Surprise, Surprise!

Every realtor has a story about the strange things that happen while showing homes. I am no exception. The average home buyer  has no idea what goes into making arrangements for their concierge tour of available homes in their price range. Aside from providing water and snacks, which I always try to have strategically placed in the cup holders of the consoles of my SUV, there is the pressure to have scintillating conversation and a cheerful demeanor no matter what we find when we arrive at the scheduled homes. Let's say our clients want to see six homes. That is six phone calls to six realtors who may or may not answer, much less return calls. (Yes, there are some out there. They might even be the ones who put cell phone pictures of their listings onto the MLS instead of hiring a photographer and doing it correctly....but I digress.) Real estate professionals are essentially tour guides at this point in the transaction, and we have to make sure each home is given enough "looking around" time without being late to the next appointment. We don't know until we go out with our buyers on that first outing how much time they'll actually need. Some walk in...walk out. Done. Others look over everything very carefully, feeling the house, wanting to be captured by the essence of it. The vast majority fall in the middle. Then there is the glorious buyer who falls in love and knows they have found "home" as soon as they walk through the door. Real estate professionals must not react to any of these methods of discovery. We must not show our panic when our clients have spent an hour in the first home, we have nudged them to no avail, and now the other five homes must be rearranged because we are going to be very late for all of them. Oh, and they might want to take the kids to lunch, too. That's when we excuse ourselves and rush outside frantically punching in numbers on our cell phones knowing we will need to beg forgiveness from the realtor of the very last home because she was already there and now will either wait or tell us to reschedule for another time. Smiling, we do our best to scurry our buyers along with such innovative thinking as getting into our car, starting the motor and honking...not really. It's what we want to do sometimes, though. But we realize that this is a huge decision for our buyers, and they need as much time as they need. And ultimately, for all of us in the real estate profession, the best part of what we do is seeing our clients fall in love with and purchase the home of their dreams. It makes it all somehow worth the glitches inherent in the process.

Most of the time showing homes goes pretty smoothly and is actually really enjoyable. However, I'm sure I'm not the only realtor who has knocked on the door then rung the doorbell, and there is no answer. I do this every time even though I have an appointment to see the home for reasons that are about to become obvious. The unanswered door is my cue to use my realtor key and escort my clients into the property. Once in a while, though, a surprise awaits our entourage. Case in point a Sunday afternoon not so long ago. As we entered the house, I turned on lights and explained the benefits of the lovely three bedroom, two bath starter home. While my clients were admiring the kitchen, I meandered to the hallway to flip the light switches and heard noises from the master bedroom, a rustling around and some panicked whispering. I was surprised when the bedroom door cracked open and a woman wrapped in a blanket popped her head through, saw me standing nearby and screamed, "Who are you?"

"I'm Kay Farish. I have an appointment to see your home." I am muttering. Embarrassed for all of us.

"My realtor didn't tell me you were coming by. My husband and I are napping." She didn't slam the door, but she did close it and lock it without any more conversation. My cue to exit. I was pretty sure my clients weren't going to take a look at the master suite. And though this incident was not my fault, it kind of looked like it to both the buyer and the seller. The thing is, some realtors actually do just go to a house without calling. Show up at the doorstep and ask to go in without an appointment. Worse yet, they will unlock the front door if the sellers don't answer. It's a thing. Really. Anyway, I did have a conversation with the realtor who forgot to call her clients later in the day.

On a different day, with different clients, I'd made arrangements to see a condo in which they were interested. The appointment was confirmed with the listing realtor. All was a go. Again, I always ring the doorbell and knock on the door. I did both on this day and walked my buyers inside. I heard running water but thought it was perhaps the washing machine left on. But as we walked through the home I had a strange feeling there we were not alone. I excused myself for a moment from my clients and headed toward the sound of the water. In the master shower I happened on the lady of the house with the bubbles from her shampoo frothing on the shower door. I don't think she ever saw me. I didn't want her to be embarrassed, so I corralled my clients toward the front door, explaining that the seller was not dressed.

And there are stories of barking, biting, ferocious dogs and harrowing adventures about cats that get past you with lightning speed. You never know what you'll experience. Most of the time we see all six homes with no schedule breakdowns and no woman in the shower. It's an adventure every time, and the doing of it bonds us to our amazing clients.

Bottom line: Exceptional real estate professionals spend enough time making the home tour fun and informative. We have listened to your wants and needs, we've discovered homes we believe will fit your desires, and we've connected with the listing realtors so that they understand just who is coming to view their homes. It's our job to make the time as seamless as possible, to keep everything on schedule, and to spare our clients and the sellers any embarrassing moments. Things happen, but in a perfect world, it won't be our fault. We will have done everything in our power to create an experience that will be memorable...and in a good way.