Well, my friends, we have discussed it before—we’ve all heard the horror stories—but this time, I finally lived it. When Your Listing Throws a Party Without You!
Picture this: Saturday night of Labor Day Weekend 2024, a peaceful cul-de-sac, and my resort-style listing. But instead of a quiet evening, it turned into the scene of an uninvited rave, complete with a DJ, lights, and beer. The kicker? I wasn’t invited, but apparently, about 50 local high school kids got the memo on social media.
Imagine waking up at 11:30 PM to discover your phone has been blowing up since 9 PM, all because of a full-blown party raging in the backyard of your listing. And neighbors are texting me photos of who’s attending this unsanctioned bash:
A small army of teenagers, with the cops, fire department, and even an ambulance parked out front. Yes, folks, this is the world we’re living in.
It turns out, kids are trolling the Internet, hunting for vacant homes to turn into their personal party palaces. Unfortunately for them, they picked the wrong house—nestled in a neighborhood where the residents have known each other for an average of 30 years. This quiet cul-de-sac with only one way in and out made it nearly impossible for the partygoers to escape when the police showed up. But here’s the kicker: the cops didn’t do much beyond chasing them away since, thankfully, there was no property damage. Still, it begs the question—how is it that you can break into someone’s backyard, throw a massive party, and face no real consequences?
This Labor Day weekend was full of firsts for me:
The first first? Finding myself on the phone with my clients at midnight, something I’ve never done in my entire career. We were sorting out the chaos, trying to make sense of what just happened and a plan of attack.
By Sunday morning—my sacred day off—I was over at their house bright and early, cleaning up the soda cans left behind and assessing the damage. Thankfully, there was no break-in, no significant damage, just a bit of trash in the yard where the party seemed to be concentrated. We really dodged a bullet.
The neighbors saved the day calling the cops so quickly - the party barely had gotten started.
Moving forward, I’ve asked the homeowners to turn their internet back on so I can install security cameras. Large red signs are now prominently displayed, warning would-be partiers that they are being watched. And if you’re not there with a REALTOR® on appointment, you’ll be greeted by the police.
We’ve also taken additional steps to secure the property, locking down the gates and making it as hard as possible for anyone to enter without an appointment.
I’ve heard of these kinds of things happening in the Bay Area and Los Angeles, but never did I imagine it would happen locally, let alone at one of my listings. The closest experience I’ve had was catching a squatter during the crash, but this? This was on another level. A full-blown party with a DJ, lighting, beer, and over 50 kids being dropped off by Ubers—absolute madness. Let this be a lesson to everyone: never underestimate how people can use the Internet for devious purposes. I'm having different conversations moving forward about pop-up party possibilities and how to prevent them! It's crazy the things we need to worry about as Listing Agents these days and there's No App for that!
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