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce.”

“Las Vegas homeowners have lost $91 billion in equity, roughly $112,000 a home, since the market took a dive from 2006, the principal of research firm Applied Analysis estimated. Aguero said legislators need to rethink some of the laws such as Assembly Bill 284, an attempt to stop foreclosures by requiring banks to prove they have proper documentation.”

“‘Why would they do that? At the end of the day, if you’re not paying your mortgage, you do not get to live in the house for free,’ Aguero said. ‘With the robo-signing, the banks probably didn’t handle it well, I’m the first to admit. But how do you take it so far that the bank can’t foreclose if you’re not paying?’”

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On the Market: Among the many things $24M buys:...

× 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. Wednesday, February 15, 2012, by Sarah Firshein

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10 Tech Things Everyone Should Know How To Do

Certain life milestones signal the inauguration of adult life. Among them: filing taxes, buying a home... and of course, finally figuring out how to read your electric meter. It's a skill you should know, along with these 9 other household tech fixes and troubleshoots.

There's no need to call an overpriced computer expert when you need to backup your computer. We've rounded up 10 things you should know how to do around the house, along with some of the best "How To" links from Apartment Therapy Tech and around the web. Think of this as a road map to becoming a home tech do-it-yourself'er.

1. Password Protect Your Wi-Fi Because letting your neighbors squat on your wi-fi connection is both illegal and a security risk.
• How to Detect Wireless Internet Thieves
• How to Secure Your Home Network

2. Wall-mount a flat screen TV It's the best way to display a TV without it taking over the room.
• How to Wall Mount a Flat-Panel TV
• 43 Unique Ways to Mount Your Flat Screen TV

3. Backup your Computer Just do it. And trust us, you'll be thankful that you did.
• Best Ways of Creating Computer Backups
• How to Securely Backup Your Data

4. Install and Use a Programmable Thermostat Saves electricity and it saves you money. What's not to love?
• How to Install a Programmable Thermostat
• Install and Program a Programmable Thermostat

5. Remove a Stuck Lightbulb Brush up on this technique before you desperately need it.
• Remove a Broken Light Bulb With Plastic Water Bottle
• The Easy Way to Remove a Stuck Light Bulb (With Tape!)
• Prevent Always-Stuck Light Bulbs with Vaseline

6. Take Great Pictures A good picture is worth a thousand words, but a great picture is like a novel.
• How to Take Photos of Your Home
• Tips For Taking Better Photos of Your Home Office
• How to Take Better Photos for Etsy & eBay

7. Hook Up a Basic Home Theater System Know what you need, know where to buy it and don't ever pay somebody to do this for you. Ever.
• The Five Elements of a Perfect Home Theater
• How to Hook Up a Home Theater System
• How Do I Hook Up my Home Theater?

8. Read an Electric Meter You won't ever get screwed by your electric company again.
• How to Read Your Electic Meter (video)
• How to Read Residential Electric Meters

9. Calibrate Your HDTV Life is too short to watch a less-than-perfect picture, especially when calibrating your TV is this easy to do.
• How to Calibrate Your HDTV in Three Easy Steps
• Make Your TV's Picture Look 100% Better in 5 Minutes
• Calibrate Your TV With the THX Optimizer on Your DVD
• Using Online Forums to Calibrate Your TV

10. Know Your Way Around Your Fuse Box Troubleshoot small home problems by knowing your way around the fuse box.
• Your Home Fuse Box and Fuses 101
• How to Change a Fuse in a Traditional Fuse Box (video)

(Images: 1. Flickr user Kurt Koller licensed for use under Creative Commons, 2. Flickr member Craig1black licensed for use under Creative Commons)

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Economists Can Say The Darnedest Things About Realtors

I was reading a good blog post over at Time: Busted Recovery: How Much is Housing to Blame? when I came across an out-of-character quote from Chris Thornberg of Beacon Economics, someone whom I normally find offers sage advice:

Still, Chris Thornberg of Beacon Economics says there is a little hyperbole when people say the economy can’t recover without the housing market. That’s because much of what we normally think of the housing market doesn’t produce a lot of economic value. “Realtors have perpetuated the fraud that selling homes back and forth between people is good for the economy,” says Thornberg. “I’m not convinced that does that much for the economy.”

