We Tell it Like It Is

I showed 9 houses to some nice buyers this past Saturday-- the amount of cheap homes on the market right now is ridiculous by the way-- and we certainly saw a potpourri. One home in particular struck me and it got me thinking this morning as I was giving feedback to the Realtor that is listing it. The home was a pre-foreclosure/short sale and the owners chose to remain home during our showing. This is not entirely unusual for me; I'd say about 20% of the homes I show, the homeowners choose for some reason or another to be present. I can understand if they are elderly, as it is often difficult for older folks to suddenly become more mobile than normal and leave everytime there's a call for a showing. Perhaps in this case, they are losing their home and either don't care or choose to be present so they intimidate buyers which, in turn, prevents the home from selling and the amount of time they can continue to live there until they get the boot is extended. At any rate, my buyers were certainly uncomfortable as I casually led the way through the home while one of the owners sat in the living room watching us and the other was lying in bed. Here are some other experiences we've had with homeowners being present while we showed the home:

--I showed a home being foreclosed on and the little girl who lived there sadly followed us around the whole time wondering if we were going to take her house away from her.

--Pete & his male client walked into a bathroom of a townhome for sale to find an 80-yr-old woman stark naked in the shower.

--My buyers & I walked into a bedroom and found the homeowner sick in bed (her roommate had let us in). She told me her doctor had diagnosed her with some disease she'd never heard of before called "influenza". She said "I thought maybe I had just gotten the flu, but I guess not!"

--My buyers and I were confronted at the front door by what appeared to be a very angry Spanish speaking family. I don't speak Spanish, but I decided to interpret what they said as "get the hell away from here" as I promptly whisked my clients back to the car. 

--Our hearts broke as the elderly man who owned a home I was showing sat & told us of the recent loss of his wife and the fact that he was waiting for his daughter to pick him up to take him to a nursing home that day.

Needless to say, I prefer to show homes to my buyers that are without occupants present. It taints a buyer's view and opinion of the home and makes everyone uncomfortable!