I am showing and selling homes in the middle of this Corona Virus pandemic. It has been a laugh a minute and an accommodation to the new reality.
On Saturday I showed a property to a client who has a limited geographic focus and a definite price point. There are not lots of homes available for him to look at. A new listing came on the market which was being sold in "as is" condition. The "as is" condition was fine but it really doesn't actual;y capture the reality of the house. The seller, who hasn't lived in the house for over two years, was/is a hoarder - so the house is jammed full of stuff, making it hard to move around from room to room. Oh - and did I say there is mold in the house - but the listing agent wasn't sure what kind of mold it actually was.
Being mindful of the admonition to stay six feet from each other, I unlocked the house and let the buyers go into the house. I stood outside with their ten year old daughter, keeping my ears open. Then..... their daughter said -
Oh, a cat just ran in the house.
Excuse me...what did you say?
A cat just ran in the house.
Oh.
So.... I went into the house - and sure enough. There was a very pretty, glossy and well fed cat who was running into one of the bedrooms. This was not a feral cat. It was clearly a cat who belonged to someone in the neighborhood. Once the cat saw me, it proceeded to do what cats always do when they are the center of attention. The cat hid - in this case, under a disgusting bed in the middle of a room filled with so much stuff that I couldn't get into the room. I squeezed in, knocking things over and breaking other things. I tried to get to the cat. The cat ran out into the hall and up the stairs. We went through the same drill. The cat then ran out of that room as I made a grab for it in the doorway T.he cat eluded my grasp but fortunately ran back down the stairs. Once downstairs, the cat tried to run into another room, but that door was partially blocked so the cat turned around and ran out the front door. THANK HEAVENS. because I had no idea how I was going to catch that cat or secure the house. It clearly was a cat from a nearby home - not some feral cat used to coming and going into the house and I definitely didn't want to leave it in the house.
All's well that ends well! The buyers are even thinking of making an offer on the house - without the cat!
and it was nice to deal with a disaster that had nothing to do with the corona virus.
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