His use of the word “fraud” set me off.

However I agree with what he is saying about housing and the economy – I do believe there is way too much hyperbole that housing must recover before the economy recovers. I think that the economy will likely recover before housing will and that housing will be a drag on overall economic recover. And we all know that all jobs created by the housing market during the boom quickly evaporated during the bust.

But this part…

“Realtors have perpetuated the fraud that selling homes back and forth between people is good for the economy,” says Thornberg. “I’m not convinced that does that much for the economy.”

Really? Fraud?

While I’ve been very vocal about the misleading comments about the credit crunch and housing observations coming out of NAR since the days of David Lereah and now with Lawrence Yun, it’s ridiculous to call it fraud. It’s called selling and spin. Big difference although they are also distasteful.

It is the job of Realtors to sell homes for sellers and help find homes for buyers. They are in the business of sales. Realtors are represented by The National Association of Realtors who are a trade group and the function of a trade group is to help their members be more successful and represent their interests.

I’ll bet every single trade group has similar pitches specific to their client’s needs. Attend plumbing convention and you’ll be told that PVC pipes enable our country to grow. Attend a snack food convention and there will be no discussion about eating too many candy bars. Attend a dental convention and you’ll hear all the spin about brushing and how bad candy is for teeth (but good for business).

I think the part many miss with the dissemination real estate information, is that a trade group as a source should not be presented in the media as an authoritative source on a topic. Yes they can attest to a condition that helps their members but we should never see them as a neutral go-to resource. Think Mortgage Bankers Association, American Banking Association, National Association of Homebuilders, etc. Massive spin for their members. It’s not fraud.

The blogosphere was particularly good at outing NAR’s former chief economist Lereah and current chief economist Yun’s usually absurd press releases and proclamations.

Up until recently, I don’t think the public realized that there was any difference in credibility in the analysis of the real estate market from NAR. That realization has propped up alternatives like Case Shiller and CoreLogic (although Case Shiller has many of its own serious flaws).

So despite the easy target, let’s raise the bar on the discourse. Realtor-bashing isn’t in style anymore. Realtors are simply doing their jobs and there isn’t some sort of conspiracy – they are too busy driving clients around looking at homes.

In fact, of all people that touched the home buying process, from rating agencies, investment banks, consumers, mortgage brokers, commercial banks and appraisers during the bubble, Realtors had little to do with the run up. They were order-takers in a nation gone insane.

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10 Things Every First Apartment Should Have

Although the internet existed when I rented my first apartment, it was mainly chat forums and wasn't exactly full of the helpful information it is today. Ready to move out on your own for the first time? Here's a check list to get you started. Old pro? Add your basics to ours and help out those moving newbies!

1. Kitchen Basics: The important things that might top this list might be a can opener, sharp knife or wooden spoon. Check out this list at The Kitchn for more ideas on these essentials.

2. A Toolbox: You'll at least need a screwdriver (or two), a hammer, a tape measure, a level, adjustable wrench, and set of allen wrenches for all those IKEA purchases. The rest is up to you.

3. A Plant: Even if you kill it in a few months, the breath of life they bring to a space is unmistakable. If your thumb isn't exactly green, try a succulent that only has to be watered every few weeks.

4. Books: Even if you have a Kindle, a few books are always good to have around. Sometimes you just want to flip through the pages for inspiration or a little reading. If you're not big on collecting such things, make them classics that even a visitor might enjoy picking up.

5. Baking Soda & Vinegar: It doesn't matter what mess, mold, or grime the last tenant left, this combination of ingredients can clean just about anything. Save your money for other things like food and curtains to block out the view of your neighbor who refuses to wear a bath robe.

6. 3 Light Sources: Many apartments can feel lacking in light and often your first apartment isn't as awesome as you wanted it to be. Remember 3 light sources for your main room and it will always feel more like home. Plus, as a rule of thumb, all overhead lighting in apartments is ill-placed, too harsh, or too dim.

7. A Place To Lay Your Head: Yes it seems overly basic, but it's easy to get caught up in the smaller things you might need. Just because you think you can get away with sleeping on a futon doesn't mean your back will agree. Sleep comfortable and everything else, even the smallest space with the worst bathroom is suddenly tolerable.

