In the Trenches

A Scary House Preview
Lost in Translation
Interesting Conversation

A Scary House Preview
I was previewing properties for a client last summer. It was before school started again, so I had my 8-year-old son in tow. When we arrived at the last property, he was feeling a little restless and was letting me know it. I told him it wouldn't take long and we went in to view the house. It was vacant, so I looked at the living room, the kitchen, and then went downstairs to see the finished basement.

The light wouldn't work, but I could still see pretty well from the light that came in through the windows. I went down the stairs and around to the left, where there was a laundry room with a new washer and dryer. Under the stairs, a 4-inch slat was missing. Thinking this was kind of odd, I leaned in for a closer look. Much to my dismay, I saw two eyes staring back at me.

I turned and ran up the stairs—locking the door on my way up—snagged my son, and ran out of the house. I sat in the car catching my breath and completely shaken.

Later that evening, I talked to my client about the houses I had seen and, of course, the client wanted to see the last one. So I enlisted another salesperson to accompany me. I told both my colleague and my client about what had happened, but they decided it was probably just a mouse.

We went into the house, and I sent the other salesperson down to the basement first. After a moment, I heard him laughing hysterically. He motioned for me to come downstairs. Around the corner and under the stairs was a full-length mirror. The eyes I had seen staring back at me were my own.

—Dawn M. Braga, a salesperson with Weichert, REALTORS®, in Alexandria, Va.

Lost in Translation
Our office had a listing for a warehouse/office space in Brooklyn, N.Y., that was tenant occupied. I asked the listing agent in my office what type of business was occupying the building. My associate said she hadn't actually seen the interior of the building but the owner told her the tenants made porno movies.

I had a client interested in buying the property, so I arranged to meet the client at the warehouse the next day. Before we entered, I warned the client about what line of work the tenants supposedly engaged in. When the tenant came to the door to let us in, I asked, “Is everyone dressed?” He gave me a puzzled look but let us in. My client and I braced ourselves to get an eyeful as we entered. Instead of seeing what we thought we were going to see, we saw a warehouse full of VCRs duplicating copies of various kinds of pre-existing movies, X-rated and otherwise.

It turns out the tenants were in the video business—not in the flesh business. Talk about lost in translation. Only in Brooklyn!

—Mitchell S. Feldman, an associate broker and office manager for Madison Estates & Properties Inc. in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Interesting Conversation
I was at one of my first closings 20-some years ago. I had first-time buyers and first-time sellers, and I believe it also was the first time the attorney had closed a sale.

The selling wife got upset because she was being charged $120, or four days’ interest, because the pay-off had to be mailed across town to the lender. She made such a scene that her attorney left the closing with her so he could drive her to the lender and avoid the charge.

As we waited for them to return, the husband was very embarrassed. He looked at us and said, "I hope that you understand. My wife is very idealistic. It is the principle of the charge that has upset her."

I looked at him and said jokingly, "No, it is not the principle. It is the interest."

—Jane Beattie Shepherd, CRS®, GRI, is broker-owner of Beattie-Firth Inc. in Charleston, W.Va.

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