November 2007

In the Trenches captures the odd and funny incidents that invariably happen in real estate. Here are the stories submitted this month from real estate professionals all over the country. When you're done reading,  submit your own story.

What’s Behind Door No. 1?

I arrived early to spruce up my listing so it would look picture-perfect before a young couple arrived. I turned on the lights, lit the fireplace, and flipped on some calming music. Everything would have been just right except that the seller, a very sweet but disorganized woman, was not even close to being ready to leave the home for the showing. In fact, as I arrived, she was in the shower.

Just as she stepped out of the shower, I heard the potential buyers pulling into the driveway. I quickly tossed the seller her bathrobe and asked her if she wouldn’t mind staying out of sight for the next 30 minutes, along with her boisterous poodle.

I raced to welcome the couple and their 3-year-old child. I led the parents through the elegant home as the toddler wandered around nearby. The couple oohed and aahed at the house as I explained the features.

Then the toddler ran over to us. “Mommy, there’s a lady in the closet with a dog,” he said.

My eyes widened. The toddler’s parents smiled politely and explained to the child that what he said was implausible. But the toddler insisted, finally swinging open the closet door.

Inside the closet the seller sat, wrapped in her bath robe, hair sopping wet, and clutching her dog.

I quickly shut the closet door. “Not to worry; that's the seller,” I calmly said. “She just wanted to give us some privacy.” Moving right along — she and the dog do not come with the house, by the way.

— Sherry Goodman, The Goodman Group of RE/MAX, Denver

In Deep Trouble

I was looking forward to showing a listing that had been on the market for quite awhile, and I wanted to make a good impression with the potential buyers. I just ran out of the full-color handouts that provided details and photos of property, so I went outside to grab a few handouts from the “take one” tube that was attached to the For Sale sign.

But as I approached the tube, the ground gave way and my foot sunk into 6 inches of gooey mud. I tugged my foot to free it from the mud, but my shoe stayed put — still buried deep in the yard.

Just then I heard a car pull up behind me. It was the potential buyers, of course. And there I stood in the mud, without a shoe!

Reluctantly, I stuck my foot back into the mud and tried to squish my foot back into my buried shoe so I could pull it out. Meanwhile, the couple parked the car and started walking toward me. I smiled and waved, trying to act as natural as I could.

I said a little prayer and gave my foot one final tug, and out flew my mud-covered foot — with my shoe stuck to it. The clients stared down at my muddy foot, and all I could think was: “Would anyone like a colorful informational handout?”

— Susan Burke, J.T. Fields REALTORS®, Fort Wayne, Ind.

Open House Lesson Learned

It was my first year, first listing, and first open house. I had a plan in place with the seller: She would wait for her son to get dropped off from practice, and then the two of them — and their dogs — would leave the house for a few hours.

We waited and waited for her son to arrive home. The open house neared, and he still wasn’t there. Then her son’s friend showed up, also waiting for the boy to arrive home.

Just minutes before the open house was set to begin, the son finally showed up. He ran through the front door and went racing to his bedroom with his friend following along. I tried to calmly remind everyone that open house guests would be coming soon, but no one seemed to be in a rush.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash … the sound of broken glass.

"What's going on?" the mom shouted upstairs to her son.

“Nothing!” the son innocently shouted back, followed by the sound of a vacuum. Soon after, we heard the toilet flush, and then the sound of water overflowing.

A little investigating revealed that the boys had broken a lava lamp, which had spilled all over the bedroom’s shag carpeting. Meanwhile, in the master bedroom, the toilet was overflowing, causing another mess. As we scrambled to get the house in order, the first buyers started to arrive.

I took them through the first floor and stopped for a moment in the living room, where the blinds were open to the backyard. They stared in shock as one of the owner’s dogs became overly friendly with the other dog outside. The home owner saw this and ran over to the window, banging on the glass to distract her pets.

It was at this point that I made an important realization: It really is necessary to insist that sellers — and their pets — leave during an open house.

— Tracey Edwards, sales associate for Coldwell Banker NRT, Elk Grove, Calif.


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The above stories were submitted by readers via e-mail. They’ve been edited for clarity and style.