It's All About The Showing Drama

In this engaging conversation, the hosts share humorous and relatable stories from their experiences in real estate, focusing on the challenges and unexpected events that occur during property showings. From encounters with wildlife and mishaps with clients to the trials of managing keys and lock boxes, the discussion highlights the lighter side of being a realtor. The hosts also touch on personal anecdotes, including a memorable trip to Buc-ee's and the purchase of a unique purse, adding a personal touch to their professional tales.

https://housenextdoortx.com

Transcript

Lock Box 9/9. (00:00)
so Anthony, you were saying you were chased by a dog that bit another buyer that was looking at this house.

I go knock on the door, which is in the front yard, and the dogs just start running out. I was like, heck no. And I ran.

I

will hold on to your lockbox until we decide to give it back to you. And I'm like, are you, they're holding it hostage. Are you gonna do a police report to get your lockbox It's taken.

So what are we going to talk about today?

the showing shenanigans. ⁓ gosh, we could have a whole series on these. yeah. Well, I feel like the whole podcast is essentially showings. Okay. But before we get started, I think we have to talk about something. What? We had to talk about what happened to your car last night.

Oh yeah, so we just got done filming the podcast about the birds in the open house. And we were going to dinner and Barbara's husband was like, what's that on your car? Yeah, it was on Anthony's car. And if you listen to the last podcast where he's talking about birds don't like him and he doesn't like birds. So Anthony's car had this big black tar mark just going from the hood all the way down the wheel from the hood to the the wheel well.

And Anthony's like, I don't know what that is. So we went and got some dinner, came back and sure enough. Turkeys got on his car and had a full colonoscopy prep down the side his car. It's like they heard him talking.

Well, this just proves to you that birds don't like me. I believe it now. All so I have some confessions. So last night on my way home, I was thinking about this. I should probably confess. So as a kid, I would go, you know the trees at H-E-B that all the birds were in? I would go there and shake the trees.

And that's where it started because we talked about it. That you were afraid of the HEB birds. So I think that's where it all started. I think it's possessed. Maybe this should be in the Halloween episode. should be. But it was so cute. The black There's like these little turkey feet on the hood of your car. Yeah, they scratched my hood. With some little turkey scratches. And then just... And so now we don't want to eat...

turkey for Thanksgiving. no, not after I saw what came out of it. I shoot one of those outside. I don't want to eat. can't. I'm in a sanctuary. but yeah, that was it. We had to spray real hard to get that off. Probably 15 minutes of scrubbing and I never even checked to see if that oil is still there. And then there was this residual oil. Ugh. Okay. Enough of the turkey poop, but I felt like we had to address the think we lost all of our listeners. The two that we had, I think they just, they just logged off.

Back to showing shenanigans. so Anthony, you were saying you were chased by a dog that bit another buyer that was looking at this house. So you got to tell this story. So I had to go out and get an amendment signed ⁓ to extend our closing date. And the previous buyer before us, she was looking at the property and the seller's dog bit her.

The had a bite history before the listing agent told us. And I guess the listing agent is my mom. Wait a second. So the listing agent is your mom. huh. The dog has a bite history. Yes. You're showing the property? No, I'm getting an amendment signed. you're getting an amendment signed. Okay. But my mom was showing the property a couple weeks beforehand and the dog bit the potential buyer ⁓ at that point.

And she had to go to the ER and get stitches. ⁓ my gosh. Yeah. So you had to go back to that house. Yes. And so I told her to make sure the dog was up. And so I go knock on the door, and the dogs just start running out. I was like, heck no. And I ran. So you're in the yard and these dogs are coming at you? Yes. I'm at the front door and they, the bottom of the door has like a doggy door where they just run out. And so they start coming out.

So the dog started running out and I didn't know which one bit and not, but I wasn't sticking around to figure out. So I ran down the stairs and then they had like this little gate that had the trellis, you know, like that. Yeah, because it a cute little historic type house or? No, it was not cute and it was not historic. Oh, okay. But it had a little trellis. So I like...

dive over the gate because I need something between me the dogs that's chasing they're running at you at You know I probably shouldn't have ran because that's going to trigger them more but I didn't want to get bit. Well and you know we already bit the other person. so why risk it just run. That's my instinct when I'm in trouble I just run. I ran I did like a tumble because I had to get over the gate. my And I hit my ear on the trellis and then I hit my stomach on the gate and then my head or my ⁓ sunglasses went flying. my god.

comes out she's like I'm so sorry and then the next three days I was in pain my gosh so you ran jumped over this fence tumbled and fell yes face planted into the ground and had a big old bruise right here ⁓ so that's the exciting things of showing yeah that is definitely I haven't had I haven't been chased by a dog

by any means. I think that was my first time honestly. that's surprising. I... I try not to stick around. I'm Did you get the amendment signed? Yeah, I did. Oh.

There might have been some sweat and stuff on it, but You might have been bleeding as you got inside. And you know the weird thing too is I show a lot of land and I've never seen a snake. Knock on wood? I feel like I need a carry gun with me so that... You do? I feel like it. Like if I see a snake, that's how you take care of it. Just...

You'd shoot a snake. I don't think I have that good of like target. You know after five rounds you might hit it. Crunches start shooting. I'd shoot myself in the foot. That's what would happen. Oh my gosh. Do you to talk about your purse? Oh this is true. We're a little all over the place today but. Showing shenanigans. I had two glasses of Chardonnay.

