Real Estate Blog - What if You Were in the Shower and a Stranger Entered Your Home Through the Lockbox?

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What if You Were in the Shower and a Stranger Entered Your Home Through the Lockbox?

Usually, the types of phone calls I receive from Sacramento buyer's agents are ripe with questions that are answered in MLS. But I understand that some agents don't print out MLS reports or skim over them so quickly that they miss important data. In an attempt to help them, I generally attach a document to my listings that contains tips on how to write an offer, especially on my short sale listings because there aren't very many Sacramento short sale agents in town.

In the confidential agent remarks, I make reference to the attached document and ask agents to please read it. However, few do. Or if they do read it, the information doesn't seem to register. You can lead a horse to water . . .

Yesterday afternoon an agent called, filled with apologies, repeating over and over that he tried to show a home that had an alarm, and the alarm was going off. He gave me the house number of, let's say, 1234. The house at 1234 is in pending status in MLS. Did the agent mean 1233? I have a listing at 1233 in active short contingent status with an alarm that is vacant, but 1234 is owner occupied.

It appeared that this agent did not know the name of the street. I finally pulled the address out of him and realized the agent had tried to enter my pending short sale listing at 1234. And the alarm was indeed activated.

The scenario most likely played out like this: The agent was showing homes to a buyer on this particular street when the buyer spotted a rogue For Sale sign. That home wasn't on his buyer's tour. So, the buyer asked to see the home. The agent, being unfamiliar with the neighborhood, did not know if the home was a new listing, a foreclosure listing, a short sale listing or even if the home was in pending status.

So, the agent did the unthinkable. Without calling the listing agent or the listing agent's office -- and the phone numbers were clearly visible on the sign -- the agent accessed the lockbox, knocked on the door, got no answer and simply used the key from the lockbox to enter the home. This set off the alarm.

In the interest of time, I gave the agent the cell phone number of the seller. A few minutes later the seller called me, wanting to know why the agent had entered his home without permission. Then he answered his own question, recalling what I had told him when I took the listing. Some buyer's agents don't read MLS. The seller didn't appear upset about it. But what if you were in the shower and somebody walked into your home? Or what if you were, um, otherwise preoccupied? I think I was more disturbed by it than the seller.

Possession of a display key does not give an agent the right to access a lockbox and enter a home without either reading the showing instructions in MLS or calling the listing agent. I'm wondering, maybe I should hide the lockboxes on my pending and contingent listings?

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Elizabeth Weintraub is an author, home buying columnist for The New York Times-owned About.com, a Land Park resident, and a Land Park real estate agent who specializes in older, classic homes in Land Park, Curtis Park, Midtown and East Sacramento. Weintraub is also a Sacramento Short Sale agent who lists and successfully sells short sales throughout Sacramento. Call Elizabeth Weintraub at 916.233.6759. Put 35 years of real estate experience to work for you. DRE License # 00697006.

The Short Sale Savior, by Elizabeth Weintraub, available through bookstores everywhere and at Amazon.com.

Photo: Unless otherwise noted in this blog, the photo is copyrighted by Big Stock Photo and used with permission.

Posted by Elizabeth Weintraub, Sacramento Short Sale Agent, 916.233.6759, Lyon RE on 10/19/2009 09:06 AM

Comments (17)

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Originally posted at: Elizabeth Weintraub • Sacramento Short Sale Agent • Land Park: What if You Were in the Shower and a Stranger Entered Your Home Through the Lockbox?

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17 Comments on What if You Were in the Shower and a Stranger Entered Your Home Through the Lockbox?

OCT

Elizabeth - we have an agent in our area that has started pulling up to random homes with for sale signs in the yard, and walking right in. Two of our agents have caught him doing this (including me). I finally called his broker and complained, and his broker told me he had been in a car accident and sustained a traumatic brain injury. HELLO!! Should he even HAVE a lockbox key? I can think of a thousand scenarios where this could spell trouble...especially here in the country where people keep shotguns under their beds.

