Saturday Showings - A Comedy of Errors

Yesterday was actually low on comedy and high on errors.

The couple I worked with in the morning want an Addison condo or townhome to purchase that is no more than 2 stories, has an open floor plan, and preferrably has the master bedroom on the first floor. There's not much available and the two units they initially called me about are already under contract. I scheduled an appointment through the showing service for the one available unit that meets their criteria. I've shown condos in that building before and know that there is no concierge on duty on Sundays so I specifically set the showing for Saturday. You cannot get into the building without the concierge (unless you live there) and you can't get the keys to the units for sale without the concierge, so Saturday rather than Sunday was an absolute MUST.

My clients drove an hour to get to the appointment. They live on the other side of the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex and even though traffic was light, it still took a long time. I met them in the lobby and approached the concierge to get the keys. Surprise! She didn't have the keys. She told us that the seller picked up his keys earlier in the week and is now requiring the listing agent (who has a key) to be present at all showings. Wow! I called the listing agent and she told us this was news to her. She was unable to meet us at the condo to get us in. Ring up NO SALE on that one.

My afternoon clients are looking for a condo or townhouse to rent. We had 4 appointments scheduled. The first and third showings went off without any problems, however the second and fourth were not good.  The address in MLS for the second property was incorrect. This was supposed to be a vacant townhome, but when we pulled up, there were several cars in the driveway, the front door was partially open, and it looked like there was a party going on. We finally found a lockbox on the attached unit next door, with a different street number, and went in. And discovered the electricity was off. Too bad it was a really dark, cloudy day and we didn't see much without the benefit of lights. The final stop  of the day was even worse. There was a combination lockbox on the fence but the code provided by the showing service would not open the box. I called and texted the listing agent directly but got no answer. We never did get into see that one.

So, even the best of plans sometimes amount to naught. If you're a listing agent, please make sure that your properties are accessible to buyers and tenants and their agents. If you're a seller or landlord, check up on the listing agent who is representing you. This comedy of errors was really drama.