8. 5 More Extension Cords Than You Think You Need: Unless you designed and built your own home, there's a 99% change your outlet ratio to products that require them will suck. Having a few extension cords or power bars on hand will save you frustration and trips to the hardware store later on.

9. A Box Knife: This small simple tool will save you a great deal of headache when it comes to opening moviing boxes, unpacking furniture or taking off zip ties held into new packaging that needs to be disassembled. You won't need it until you have no other choice but to go buy one and then you'll think back and say, "Apartment Therapy was right."

10. $50 Emergency Money: It doesn't matter if you keep it in the bank or stashed in your secret hiding spot, every first apartment has some sort of emergency. It might be the need to escape and have a night out, a lamp you didn't think you'd need or possibly a fan due to the lack of air circulation. Big or small, there will always be something.

Image: Flickr member certified su licensed for use by Creative Commons

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Masthead Mashups: Hearst is shifting things around in...

× 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, June 2, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

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SFMOMA Expansion: SFMOMA: The Shape of Things to Come on Third Street

× 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, May 26, 2011, by Philip Ferrato

Aerial view looking north, with the new addition straddling space between the existing garage/sculpture roof and the 1995 Botta building. Image courtesy Snøhetta (Click on the image to enlarge in a new window)

There was a press preview yesterday up the SFMOMA rooftop sculpture garden- what might be described as a deeply satisfying teaser- of what's to come as the museum expands. Craig Dykers, partner in our favorite Oslo/New York architectural firm, Snøhetta, gave a presentation, explaining that the days of architects imposing a grand architectural vision was over for them; the proposal was the result of a year of listening. So what should we expect in 2016, aside from that gloriously honed iceberg in the images? One Snøhetta's primary objectives was to better engage the museum with the street and pedestrians. There will be a spectacular new entrance on Howard Street side, currently occupied by the firehouse, and along with re-orienting the existing lobby, a new entrance at the end of Natoma Street lined up with the yet-unbuilt Transbay Transit Center and Second Street. To quote Craig Dykers:

SFMOMA’s expansion will enliven the neighborhood through a generous plan that frees connections between well-known surrounding streets and more hidden urban spaces. The building will encourage people to enjoy the intimate small streets as much as the heavily used thoroughfares of the district. The new building does not push tightly against its property lines; instead it creates new public spaces and pedestrian routes through the neighborhood along with open views of the surrounding streetscape.

So just as the current Mario Botta building injected new energy into the neighborhood in mid-1990s, Snøhetta's looking to do the same by rethinking the street-level experience as much as the gallery experience upstairs.

Next up for museum staff and architects are visits to other museums around the world to begin planning the galleries and interiors- we were told to expect another presentation in November.
· SF MOMA Expansion [SF MOMA]
· SFMOMA Coverage [Curbed SF Archives]
· Snøhetta [SnøArc]

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Hearst Shakes Things Up with Layoffs & Reorganizations Design News 6.2.2011

Lots of reorganizations are taking place within the shelter magazine brands. Women's Wear Daily reports: "The ink was barely dry on the deal between Hearst and Lagardère before... the layoffs began. Patricia Haegele, senior vice president, publisher and chief revenue officer of Good Housekeeping, was named publishing director and Kate Kelly Smith, vice president, publisher and chief revenue officer of House Beautiful, was promoted to senior vice president and publishing director... Kelly Smith will manage the publishing side of Elle Decor and Veranda in addition to her current responsibilities."

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The Printed Page: Some Things You May Not Have Known About Taxidermy Enthusiasts

× 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, April 28, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

Photos: Fred R. Conrad/NYT

Perhaps our day-in-the-life-of-taxidermy snapshot a few days ago was a bit unfair; perhaps it was just a cool photogallery, an exaggeration that bore no grounding in reality. Leave it to the New York Times Home & Garden section to stick it to us and reveal what the existence of a true taxidermy enthusiast looks like. Today's Habitats column pays a visit to Deborah Lutz, a Brooklyn denizen who's filled her modest railroad apartment with a mixed bag: furniture rescued from the street, interesting sculptures, and, of course, Victorian accessories involving taxidermy. It's a fascinating story that answers a bunch of questions: what does someone like Lutz do for a living? Wear? Hang on her walls? The anthropological findings are revealed here:

· On careers: "Ms. Lutz, who teaches at Long Island University and is the author, most recently, of a book titled Pleasure Bound: Victorian Sex Rebels and the New Eroticism, is, like so many New Yorkers, living a life very different from the one into which she was born."

