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The showing service called me to schedule a viewing. Told me the agent wanted to come over in 9 minutes. Not ten. Not five. But 9 minutes. heh... I advised them that the notice was too short and could they give me a half hour. Ten minutes later, there is a knock at my door. A lady with ratty shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops announced "I have an appointment here!". I explained that I rescheduled the showing due to short notice. She said "Can we come in anyway?". This gal didn't identify herself, didn't offer a card, nothing. So I asked "Is your agent coming also?". She got extremely huffy and said "I AM THE AGENT".
Well eeexcuuuuuuuse me! Oy! The couple that were with her was clearly embarrassed and very apologetic.
Is it common to have agents just show up at your door and approach you in a rude, defensive manner? Even after a showing has been rescheduled?? This was quite an experience...
Last edited by carolina chick; 04-11-2008 at 02:36 PM..
Reason: spelling
Hi, I worked in real estate (now insurance) for many years, and I can state that this type of behavior is not very common. (How could such unprofessional agents stay in business?)
I would actually be concerned that the person truly is an agent and at the very minimum ask to see her business card (some states actually require that real estate agents carry their real estate licenses with them at all times).
You can prevent future similar situations by requesting that your agent require showing agents provide their license number to your agent prior to setting an appointment.
I know it's inconvenient, but I don't know if I would require a lot of notice. Often buyers are driving around with their agent and see your house and get excited. Those are hot prospects!
Best of luck to you selling your house!
Wendelyn Piquette
The showing service called me to schedule a viewing. Told me the agent wanted to come over in 9 minutes. Not ten. Not five. But 9 minutes. heh... I advised them that the notice was too short and could they give me a half hour. Ten minutes later, there is a knock at my door. A lady with ratty shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops announced "I have an appointment here!". I explained that I rescheduled the showing due to short notice. She said "Can we come in anyway?". This gal didn't identify herself, didn't offer a card, nothing. So I asked "Is your agent coming also?". She got extremely huffy and said "I AM THE AGENT".
Well eeexcuuuuuuuse me! Oy! The couple that were with her was clearly embarrassed and very apologetic.
Is it common to have agents just show up at your door and approach you in a rude, defensive manner? Even after a showing has been rescheduled?? This was quite an experience...
The agent was wearing shorts and flip flops? Sounds like a keeper! How did you handle the situation? I would have said, "Give me 20 minutes and you are more than welcome to come in."
Wendelyn - I agree that folks sometimes make appointments on the fly because they are out driving around. I've accomodated several of those. But never experienced someone coming over anyway. :-) It was interesting...
HC: That's exactly what I did. I asked them to give me a few while I put away my lunch and laptop. I called the service to verify she was legit and let my Realtor know about it. But yeah the gal had her hi-dollah outfit on. lol...
The showing service called me to schedule a viewing. Told me the agent wanted to come over in 9 minutes. Not ten. Not five. But 9 minutes. heh... I advised them that the notice was too short and could they give me a half hour. Ten minutes later, there is a knock at my door. A lady with ratty shorts, a t-shirt and flip flops announced "I have an appointment here!". I explained that I rescheduled the showing due to short notice. She said "Can we come in anyway?". This gal didn't identify herself, didn't offer a card, nothing. So I asked "Is your agent coming also?". She got extremely huffy and said "I AM THE AGENT".
Well eeexcuuuuuuuse me! Oy! The couple that were with her was clearly embarrassed and very apologetic.
Is it common to have agents just show up at your door and approach you in a rude, defensive manner? Even after a showing has been rescheduled?? This was quite an experience...
How rude! I think 1/2 hour notice is more than reasonable. Our receptionist (she's wonderful) always asks us when we put a new listing in MLS about how much notice our client requires, etc. This really helps in these types of situations because she would have just told the buyer's agent that she could not show the property for 1/2 hour. That's totally reasonable - the agent can kill 1/2 hour very easily, doing some driveby's or viewing a vacant listing, or driving by neighborhood amenities, etc. There was no reason she couldn't have honored your request.
And then, her dress, her demeanor, everything about her was totally unprofessional! Kudos to you for being so gracious. Chances are those same buyers might be back . . . this time with a new agent!
I had to laugh at your description of her. You did the right thing. In this market, I would never turn anyone away, just ask if they could give me a few minutes. I try to keep the house "presentable", but if I am in the middle of cooking dinner, they might need to give me 30 minutes. Luckily, this has not happened. So far all of our showings have been scheduled the day before, which has been wonderful! Good luck to you!
When I had my house on the market, I dealt with rude agents. No shows wouldn't follow up with a phone call. Some would show up unannounced, the excuse, "I thought it was on a lock box" Do the agents even read the listings? Or "We are in the neighborhood, can we come by now?' One agent would leave her business cards in strange places (in my bedroom and bathroom) as she showed my house.
Is it common to have agents just show up at your door and approach you in a rude, defensive manner?
It's one reason why I chose a listing agent who accompanies all showings. Some of the buyer's agents who arrived early for appointments when I didn't have accompanied showings were definitely odd. This was uncomfortable enough, but it also didn't give me a lot of confidence in the kind of people they'd be bringing into my home.....
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not so common
How did you handle the situation? I would have said, "Give me 20 minutes and you are more than welcome to come in."