Elizabeth - I hate when this happens. It doesn't take long to call the number on the sign and get the needed information. Hiding the lock boxes does sound a bit extreme, but sometimes extreme measures are called for.

How about vacant homes where agents take their clients in over and over again and then try to continue that thru the deal..it really makes me uncomfortable when agents take advantage of the lockbox. I have my lockboxes assigned to homes and registered online with our system and I can see the activity going on. I recently had to call an agent and just straight up ask him why he was in the house 4 times this last week? And I do sometimes put the lockbox in a more discreet place if the showing instructions have limitations. I'm not sure there is a 100% fix.

The thought of setting off an alarm or being greeted by a hostile pet makes me extremely wary of ever, ever using a keybox without an appointment.

Linda Metallo, Re/max Impact, Lockport, Il.

Elizabeth: Some buyers agents just don't know how to say NO when those buyers spot a for sale sign in the neighborhood they are touring. It happens every time I take a buyer out. I tell them, j"Jott down the address and I'll look it up later. However, there's a good chance it's not in your price range, not active, or otherwise doesn't meet your criteria if we haven't already come across it."

No excuse for entering a property without an appt Luckily this doesn't happen to often here but it seems that agents do feel they have the right to go back again and again without making appts when the know the property is vacant. Luckily the keyboxes tell us exactly who is entering the property.

Hi Lina: That is bizarre. Why isn't the agent home recovering instead of wandering into homes? His broker is responsible for that agent's actions. In fact, the agent who committed this particular error yesterday works for my company, so I may notify his manager, just to make sure that somebody explains procedure to him.

Hi Mike: Yeah, I'm thinking I might need to apply extreme measures in this market because buyer's agents are desperate for inventory and who knows what they may do!

Hi Gary and April: I watch the activity online as well and often wonder why agents go back to the same home over and over. What are they up to?

Hi Linda: My cat once cornered a couple who were viewing my home, so it's not just the dogs that can cause bodily harm. Although, at least they bark. Cats are sneaky and quiet.

Hi Chris Ann: I realize that sometimes buyers think we miss a house or are hiding homes from them, but when I'm showing homes in areas that I know well, I generally know why that home is not on tour and can explain it.

Hi Judy: The SUPRA lockbox system has a feature where it can send showing reports via email. So, I receive them periodically all day long, which saves on time because I don't have to go directly to the web site or pull up the showing report in MLS to check.

Thanks for sharing this - I took the liberty to Re-Blog wioth this Inro...

This is so typical...buyer agents want it all and they want it now...why bother reading when they can pick up the phone (or not).

In my case, I list primarily Bank Owned Properties (REO) and the seller does not want to see the combo in the MLS, so I have Buyer Agents email me with basic contact info before I release the combo.

I ask for a 24 hour period, to respond.

Wanna guess how many agents call and demand the number now, that they don't have 24 hours?

Don't get me wrong, most combos go out within an hour or two...the 24 is just there to give me a cushion of reasonableness, just in case I should decide to take time off...

Liz - What a nightmare! Some agents just need to be whapped upside the head!

Once we were working with a realtor (before I got into the business) and he was taking me around, showing houses.....I really have NO idea how old his printout was, because one of the homes we visited didn't have a lockbox, so he knocked on the door, and was greeted by the baffled new owner of the house.

I said to the shocked new owner "So does that mean you are not interested in selling?"

AWKWARD!

Also, different story, same real estate agent: we fired him (are you shocked??). He said it would be a couple of days before he could return the key and get the lockbox off of the front door.....my husband instructed him NOT to come to the door, NOT to contact me, and to stay out of our house.

Which, apparently, he took to mean that he could come in.

I jammed a chair under the doorknob.

Scary.

Elizabeth- I speak from personal experience about having a Buyer and Realtor show up with no appointment and my being at home! I was not a happy camper and if I remember correctly it was early enough in the morning that I hadn't had time to straighten up the kitchen or rest of the house. Very unprofessional. There was a time in Houston (this was many years ago) that it got so bad that Sellers (especially of houses at a certain pricepoint) required a representative from the listing agency accompany the showing.

