Have you ever been to a signing where you just didn’t want to go into the house? At 123notary we have heard many stories ranging from Legionaires disease caused by mold or bacteria, hoarding, people with long toenails that go click click click, Notaries pushed down stairs and more. Here is a list of types of situations where you might not want to go to the signing.
1. Legionnaires Disease
This is a disease that can cause serious lung diseases. If you go into a really dirty house that has a lot of bacteria, you could contract this disease which can be deadly. We advise you to think twice before going into an unsanitary house. It is more than just unpleasant — it could be your last.
2. Hoarders
Some people stack stuff from the floor to the roof and refuse to clean up. There are reality shows about this topic and it just isn’t funny. Hoarders have a mental disease that makes them believe that they actually need these useless things which they collect and that their life would be so much worse if they got rid of all of those things. If the hoarding is out of control it might be dangerous to go into a hoarders house as something could fall on your or trap you.
3. Good house bad neighborhood?
On the other hand, some houses are fine, but in bad neighborhoods where you might be afraid to go. I have heard issues of Notaries who are assigned jobs at tenement houses where risky looking people are hanging out in front of the building as well.
4. Parking Issues
There are houses where there is no place to park in certain types of communities as well.
5. GPS Issues
You might have houses on roads that are not on your GPS which is an interesting phenomenon.
6. Construction
If a house is having construction there could be issues. There could be dust that is not safe for you to breathe. There could be vehicles blocking you or equipment strewn all over the place. There might also be noise issues.
7. Smells
If you went to a house where they were cooking exotic food, you might smell an intense aroma of garam masala or something of that nature. You might hear the sounds of Vietnamese being spoken loudly too. Some people are sensitive to these things.
8. Sound
If you in a house that is noisy, that can be an issue. Some people do not turn off the television or have noisy rambunctious children dressed in Spider Man outfits.
9. Animals
Some houses have animals that are annoying or dangerous. Owners of dogs are genetically predispositioned to assume that the rest of the world just love dogs, and in particular their dogs and enjoy being viciously barked at, lunged at, and jumped on by their uncivilized furry friends. Not so. I had one borrower put their dog behind a closed door, only for Fido to emerge unannounced and jump all over me. Try locking the door and take people’s safety and comfort more seriously.
10. Attorneys
If you go to a signing and there are Attorneys or Brokers, you might be in for a long haul where there are line by line explanations. Couldn’t you do this before the signing?
11. Haunted
There might be ghosts in particular places. If so, tell the ghosts not to bother you during the signing and ask them to come back with some sort of etherial ID if they want to be notarized.
So, what are some of the worst houses or situations you have gone into?
I’ve experienced several of these, including the haunted building. I notarized documents in/for a bar/tavern that was on the Historic Record, was over one hundred years old, and had been a brothel at one time. Before and after Prohibition it operated in some capacity. More than one person had been killed on the premises over the years and there were some strange goings on. Photos taken in the mirror showed things you didn’t know were there, and then weren’t; you looked up into the ‘brothel’ area and could sometimes hear and see odd things; and the crawlspace was a horror all its own!
Comment by Ann — November 15, 2019 @ 6:27 pm
The worst was a dirty house with lots of cats and the smell of urine. I almost threw up, had to hold my breath. The fastest signing ever. There was no room to sign docs. The table was full of dirty dishes as was the kitchen and the funny part was that she asked me if I wanted a glass of water. No way. I even left my extra pens that they used. Second place, was an post acute center. This place looked like the movie “One flew over the cuckoos nest” very sad and scary.
Comment by lupe — November 15, 2019 @ 8:04 pm
I have witnessed in filthy and hoarder homes, Animal hoarder homes, where the only place for me to sit was a tiny part of a couch, tables sticky bc they were not clean, a signing where the only table had bubbled glass…just witnessed a buyer’s package at a job site in their trailer, which was reasonably clean. The ONLY one I don’t want to repeat had a mental rescued dog. The owner was a first time dog owner and SOMEBODY thought that she was a good fit for a dog that had been severely abused. The dog was in his crate Most of the signing, barking off and on. While I was checking documents, the owner left him OUT of his crate and he cornered me in a corner of the kitchen by the signing table. I do NOT mince words. I told her that IF I am bitten my atty husband and I WILL SUE. She dragged her dog back to his crate
A neighbor of DD’s let Their vicious dog bite a neice in the face recently. ALWAYS ask people to put their dogs away during a signing. Even though I am a dog lover and several dogs at signings wanted to come home with me, vicious dogs, IMHO are unredeemable and should be euthanized.
Hey, Ann, DH and I lived in a haunted house for a summer and the ghost/demon walked through a deadbolted door, up the stairs to the 2nd floor apartment, wandered around and then…nothing. I am a believer!
Comment by betty — November 15, 2019 @ 8:11 pm
I live in a hot area. Mid-summer, 115 outside and thats where they wanted to sign….outside. When i said i cant do that, they moved inside and the table, and the whole place, was so disgustingly filthy that i wouldnt touch the table. Roaches, smelly garbage, walls kicked, sledgehammered…down partially. NASTY!
Comment by Wendy Mills — November 17, 2019 @ 2:23 am
What was at one time a “nice house”. Subsequently in a run down condition with: 4 large dogs in cages off of kitchen, one sick older dog roaming inside, 15 cats loose in the house, a large boa constrictor in a terrarium, 2 pigs moving freely within the house, 15 birds, thankfully caged, hairballs the size of softballs all over the floor and a large ashtray that was running over with butts and bein added to during the signing. I wanted to shower as soon as I left the zooresidence.
Comment by Dennis Brooks — December 10, 2019 @ 12:26 am
I’ve had a wide range of homes as well. A home was infested with flea’s, I saw these little black dots on the signed papers would move when i put the just signed paper on the signed stack and I asked if they had fleas the borrower said YES a pest company sprayed earlier in the day. I got bit about 5 times. Another was the home owner failed to secure their pit bull and it nipped my hamstring and ripped my jeans. The home owner gave me $40 for my jeans. I called animal control to report the dog. Others were just old people who didn’t pick up after themselves and dirty dishes and old food was everywhere. One house smelled so bad I dry heaved and said I had a bad cough. I’d say overall about 97% of homes are okay to go into.
Comment by Todd Iacono — January 20, 2020 @ 11:25 pm
I thought I had seen it all until I went to a house that had roaches crawling on the walls in broad daylight. One was crawling on the lamp and the owner flicked it off and it went flying past me. I asked him if it would be ok to move the laundry off his dining room table so that we could sign his documents there. As he picked up the laundry and the newspapers to drop on the floor, thousands of baby roaches went crawling all over the table and chairs. I could see into his kitchen from the table and it has open garbage bags all over the floor. It was disgusting. I stood for the signing and got out as fast as possible. His wife never showed for the signing as she refused to live with him. I had to meet her at another location, thankfully it was clean.
Comment by Linda Rye — January 4, 2021 @ 6:41 pm