· On tabletop pieces: "A two-inch-high glass jar holding the whiskers of a departed cat is on display in a shadow box Ms. Lutz built from a discarded drawer."

· On bedroom furniture: "Vintage leather suitcases, complete with brass keys and other people’s initials, are stacked above her wardrobe. 'I don’t know any of these people,' Ms. Lutz said, 'but I love the idea of their stories, of the lives we might have witnessed but didn’t.'

· On jewelry: "Ms. Lutz also has a love of mourning jewelry—rings and lockets made with strands of human hair that in Victorian eyes represented powerful ways to mourn and celebrate the dead."

· On late-night shenanigans: "Another time, after a lively night out with friends, she discovered a 60-pound mahogany bookshelf that she lugged home atop her slender back. 'Being a little drunk,' she explained, 'gives you superhuman strength.'

· On finders keepers: "Still other finds included a black rotary telephone bearing the number CI 8-1296 that had mysteriously made its way to Brooklyn from City Island in the north Bronx, and a small doll with stringy blond hair and a missing foot—'wounded and bereft in an interesting way,' said Ms. Lutz, who keeps the doll on her bed."

· On wall decor: "A papier-mâché mold for a deer’s head, just awaiting its fur, glass eyes and movie-star eyelashes, is mounted on one wall."

· On wall decor: "Small grainy snapshots of someone else’s relatives—she has no idea who they are—are tacked above a love seat."

· Her Decorators? Flotsam & Jetsam [NYT]
· Ten Examples of Terrible, No Good, Very Bad Taxidermy Decor [Curbed National]

View the original article here

That's Rather Hideous: Things Are Really Looking Up in This Texan Contemporary

× 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, March 4, 2011, by Sarah Firshein

Move over, Michelangelo! The real ceiling fun is happening in Dallas, where a 14,670-square-foot estate on the market for $12.5M is all about what's happening overhead. Said "exquisite ceiling treatments," as the listing describes them, pervade the eight-bedroom behemoth, which also includes a media room, great room, master great room, and very mysterious-sounding "project room." While each ceiling varies wildly in color, tone, and scope, unity is achieved by the overstuffed La-Z Boy loungers that pepper the space. Have a look above.

· 10660 Strait Lane, Dallas [Trulia]

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<b>Real Estate</b> Red Flags- Five Things To Watch Out for When Buying A <b>...</b>

Scented Candles & Airfreshner Overload
Notice a specific fragrance in a home?  What is is masking?  Pets? Smoke? Musty lower level flowers?  
Fix: Fortunately- most smells will dissipate.  Look out in bedrooms below ground level because if someone has allergies, it may be a problem.

Large Area Rugs/Furniture
If not during the initial showing, be sure to check into what area rugs and oddly placed furniture may be hiding.  Wine stains or cigarette burns on the carpet and warping or water damage to hardwood floors are all things that you should look out for.  Condominiums on high floors (especially those without window treatments) are subject to significant sun exposure.  Owners may not even realize that their area rugs are causing their hardwood floor to discolor. 
Fix: If it is true hardwood, you may be able to sand, stain, and refinish the floors.  If it is a floating or prefabricated hardwood floor, you can either buy a similar area rug or get ready to replace to floor!

Lack of Maintenance
If a home looks unkempt, most likely, key maintenance items have been overlooked (roof, furnace, etc). 
Fix: A cleaning (or hazmat) crew and a home warranty may help ease your mind.  When choosing a home warranty, read terms carefully so you fully understand your coverage.  Some policies may not include everything.
Also- start to budget to maintain, repair, and even replace items your home inspector red flags. 

House Age
Depending on when a home was built, you may get more than you bargained for.  Everything from outdated electric capacity to substandard insulation can be expensive and a hassle but some problems require professional assistance.  If a home was built before 1970, it may contain lead based paint which can be dangerous (especially for children) and requires specific and professionally handled removal.
Fix: Homeowner's are required to complete a lead-based paint disclosure to sell their homes in Illinois.  Lead based paint is serious, but no scary.   

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