Kathleen Daniels is hosting a fun contest this month which ends tomorrow. I thought I better get busy and share my
Most Embarrassing Moment in Real Estate!
This past Spring, my mother, Belinda Spillman, and I were showing a new client some condos in Heather Gardens, Aurora CO. Everything was going great. We had a handful of potential homes on the list in all different buildings in the community.
We arrived at the last building and were showing a condo on the top floor. I quickly retrieved the keys from the lockbox in the main lobby. We entered through the main security door and made our way to the elevator.
We jumped in the elevator with an elderly woman who just returned from the grocery store. She had a full shopping cart filled with goodies which she was trying to maneuver onto the small elevator. We all helped her get herself and her goods in before the doors closed. She got off on the third floor and we continued riding to the 4th floor.
The doors opened and we made our way down the hallway to our designated condo. We knocked and when no one answered, I went to reach for the keys. Wait! What??? I know I had those darn keys in my pocket.
Where did they go?
Everyone was standing there watching me as I fumbled through everything I had to find those keys. I asked my mother if she took them and she said no. I asked the client if they grabbed them and of course they did not. I assumed that I had left them in the lock of the security door so we all piled in the elevator and headed back to the lobby.
The keys were not there! I looked everywhere in the lobby and no sign of the missing keys. Finally I thought that maybe I dropped them in the elevator door crack as we were helping the lady with her groceries. But first, I tried to track down the lady with the groceries to see if they fell into her cart. We finally narrowed down which home was hers and knocked on the door. She barely remembered us but agreed to look through her things for the missing keys. NO DICE! She had nothing.
Next we called the building maintenance to see if he could access the area under the elevator. He shut down the elevator and climbed down to the area below. There were lots of lost items, but no keys!
I was beginning to wonder if there were some key ghosts lurking in the building with my keys laughing their sheets off!
Feeling a bit frustrated, our client left since he had no access to the condo. We called the listing agent and relayed our story. She laughed and said she would contact the seller to let them know the situation. We did manage to get another appointment the next day to show the condo to our clients. This time the sellers remained at home. They asked if we were the ones who lost their keys and I apologized profusely.
Our clients wanted to buy this condo but were outbid by someone who gained access earlier in the day. Luckily we found them a nice alternative and closed a few weeks later.
To this day, my mother hounds me about keys whenever we are out showing homes. Surely she knows I have learned my lesson (doesn’t she?)
Thank you Kathleen, for the opportunity to share an embarrassing moment in my real estate career with the world!
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