Ug

That Ug-guy (the one who buys ugly houses) is in the business of taking fixer-uppers off the market. When Ug gets to them first and makes superficial repairs, that's great for the sellers, but a booger for the buyers.

Ug got to one of the houses we looked at a week ago. There were a lot of nice things about the house. But we didn't like the way the kitchen had been remodeled. If we had bought the place before Ug, we would've made very different decisions about where the new carpeting would go, and how much kitchen counter there'd be. But when something all new has been put in, it's hard to think about buying a house with plans to rework all those things that were just changed and made all-new. Such a waste of money. But putting in new carpet and new cupboards seem to be standard procedure when people are getting ready to sell a house. (One friend, though, who's improving his home with thoughts of selling in the next couple of years, he's doing high-quality work. That's different than doing what's needed to merely "flip" a house.)