OMG, I can't imagine going into a house for sale without an appointment. That is incredible. I'd be scared to do it.

If my buyer spots a for-sale sign as we're touring and wants to see it, I always call the showing service or listing agent. Chances are the reason I didn't already have the house on the showing list is that it is under contract or out of my buyer's price range. After that happens a couple of times, my buyer gets the message.

Elizabeth - I think that hiding the lockbox on your pending sales is a GREAT idea. There is so much frustration right now from agents on both sides of the fence (buyers - sellers), that any remedy to relieve anxiety would border on the miraculous.

It does seem getting information on the status of many listings is like pulling teeth on an untranquilzed kangaroo. The number #1 complaint among buyer agents - They can't get the listing agent to return calls about status, and the MLS status is not always current or accurate.

Thank goodness, Sacramento has you Elizabeth, as a short-sale specialist. I've seen how you do business. You're cell phone is always within quick grasp to answer any question sent your way about your listings and transactions. That's a very rare commodity.

Elizabeth -- so many houses are vacant right now, however. The MLS info clearly shows that the house is vacant and the phone-to-show number also says vacant. Or the listing says "vacant," and there's still a phone to show number. Now, I try to call the listing agent as often as possible before showing any houses, but very often can't get 'hold of them before showing. So off we go. ...

When out with a client and we see a listing that isn't on our tour, I try to always call the listing agent, or at least look up the listing on my Blackberry for status and showing info before ever walking into a house. And most of the time we don't visit that "rogue" house for whatever reason.

Here's the rub, however -- so often the listing agent hasn't updated the MLS properly. The house status has changed; the sellers are considering another offer; the house is now vacant/rented/pending ... whatever. And the agent isn't answering their phone. Or the PTS is the agent's number. Or, here's the one that gets you in trouble: the listing clearly says, call for appointment, if no answer go ahead and show!

It's a screwy business out here right now. Responsible agents are doing great! Everything is as it should be. But I've been working with first timer's a lot and, in my area, that's a lot of short sale and REO properties. I dunno. I think some of those agents oughta be put in quarantine or something.

Anyway, my point here is that making an appointment isn't always possible even when all avenues are tried.

BTW, I HAVE walked in on a seller in the shower. And we did call for an appointment and, as indicated on the listing arrived to show the house when here was no answer. I rang the doorbell before entering the house with the lockbox. And the seller was in the shower. How embarrassing for everyone. Thank heavens we heard the shower before entering! YIKES!

I've had people that were a bit freaked out when I did have an appointment... seems that the agent forgot to tell the seller.

We ALL need to communicate.

Maybe a couple of agents get charged with unlawful entry would get there attention.

I showed the wrong house on the right street the other day. I didn't realize it was the wrong one until the listing agent told me later. So we can do some dumb things innocently.

OCT

Hi John: I don't think that 24 hours is unreasonable. After all, if the home was tenant occupied, a buyer's agent would most likely have to give 24 hours' notice to the tenant.

Hi Coleen: Your comments made me laugh. Some agents are clueless, all right.

Hi Kathy: It would be a shame to revert to having to be there in person to show listings, but agents really should respect the rules of MLS.

Hi Robin: You're right, of course, we can't blame the buyer. It's up to the buyer's agent to educate the buyer.

Hi Myrl: I try not to miss phone calls, but sometimes when 2 calls are coming in together, it can't be helped if one of those goes to voice mail.

Hi Gay: I, too, have walked in on a seller in the shower, but that was on a listing that said the home was vacant.

Hi Lane: Yeah, the "my agent never called me" happens sometimes.

Hi Terry: I don't know if I'd go so far as to say we should charge these agents with criminal activity because mistakes can happen. We're all human.

Hi Barbara: I showed the wrong house a few months ago, too. Fortunately, the sellers weren't home. And I did leave my business card. But it was pretty funny when the buyer showed me the photo in MLS of a living room and that was NOT the living room we were standing in.

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