I had a day full of showings this past weekend for a buyer client. When I say full I mean 9-5 with a quick lunch break of nothing but touring houses. Among the 15+ homes we saw there were a few that truly deserve to be blogged about. Now let me say that I am not a "strict" agent and I can see past most things but in this day in age, EVERY effort should be made, especially when I give a full days notice of the showing. So Listing Agents listen up, if this sounds like one of your listings you may be wasting your time & money!
House #1
Upon exiting the vehicle, I was greeted by a LARGE mix breed dog that continuously jumped at me, I walked toward the front door to be greeted by a dauchtshund (sp?) scratching at the sidelight. We were a few minutes early, so I figured maybe the homeowners had not left yet. My clients and I rode around the neighborhood for a few minutes and returned. I again walked to the front door and the small dog is STILL scratching at the sidelight. HMMM, there was no mention of a dog in the showing instructions, hopefully he doesnt bite. Although the dog was friendly, it was still distracting to be followed around the house by this dog. If you have an inside pet on your listing, ask the sellers to crate the animal or atleast inform any agents that the dog is friendly so we dont look cluless to our clients.
House #2
If your client is an avid hunter (which half of my family is so I am accustomed to it) advise him that not everyone can appreciate an 8 pointer mounted to the wall or a stuffed turkey displayed in the large opening above the fireplace; rather than a TV. My Clients were very disturbed by the 2 enormous deer head mounted to the wall surrounding the fireplace, the large stuffed Turkey in the TV Box, 2 Ducks mounted to a peice of wood on the opposite wall, and a shadow box coffee table where an entire turkey spread was encased. All of this was displayed in the LIVING ROOM! Not a trophy room, or secondary bedroom, as soon as you walk in the door you are face to face with animal trophies! The rest of the house seemed pretty normal and I advised my clients to look past the "animal decor'. The only other note was the cute shelf/cornice that had been installed above the kitchen window which featured lined up beer bottles from one end to the other. NICE!
House #3
WOW! This guy had no intentions of selling this house -EVER- and if I were the listing agent, I would pull my sign up and speed away, never looking back! When I scheduled the showing I was informed the "seller would let me in". HMM, odd, but I have seen this before. I had a listing of which the seller was a Marshall and had important documents & weapons in the home, therefore he preferred that agents and buyers could not be completely left alone which is understandable. When a showing was scheduled the wife would put out the lock box and ride around the neighborhood or go across the street. This was not the case with this seller. I went to the door first to greet the seller and introduce myself and make sure everything was fine for the showing. I was taken back when he said "come on in, I am just eating lunch on the couch". UM OKAY...so I signaled for my clients to come in, expecting this guy to step out at any time, but he just plopped back down on the couch and proceeded to finish his pizza and watch the game. Of course myself & my clients are uncomfortable roaming around this guys house with him sitting right there but we were here so we might as well view the home. The master bedroom was half painted, literally roller marks partially up the wall. The room was disheveled with no effort being made to make the bed, clean up, or dust for that matter. There were piles of clutter on everything. We proceeded quickly to the kitchen where we were greeted with a similar mess, and we then swiftly made our way to the door. Needless to say we could not get out fast enough.
As I said, I am not a strict agent and I can usually help my clients see past the "cosmetic" issues but come on, let's see a little effort please!
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