When someone welcomes you to their humble abode for the first time, the kind thing to do is be open-minded and non-judgmental. You may not love the rug they chose for the living room, or you might secretly be noticing that your home is more spacious. But as long as they’re a courteous host, you can keep your criticisms to yourself!
But what are we to do when we arrive at someone’s house and find a litter box that hasn’t been cleaned in a month, dirty dishes overflowing in the sink or a concerning amount of weapons on display? Redditors have recently been sharing the biggest red flags that one might find when visiting another person’s home, so enjoy scrolling through and be sure to upvote the things that would send you running for the hills too!
#1
Boxes of classified documents sitting next to the shitter
Pets that are not cared for properly.
#3
A sad parrot in a small, dirty cage that is never let out. Birds are so smart and live so long. It’s cruelty. I hate people who keep them cooped up, ignored, and don’t change their water.
#4
No books.
I dated a guy that laughed at me for buying a bookshelf because “who the f**k reads books.”
Edit to add: I truly didn’t mean to offend digital only readers. I read ebooks and I listen to a lot of audiobooks; I’m not Laura Ingalls Wilder over here living in a little house on the prairie. The comments that are snarky or trying to point out that I am old or that I’ve never heard of a library are also red flags.
#5
No hand soap in the bathroom
#6
i don’t know if it counts as “see”, but family members yelling/fighting while I’m there. Like what’s happening when you DON’T have a guest over??
#7
Children’s bedroom doors with locks on the outside and bathrooms with doors that don’t lock. I was honestly horrified to find them installed when we moved in to our new home.
Edit: To clarify, these were latch and ring, padlock, locks.
#8
extreme pet smell/mess/signs of fleas is a huge one for me. Trash piled beyond the trash can, taking over the cooking/eating surfaces
#9
A wall of crosses. Creepy af.
#10
Never any clean towels. One time my ex knew I was staying over, and he had absolutely no clean towels — gave me a T-shirt to dry off with.
#11
Dirty bathroom. Dirty toliet. I get that someone’s house can’t always be immaculate but if I see grim in the toliet, gross, that is a total red flag!! Especially if you invited me over and still didn’t clean your toliet.
My son played sports with a boy who I would give rides home to a lot. One time I couldn’t wait to get home to pee and asked to use her restroom. It was so bad I didn’t go and just waited till I drove across town to get home. 😫
#12
Not having pillow cases on the bed. You know those sheets and blankets are filthy then
#13
Roaches… and bedbugs
#14
Zip ties, duct tape, a balaclava, and nitrile gloves, all in a plastic bag.
#15
Nothing wrong with being into anime and having merch. But if I notice a lot of posters and figures of characters that are very young and childish looking particularly ones that are clearly meant to be sexualized I’m gonna ask a lot of questions
#16
Filth. Piles of dirty dishes, nasty stove tops, disgusting floors, heaps of dirty laundry, mountains of trash.
#17
I would imagine anybody who has old uncovered food lying around. Anybody who is willing to leave old uneaten food uncovered in their home screams unsanitary.
#18
Expensive PC and everything else is broken and rundown
#19
Girl I went in a few dates with told me she’d let me come in next time bc her place was messy and didn’t want me to see. We went to her place after our next date – she asked me to wait outside while she tidied up a bit first – and her rabbit cage was in the middle of the floor and it had thrown s**t out of the cage all around the floor. She had several full garbage bags in the corner. I don’t remember the other details but it was filthy. This was after she had cleaned and also done a quick tidy. I’m not exactly Martha Stewart but the s**t just laying on the floor was too much for me.
#20
Neglected children or pets, filth, broken furniture/appliances, evidence of extreme hoarding, evidence of drug or alcohol abuse, really inappropriate ‘art’…you’ll know it when you see it.
#21
When it’s extremely messy. I can understand a moderate amount of disorganization, but when I have to jump over piles of dirty clothes and trash, that’s when I know I need to leave.
#22
House hunting and the homeowner was home at one place when our realtor was told he’d be out. He was pissed off we were there, but let us in and kind of hovered in the background while we looked around.
There was barely any furniture and trash all over the floor. The walls were hung with about a dozen professional wedding portraits — all with the bride’s eyes gouged out. Then we saw the fist-sized holes in the walls and we got out of there.
#23
no soap at the bathroom sink. look, i’ll scuff at my hands with that dehydrated yeti toenail of a Dial bar curled up in the corner of your shower if I must. but damn..what’s it take to Irish spring your a*s down to the DG and buy a little aloe-scented pump action for a buck?
#24
MLM inventory for their “business” or they buy a lot of MLM stuff. Minus a normal amount of Tupperware.
#25
I think signs of alcoholism can be problematic, but not necessarily. But if my kids want to play at other kids homes, this is a red flag.
#26
“Sorry I had no time to clean before your visit” when the place has obviously not been cleaned in like a year. Yikes.
#27
They’re messy. Not like, clothes lying on the floor, but moldy dishes and trash all over the floor. I’m a bit of a neat freak, so that would drive me up the wall. If it’s due to mental health and they’re at least trying, I can empathize a bit. If it’s because they’re just lazy or make excuses they refuse to attempt to work on… no.
#28
Moldy dog poop inside, the outside garbage bins in the living room, 4 metal NYC garbage cans in the kitchen
#29
Smell of not properly ventilated place, a huge mess and unclean surfaces
#30
Live laugh love.