From the Gloucester County Times:
Tough sell: Realtor gives tour of the wrong house
The woman and her three children were sure interested in the property the Realtor was showing them.
They had ventured up into the master bedroom and were chatting about its features.
One problem.
The house was not for sale.
The real owner reported she left the house for about an hour Friday and, when she returned at 11:30 a.m., found two strange cars in her driveway, township police said.
She entered her house, heard voices in the rear of the house and found a man, a woman and three children standing in the master bedroom.
Asked what they were doing there, the man explained that he was an agent for a Medford Township-based real estate firm and was showing her house to a prospective buyer.
The house that is up for sale is two doors away.
The Realtor admitted that, when he found the front door locked, he walked around the back and entered through an unlocked door.
Doh! This story echoes the majority of my experiences with Realtors. They show houses they know nothing about and they still want their 2-3%. There has to be a bare minimum of knowledge an agent has about a house before showing it, ideally:
– Where the house is located
– The most recent property taxes
– Major features of the home
– Comps from recent sales in the near vicinity
I admit I have never had an agent take me to the wrong house but I routinely have agents tell me tax charges from a year ago or more. Major features are routinely overlooked; I once made mention that a home has a cedar closet in the basement and the agent insisted the house didn’t even have a basement. As far as comps, I have yet to have an agent offer any evidence that an asking price is within reason, I suppose because most of the asking prices are 15% more than comps from 2005-2006.
You’d think the absence of a lockbox would have given him a clue.
haha. moron.
I don’t think it’s fair to assume this is a reflection on realtors as a whole. This is, however, a good reflection of what happens when you do business with a moron.
For those who have never seen an agent copy, there are showing instructions on it. I have never seen ” check all the doors to see if its open” in the showing instructions.
KL
Hilarious!
I would have loved to have been a fly on the wall when the homeowner said, “but my house isn’t for sale!”