No, I have never listed a haunted house,

but if you sell real estate long enough you have your own horror stories, some spooky and some just nightmares................

So, I thought in the spirit of the season

I would tell you my five worst nightmares from the 20 years I have been selling real estate.

#5 - I was out showing homes to a perspective buyer and of course I had made appointments on each one.  We walked up to the door, no one was supposed to be home, rang the door bell, no answer so we went in...walked through the home, it's nice and quiet...went into the master bedroom to discover the bed looked unmade.  As we were walking out of the master bedroom, up popped the owner's boyfriend from the bed.  Scared my client to death!

#4 - Listed a Sacramento County probate property and it was occupied by a relative of the former owner, who happened to be a "little off".   He had decided to move into the property...with no electricity, no water, and boarded up windows.  It's always very interesting to walk into a totally dark home and find a squatter in it!  Well, this one refused to leave and we had to have him removed by the local police.  The problem was he kept finding other ways to break back into the house!  Each time we had to call out the police and they would arrest him for breaking and entering - he really didn't care of course.  We never thought we would get rid of him, and then get the house sold and closed!  We did, but what a disclosure nightmare!

#3 - We listed a nice Tahoe Park REO listing - 2 story home on a corner lot with a built in pool.  Everything was going fine, until one day we were doing our weekly inspections, opened up the door to a huge mess....thieves had come in during the night and stripped the property of the copper pipes.  To get the copper pipes, they had to open up the walls - they just tore them up.  They ripped apart th walls from the first floor up to the second floor!  At least they turned off the water for us!

#2 - We listed a Sacramento condominium for an out of town owner.  He hadn't been to the property in some time and yet it was full of furniture and personal items.  As we were going through the property, we discovered what appeared to be a pipe bomb under the kitchen sink.  Had to call in the police and when they took a look at it, they called in the Bomb Squad.  It's a little nerve racking watching the bomb squad go in to one of your listings - especially a condominium with very close neighbors - to remove a bomb!  It turned out the "pipe bomb" was full of cash! $7,000!

#1 - And last but not least as I don't know if this one will ever go away......................                                     

We listed a home in the Rancho Cordova area...nice older gentleman owned it and had for a long time.  We sold it for full price, I believe...everything went fairly smoothly during the transaction.  After the transaction was completed and the seller had moved and was very happy...we were contacted by a "girlfriend" of his...who had been living with him.  We had met her on a couple of occasions and she seemed distant but fine.  She had no rights to the property, no title to it, no investment in it.......but after we closed she came back to us very threatening and said that we had ripped off the seller, forced him to sell, and she was going to sue us all.  She turned into the "wicked witch of the west!"  The worst part of it is she seems to go crazy....once every few months (for the past 5 years)....and makes these calls again.  She says she is coming into our office to get us, she's going to sue us, she's going to hurt us...someone else will get us...it's been about 6 months since we heard from her last, but who knows with Halloween approaching..............

I'm sure all of my fellow Realtors have their own "Real Estate Nighmares" from the real estate business.  Hopefully not too many, but if you are in this business long enough, you are going to run across some pretty bizarre things..............

Have a safe and Happy Halloween!                            

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Lori Mode and Bruce Durham, Keller Williams Realty in Elk Grove, CA

               www.AllElkGroveHomes.com