11 Strange Things That Immediately Tell You A House Is Not Being Maintained Properly
Drazen Zigic | Shutterstock From the moment you step into someone's house, the details of how they've arranged their space can tell you how taken care of that space is. While some signs of neglect are more obvious than others, like an overgrown lawn or a noticeable hole in the roof, there are other subtle but strange things that immediately tell you a house is not being maintained properly. Even when things look normal at first glance, there's always little things that give it away. Maybe it's the paint chipping and peeling in certain places or the front door creaks every single time it's being opened or shut.
Most people might walk past these things without thinking anything of it, but these little quirks tell you a lot about how well a home is cared for by the owner. There's nothing easy about owning a home, though. It's often described as a money-pit, where you're constantly having to spend on things that need to be fixed or else it could lead to a much bigger problem. Some homeowners have gotten really good at making due with what they have because their finances aren't set up to handle the problems.
Here are 11 strange things that immediately tell you a house is not being maintained properly
1. Mailbox overflowing with junk mail
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No one enjoys opening up their mailbox to see nothing but spam and junk letters. Usually, people tend to throw them away. In fact, an estimated 44% of junk mail is thrown away unopened.
But when you go to someone's house and their mailbox is just overflowing with that junk mail, it can be a sign that their home is not being properly maintained. It means that no one has been checking it regularly.
It's not a task that's on that person's mind, and that could be for a plethora of reasons. Maybe they're just busy dealing with other life things and they don't have time to keep up. But seeing an overflowing mailbox can be a sign that things inside the house could also be in the same kind of disarray.
2. A cracked or dirty bathtub
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The second that we use the bathroom at someone else's home, we tend to pick up on the state of everything. We'll open up their medicine cabinet just to have a glance or even peel back the shower curtain to see how their tub looks.
Sure, it's invasive, but considering we're all very curious people, in general, it's something that we can't help but doing. When an individual does that and notices that someone's tub is incredibly worn and maybe even a little bit dirty, it can leave the impression that they aren't really taking care of their bathroom, nor do they care to.
They may clean their tub every single week on their designated cleaning days, but they clearly aren't using the right products to ensure the dirt and grime is being properly removed.
3. Loose stair railings
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When someone is walking down the stairs in someone else's home and notices the railings are either wobbly or just unstable in any way, it's one of the strange things that immediately tell you a house is not being maintained properly. Considering stair railings are meant to support people as they go up and down the stairs, it can end up being a real hazard as well.
Just blatantly ignoring the problem isn't always a reflection of poor maintenance but also caring about the safety of your guests too. Loose railings are also quite hard to ignore. Every time someone uses the stairs, they notice the wobble or even the creaks. It's a constant reminder that the repairs are long overdue.
4. Door hinges squeaking or sticking
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While that little creak when you open someone's door in their house can seem minor at first, if it's happening constantly and every single time you're over, it could mean something more. It's not just annoying, but it usually means that they haven't oiled or adjusted their door in quite a long time.
The squeakiness of a door hinge could be tied to dust, dirt, and just general wear which ends up causing friction. If left completely unchecked, it could leave to even bigger problems down the road.
Instead, they're comfortable just dealing with a squeaky or sticky door in their house rather than doing something about it. And if something as simple as their door is being neglected, it can't help but leave you wondering what else in their house is being overlooked.
5. A faded welcome mat
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Considering a welcome mat is usually the first thing people see before they enter your home, it really sets the tone for their impression of the rest of the home. On top of that, mats help protect your home from tracking in any unwanted dirt and grime by at least 90%.
When someone notices that your welcome mat is a little faded or even torn, it can leave them thinking that you may not care about the upkeep of other parts of your home. The mat is usually being exposed to all kinds of elements, from rain to snow, but being able to replace or maintain your mat is often just part of having one in the first place.
Letting the mat just slowly deteriorate outside of your front door might just not be essential upkeep. It might not seem like that big of a detail, but it's still part of the details of your home.
