I was recently working with a real estate buyer who had an extremely sensitive sense of smell. Being that I'm quite easily irritated by strong smells myself, I could understand her predicament. But little did I know, just what I was dealing with.
- House Number One: My own listing. An immaculate house with everything she wanted! Only one problem; Glade Plug-Ins. She was so repulsed by the smell of the Glade Plug-Ins, that she insisted on waiting in the driveway while I turned off lights and locked doors. Side-issue: the master bedroom closet entry was from the dressing area off the bathroom, instead of the actual bedroom. She can't understand why anyone would want that! Her words: "What a horrible idea!"
- House Number One Again: Before we left the first time, I removed all the Plug-Ins and placed them in the garage. Two weeks later, we came back to see if the smell was gone. NOPE! Scratch this one.
- House Number Two: Candles! *sigh* Side Issue: the pool pump is on the same side of the house as the master bedroom. Surely it can be heard through the concrete wall. Her words "What a stupid thing to do!"
- House Number Three: Gas fireplace. She insists that she can smell the gas throughout the entire house.
- House Number Four: Someone cooked with garlic. (I guess the people should go out to dinner every night until their house is sold?) Side Issue: Her Persian rug won't look right in the rooms with the beveled edges. Buyer: "Why do the builder's make rooms like that? It's not practical and nobody would want that!" *Actually, in my experience, most people love it.*
- House Number Five: No Smell!! No side issues!! It's perfect. But she wants to come back tomorrow.
- House Number Five Again: They used the gas fireplace last night... Can you guess?...
I have officially given up. Someone else is going to have to help this lady find a house. If it was just the smells, I might be able to continue working with her. But she has a negative opinion on everything and her negativity is affecting my own attitude. And I honestly don't think she's really interested in buying a house. After 13 years in the business, I know when someone is wasting my time.
I'm not a tour guide and I work on straight commission. I have serious clients who really want to buy. I believe my time would be better served elsewhere. Time to move on.
And for my own side note: We all have opinions. As REALTORS we have to keep our opinions to ourselves. But have you noticed that as time goes by, people are becoming more and more belligerent with their opinions? People now state their opinions as if they're the ONLY possible truth. It's as if they're looking for an argument. In actuality, the ONLY truth is that it's just an opinion. And we all have different ones. Perhaps we should all be more considerate of other people when we're stating our opinions?
