Flyers With Kid Appeal
Only a Bruised Ego
Beware of Dog ... and Bird

Flyers With Kid Appeal

My husband and I are both new to real estate this year. We had a listing that we expected to receive an offer on, so I was getting ready to replace the flyers in the flyer box with ones that said "Sale Pending." Our 5-year-old grandson who was visiting us that day was very excited to hear about this. He eagerly watched me compose my new flyer on my computer. When I was done with the flyer and began to print it out, our grandson’s face lit up as he asked me: “So how do we make them fly?” My husband and I now have a new name for flyers—airplanes!

—Karen Smithee, a sales associate with Prudential California Realty in Cameron Park, Calif.

Only a Bruised Ego

I was showing a client a house that had a gravel driveway with small step that wasn't very noticeable. I was talking on my cell phone and walking towards the house when I tripped on the step, fell to the ground, and skinned both of my knees. In the process, I dropped my cell phone and thought I broke it. “I think I broke my phone,” I shouted, without realizing that my phone had dialed into the office. The receptionist who answered thought she heard me yell, “I think I broke my thumb!” She was in the processing of sending medical help when I put the cell phone to my ear. Luckily, I caught her in time to call off the ambulance. But my bad luck didn’t end there. When my client and I arrived at the next property, I stepped in a hole in the landscaping and fell down again, thinking for a moment that I had broken my foot. Surprisingly, I survived the day in one piece, with only a bruised ego.

—Linda Anderson, a sales associate with Exit Realty Center in Franklin, Tenn.

Beware of Dog … and Bird

I took my client to see a house after she finished work. When making the appointment with the listing agent, I was warned to be careful of the family dog because he’s known to be dangerous around strangers. After arriving at the house with my client and ringing the doorbell, the front door was immediately accosted by the ferocious-sounding dog. I could hear his heavy breathing and angry growls as he slammed into the door again and again. Through all the growling, we were able to hear a child-like voice saying: "Be quiet, be quiet." I rang the doorbell again, hopeful that the youngster would put the dog away and answer the door. But the dog wouldn’t relent, and the young voice kept repeating, "Be quiet, be quiet." I became so frustrated that I called the listing agent, who strongly urged us not enter the house because the dog could be dangerous. Out of concern, I asked whether the child that we heard in the house would be OK all alone with the dog. That’s when the listing agent told me it wasn’t a child I heard—it was the sellers’ pet parrot!

—Dan Roda, a broker-associate with RE/MAX Properties Inc., Colorado Springs, Colo.


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