Oh my goodness. Last weekend was crazy. It all started with a realtor who brought clients to see our house not during her scheduled appointment time. (Background: house showings are scheduled in one hour increments through a centralized showing company. This allows us time to prepare, leave the house with the dogs during that one hour, and come home hopefully to a contract? Yeah, not yet.)
Saturday, this particular showing went down like this: we received an appointment notice, cleaned like crazed people, vacuumed, turned on all the lights so the house looked its best, removed the third floor barricade (dogs aren’t allowed up there since I shampooed the carpet), left the house at our appointed time and walked the dogs in 100 degree temperatures finally crashing at neighbor Harry’s house. Thank you, Harry!
pool with fountains on
At the end of our scheduled hour, we went home, turned off the lights, barricaded the third floor, turned off the pool fountains, armed the house alarm and left for lunch. It was 2:00. Fish tacos were calling my name.
Thirty minutes later, the realtor showed up well past her appointment. She set off the alarm and the dogs who went nuts (rightfully so). The showing company called to let us know our alarm was going off. No joke. That’s how it works. We rushed home. The realtor and her clients seemed unfazed by the fiasco but of course the house was dark, the third floor was barricaded, the dogs were crazy, the whole thing ridiculous.
Not an ideal house touring scenario.
Oh well.
The next day at our open house, someone took my prescription medication right out of the zippered case inside my bathroom cabinet.
Yeah. Wild.
Grace Grits and Gardening
Farm. Food. Garden. Life.
Talking Heads, Wild, Wild Life
As a former realtor, this is totally unacceptable! I would have told you to put your medications under lock—even tho the realtor should have been with whoever was touring at all times—and I would never come late unless it was with permission and notice. OMG…..just hope it sells soon. I know that is nerve wracking.
It is nerve-wracking! It’s only been two weeks, but I feel like we’ve been on home tour for two solid weeks.
Bless your heart (as we say in Arkansas). Which means, I am so glad it’s you and not me. LOL
MAYBE the realtor learned something from this. Hopefully the dogs are calm by now.
Love this post.
As they say in comedy…Timing is everything!….Well, apparently, that’s very true in the Real Estate business, as well.=) Anyhow, from looking at all the pics of your amazing house, I don’t think it’ll be on the market for too long…you won’t have to worry about klepto drug abusers…and you and John can finally get settled in your new home. And as they also say…This too shall pass…and hopefully, sooner than later.
I hope showing consideration for others isn’t a dying custom! But sounds like your realtor needs to brush up on it! Sorry they ruined your lunch! Your beautiful house is sure to sell soon.
I should have known better!
You are just so honest and trustworthy that you don’t expect such behavior.
I guess you are right.
It could be worse. 🙂
When I put my empty (I had moved, already) Tuscaloosa, AL house on the market in 1999, the Realtor said the house was a 4BR/2BA with a deck. Which was awesome! Except that my house was a 3BR/2BA with a patio. For the first several (four?) months, EVERY potential buyer felt as though they’d been lied to (because they had) and the house didn’t sell, and everyone went away in a huff. He got the second listing right. For four more months he showed it and showed it. No nibbles that weren’t just insulting.
And every time I’d go back to visit that summer, the air would be set to 65 (or the heat to 70, once winter came), EVERY light in the house was on, there were muddy footprints everywhere on the BRAND NEW carpet I had put down after I moved out, and someone stole the only things I had left at the house: the patio furniture, which I had planned to move. I had to hire a maid service to clean my empty house. I talked to the Realtor time and again, but it did no good. “The house has to be comfortable and well-lit for potential buyers.”
So I fired him. I hired another one, who put down plastic runners on my new carpet to protect it. The first thing she said to me was, “You need to repaint the house. The reason you haven’t sold in eight months is that the house is an unusual color.” Rustic/country teal is apparently Not Ever Going to Sell(tm).
Whatever. I paid $500 to have the house repainted to the same boring beige color as every other house in the neighborhood . . . and it sold in a matter of two weeks.
I would have gladly given her twice her commission.
OMG what a nightmare! Yes, I know it could be much, much worse.
OMG I would never even have thought about the medicine cabinet during an open house…and during an open house, you often can’t keep an eye on everybody!
Talya, I need to share my mantra with you. It’s Only Temporary. Repeat, frequently.
It helps.
Looking forward to your being closer to us Arkansans….
Me neither!