6. A moldy basement smell
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The damp, musty odor of someone's basement is one of the very strange things that immediately tell you a house is not being maintained properly, and that moisture problems have gone unchecked for quite some time. There's usually a larger maintenance problem attached to having a moldy-smelling basement as well.
Whether it's from some kind of leak or just poor ventilation, it can be an unpleasant smell for guests, especially if you're constantly hosting people in your basement for parties or other kinds of social gatherings. Without being properly addressed, it can also be detrimental to health of people that are coming over and even those that live in the home to begin with.
7. Chipped paint on the front door
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Just as a welcome mat is what guests first see before entering someone's home, the same can be said for the front door. If your front door has paint chipping and peeling from it, many people will make the assumption about what the inside of your home looks like too.
They might assume there's paint chipping on the walls inside just based on how little you might care about keeping up with the paint on the front door. However, what people may not realize is that homeowners already have a lot on their plate already.
They're constantly worrying about the interior of their home that they sometimes they forget about the outside. In fact, over 21 million renter households spent more than 30% of their income on housing costs in 2023. Sometimes they're just too burdened by other things to worry about the paint on their front door.
8. Clogged drains
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If someone's visiting another person's home, and they go to use their shower or even just wash their hands in the sink, only to see that the drain is just clogged, it can signal to them that the home may not be taken care of.
Considering a backed-up drain comes with the territory of having a home and is usually unavoidable, it's not the clogged drain itself that causes people to view someone's home in a negative light at all. But it's usually the fact that it's gone unaddressed that raises red flags.
For the most part, clogged drains can be fixed by Draino or some other clogging dissolvent. In other cases, you have to call in some kind of plumber to fix the job for you. Of course, the latter can be time-consuming and maybe even a little bit expensive, but that's a whole lot better than subjecting people to having to work around the clogged drains in your home.
9. A missing doorbell
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While more than 8 in 10 American homes now contain smart tech — including their doorbells, according to a survey of 5,000 American homeowners — there are still some people who rely on their old-school doorbell without the fancy tech. Regardless, not having a doorbell at all, especially if there was once a space for it that is obviously missing, can be a sign of things being overlooked and not taken care of in the home.
Having a missing doorbell in the first place can affect the experience of people visiting. It's just inconvenient as guests either have to knock or text to let the homeowner know they're outside, rather than just being able to ring the doorbell.
On top of that, you're not being alerted to packages or other important notices. It might not seem like that big of a detail, but not taking the necessary steps to make sure your doorbell is working and visible can only lead to more stress.
10. Dusty ceiling fans
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Since we're not properly examining our ceiling fans, it can be hard to miss the dirt that's accumulating on them. Especially if it's been months and months where the fan hasn't been used, like during the winter, it's easy to just neglect dusting up there. But the second you turn the fan on, you're being rained down by dust that is definitely not hard to miss, and is a clearly strange thing that immediately tells you a house is not being maintained properly.
While you may end up cleaning every other area of your home, not paying attention to your ceiling fans can leave an impression on guests who may come over and notice it immediately when they look up. With how quickly dust accumulates, you can barely blink before realizing that your ceiling fans are actually in need of a quick sweep with a duster.
11. Broken blinds
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A sign that a house is not being maintained properly could sometimes lie in the way that someone's blinds may look. If their blinds are crooked, missing some flaps, or just broken altogether, it could usually mean that a homeowner isn't on top of the repairs, even for something as minuscule as the blinds.
Just like other parts of a home's exterior, the blinds are usually someone's first sneak peek into how someone might keep the inside of their home. If the blinds are constantly askew, it could leave the impression that other things inside the home might be twisted as well, including their mental health or state of mind. Damaged blinds just aren't functional, and by that definition, they're usually not that attractive to look at either.
Nia Tipton is a staff writer with a bachelor’s degree in creative writing and journalism who covers news and lifestyle topics that focus on psychology, relationships, and the human experience.
