Last night I had to drive 50 miles roundtrip to one of my listings to open the door for my Client and her seven children, ranging in age from 6 months to 12 years. The call that they were locked-out came at 8:35pm, and after attempting to reach a few REALTOR pals who live near the listing, it became obvious that I was going to have to drive down myself. It was the right thing for me to do, but also something totally avoidable for two reasons.
The first reason - the Seller client should have had a key to her front door, but as her family never uses that door and only enters from the door to the house from the garage, it was never an issue. She had previously been locked out but her eldest daughter had discovered an unlocked window, at which point I recommended she afix a note to the door stating "Please do not lock this door. Thank you!". This has subsequently worked for 30 showings. But not this time.... bringing me to the second reason.
An inconsiderate showing agent allowed this door to be locked. Why inconsiderate? Because part of our job as a showing Agent should always be to control the access to all exterior doors to the house, and not permit our clients do open a door without finding out the state of whatever locking mechanism is on that door. This, I believe, is something that many agents are not considering when showing properties.
Maybe I am being a little too petty, or my expectations are a little too high, but I always ask that my clients allow me to open and close all exterior, and garage, doors on a property we are viewing. I make a conscious effort to notice the condition of the doors locking mechanism when I open it, so I may make certain I return it to the same state I found it in. This has yet to fail me, at least that I am aware of.
We as REALTORS owe it to our clients to be diligent, and should be able to expect that same respect and consideration from showings agents, but I think many REALTORS have not even given this a thought.
So - the next time you are showing a house, try to consider who may be living there, and how you would like the same consideration if it were your own home. Think of my client at 9:30 at night, Husband out of town, and alone with seven children, waiting in her car, knowing she has left the house to make your client more comfortable when viewing it - how would you feel if it were you?
I took the key from the lockbox, showed her how to put it back in and close it up, and instructed her to make an extra copy (I normally require two copies of every house key, but they were not able to comply before I listed the house, to prevent this sort of thing, I NEVER take their original key), then return the key to the lockbox. Hopefully this won't happen again.
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