I had a call from a tenant in one of my listings yesterday. She wanted to tell me about a particularperson that she did not want to see the home.
Fair enough, I asked "why"?
She went on to explain that earlier this week she was home taking a nap, she had left a few windows open a bit. She woke to hear the sounds of someone trying to remove the screen from the window of one of the bedrooms.
She called 911, grabbed her handgun, and went outside to confront her visitor, at gunpoint.
He quickly pulled out a mls printout from his pocket of my listing. He stated that he was just trying a window to take a look because he was in the market to buy in the neighborhood. Nice story, since he had a gun drawn on him while he is saying this. His Agent had given him printouts of homes in the area, and he was checking them out on his own.
The cops arrived, and he was arrested for B & E.
She just matter of fact told me to watch out for this guy in case he wanted to come and see the home. Wow, I am sure that if he really was interested in buying this home he wasn't anymore.
The lesson here is a reminder to forewarn your buyers to never trespass on a property, even if they, or you, think it is vacant.
This was obviously just a cover story this guy was using in case someone questioned him. Really no serious buyer would try to go through a partially opened window. There was a car parked in the driveway, and the property is well kept. Not a typically looking vacant, or abandoned home.
The shocking fact was this happened in the day time.
It amazed me that the tenant really wasn't that shook up about this event, just calling me to let me know to watch out for this guy.
Have you ever had something like this happen to one of your listings? I normally tell my customers to always expect a phone call from me, or my office prior to any showings. For those families with children who are ever home alone, I strongly recommend that they never answer the door to a stranger.
I am amazed at buyers who feel that a for sale sign in the yard gives them the right to snoop around the property without making an appointment, or at least, contacting the listing agent.
This event will remind me to always tell buyers that doing a drive-by is just that, don't go trespassing on private property without an appointment. 
Comments(11)