What's that smell???
I had an appointment to show a listing recently. The seller had told me to come at 3:30 because another agent was going to show the house at 2:45. Not a problem, if we get there and they are still showing the house, we will wait in the car.
We arrived around to 3:25 and there were some cars in the driveway, one was definitely a Realtor due to the signs on his doors.
As we sat and watched the people going in and out of the house, we noticed that they were all smoking cigarettes. That wasn't the first thing I noticed because in the listing it said please remove shoes. These people were not taking their shoes off and they felt the need to smoke in the house. At first I thought it might have been the owners who had stepped outside while the house was being shown but everyone climbed into the Realtor's SUV and drove off together.
My clients, being from out of state, asked if it was normal to smoke in someone else's house here in Washington. I told them, that there are no rules prohibiting smoking while on tour, I think that it is more proper to step outside as a sign of respect. Also, if some requests shoes to be removed, we take off our shoes.
As I stepped inside, I looked around to see if there were ashtrays or some other reason that these people thought it was OK to smoke. I couldn't find any ashtrays, but we could smell the previous visitors smoke.
I sell homes to smokers and nonsmokers however my clients who smoke, never smoke in my car or in a house we're looking at.
I got a call, from a very dissatisfied seller, reading me the Riot Act about smoking in her house. She said that we even left a cigarette butt in the master toilet. I told her that it was not my clients or me but we had witnessed the previous people who had toured the home smoking. I said that she might wanna call him!
"He's not returning my calls!" she said.
Do you allow your clients, who smoke, to smoke in other people's houses you tour?
This post was authored by Paul Henderson ©2012, All Rights Reserved, This content may not be reproduced or reprinted (Except for ActiveRain Re-blogging) without express written permission of Paul Henderson, RE/MAX Professionals, Tacoma, WA.
ClipArt by Microsoft
Comments (180)Subscribe to CommentsComment