There was a very strange sequence events that happened to me in the recent past that lead me to have to make a tough decision. Was I just paranoid? Could something be wrong? What should I do?
I had a potential buyer call off one of my signs to preview a home. We talked for a bit and I asked if they were working with another Realtor. The answer was no. The prospect asked me if the home was vacant. Yes, it was. He set up an appointment for his girl friend and himself to stop by the property around 5pm to view it. I told him I would be there at 5pm.
Later in the day, the same guy calls me back and says he is going to be running late and asks if he can push back the time to 7pm. I am a little leery at this point because he had asked if the home was vacant and now he wants to see the home after dark. But I tell him it is ok.
Again not too much later in the day, he calls back again. Now he tells me that his girl friend isn't feeling very well and asks if it is ok if he brings one of his buddies. Ok all of my danger alarms are going off in my head, but I had already discussed it with my husband and he was going with me to show the property. So I tell the potential buyer that it is ok.
My husband and I arrive at the home 15 minutes early because I had made up my mind that I would not be in the home at the same time as the potential buyer. I unlocked the doors, turned on the lights, made sure the home didn't have any dead bugs on the floor and then waited outside for the buyer.
I don't consider myself a person that judges other people, BUT...the buyer drives up in a new black Cadillac with limo tint, spinning rims, and bumping. The young man and his buddy were pretty young, but nice guys. We chatted a little outside the home, and the potential buyer that I had spoken with all day thanks us for being there. Then he asks, "So is this your body guard?" Ok more danger alarms...
We stay outside while the potential buyers walk through the home. As he finishes looking at the home, he asks a couple of questions. One of them being about the white box in the laundry room. He asks if it is a security system. This wouldn't have been a strange question except for all of the events so far that have taken place. By the way, it was a deactivated security system.
We thank the buyers for stopping by, and they leave. I enter the home to lock up. I notice that they left the back door unlatched. It was latched when they arrived, so they unlatched it to look a the back yard. I thought that was a little weird since it was dark out and you couldn't see much anyway. But I thought most people would lock the door again when re-entering. Then I check the garage and see that the side door leading to the back yard is also unlocked. Again, could just be that they went out that door too, and didn't lock it up.
I already thought the whole situation was weird, but now I am over the top. My husband checks the windows and notices one window that isn't latched all the way. It would be able to be slid open. Now I had never checked the window before and it appeared a little warped so it didn't latch easily, but...WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!
We lock the house up tight, but I am convinced the potential buyer is up to no good. He wanted to scope out a vacant house to see what he could steal out of it right? There were some appliances, ceiling fans, and fixtures. I am sure there was enough to be enticing.
What do you do? I decided to call my broker. I went through the story and the suggestion was to call the out of state owner and let them know what happened, and also to call the police and report it as suspicious activity. I know the cops probably wouldn't do anything about it. But my husband did get their license plate number in case the home was robbed. I did get a bit of a lecture showing the property after it was dark, but I figured we would be fine with my husband there plus we stayed outside.
Crazy thing is...the next day they called back and asked to view it again with their family. Again I took my husband. The buyer brought his girlfriend and mom. They made an offer. I found out that they really did have another Realtor (his brother who was out of town) and they were investors so they made a terribly low offer. It was countered and declined and we have never heard from them again.
Looking back I should have just rescheduled for the following day. That aside though, would you have called the out of state owner? Would you have called the police? As I am sure you can imagine this was a highly stressful situation for me.
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