Which really isn't crazy amount of Chardonnay. I think you would have done that sober. I think I might have done this sober, but I'm using the two glasses of Chardonnay as a disclosure. And I went to the Buc-ee's. And the only reason I was going to the Buc-ee's is my sister had just flown in from out of town. And when anybody comes in from out of town, they gotta see the Buc-ee's. And if you're not familiar with our area, Buc-ee's are these huge...

gas stations that have everything in them. I mean, you can buy clothing, can buy roasted nuts. Knives for your kitchen. Knives for your kitchen, candles. It's the weirdest thing. And they're known for beaver nuggets. They're beaver nuggets, yes. So we did get a bag of beaver nuggets. So I take my sister there and I've had a couple classes of Chardonnay, feeling warm. And I end up buying, I bought a purse.

Wrangler purse with a pocket for a concealed carry ⁓ at the Buc-ee's. So I think it's perfect. So when you go show some land you can just put your hand down in there. Which I don't have. But if you had it. If I had it. And I texted my husband after I did it and he said I don't...

I don't even recognize you anymore since we moved to Smithville. I traded my BMW in for a lifted Bronco. I went to the Buc-ee's, a little tipsy, and bought a Wrangler purse where I could smuggle a gun. I don't even recognize myself either. So here we are. And then now you have turkeys in your yard. And then my turkeys poop on all of my house guests' cars. It's great. It's perfect.

What could go wrong? So do you have any showing Shanila MacKenzie? Oh yeah, so many. So many. But since we were talking about dogs, I'll talk about this time where I was showing, ended up, she's a good friend of mine now, and she actually dog sits for one of my other good friends, and I was showing her houses, she's a really lovely lady, and we get to this house, it's way out in the country.

we didn't know that there were going to be dogs. There wasn't that in the showing instructions that, hey, there's going to be dogs. They're not going to be contained. Don't let them out. I mean, we knew not to let them out, but we just didn't know we were going to have a dog situation. So we get there. We're going through the house. There's dogs in the house. They get out of the house on accident. So then we're trying to round them up and get them back in the house. And there's three dogs.

And sure enough, one of the gates in the backyard was open, so the dogs ran out and were out in the country. So then we spent the next like, so me, maybe I was, this wasn't great of me, but I was like, well, they didn't tell us they had dogs. And we have four more houses to see and we need to be at the next one in 20 minutes.

and it's 20 minutes away. We've got to stay on schedule. Like the realtor in me was like, we are staying on our tight schedule. wonder if going to tell the other agent, oh sorry, we left the dogs out and now we're running down the street. That's what I was going to say. I was like, I'll just text her and let her know that the dogs are out. And my client looked at me like I was a monster. And really, that was a, I was being a monster, but I wanted to get her into all the houses. I have my priorities as a realtor. And so she, she's like, no Barbara, we are going to find these dogs.

We spent two hours tracking down these dogs. And then finally we got them in my car. We drove them back. We made sure they were secure in the house again. All the gates were locked, all that good stuff. And then we had to reschedule all of our showings. And then when I saw her, ⁓ I was showing her family another house. This was years later.

after this had happened and she's like, remember when we had those dogs and they ran out and you didn't want to go chase them and get them. Do you remember that? That's how you're going to be known. The thing doesn't care about dogs. Yeah, I know, but we had a schedule. And she's like, we had to take care of those dogs, Barb. I'm like, well, we did. And that same client, I was showing her on a different day because of course we had to reschedule and it all.

Keys drive me nuts. Do you have a hard time keeping track of the key when you go into a house? So usually I leave it on the door. You do? the problem now is that the doors lock automatically. Yeah. And you just, yes, I have a... You have a key issue too. Well first of all, it's like I don't know how to open a door every time I'm trying to open one. we two struggles as a realtor. Scheduling appointments and opening the door. And opening the door. And people call us a door opener.

We can't even open the That's actually the thing that we suck the most at is opening doors. Like you put the key in, you might be able to turn it, you might not. You might not even get the key in, then the door knob doesn't turn. The key falls down through the deck. It's not in the showing instructions that you have to jiggle the handle, lift the door up, and then throw your shoulder into it. Then you'll be able to get in or just climb through the window that we left open. So speaking of which,

I have a short cell and the bank changed the locks without telling us. great. And so my lock box obviously doesn't have the right key in it at this point so an agent went to go show it and I didn't know this and she's like I can't get in I had her send a picture of the lock or the key because it had a code on it. I was like that's not our locks that's not the doorknob. ⁓

I was like, I should change the showing instructions to bring a stone, throw through the window, climb in at your own risk. Climb in at your own risk, exactly. Because I can't get in. They changed the locks on you. So we got into this house with this client and it's really beautiful, pretty cool house, has great view and the countertops, this natural stone.

I know where this is going. It's really like this mixed stone and everything and you can't really see anything on it. And we're just in awe of the house. I'm just with my cellar and I place the key down. Don't put it in my back pocket like I usually do. And it's just a loose key. I place it on the kitchen counter and we're just walking around going, oh, look at the trees. Look at this view. And we're walking around, walking around. And then the tour is over and it's time to go on to our next house.

And I go to my back pocket, because I always open the door, put the key in my back pocket. And I'm like, oh, it's not in my back pocket. OK, it's not in my front pocket. Oh my gosh, where is it? And so I start just doing small talk, looking around until she realizes, Barb, what's going on here? And I'm like, I can't find the key. And this is the same one that you let the dog do? Yes. OK. The fact that she continued to work with me. We spent. Another two hours?

No, this time it was 35 minutes looking for that key. And we were looking high and we were looking all over the place. And then finally I just ran my hand across the counter, just walking and ran my hand across the counter and I felt the key. And I was like, ⁓ my goodness, here's the key. And after that, now I am so paranoid with keys. Every time I get it, I'm like.

I'm putting the key in my back pocket. say it, don't even care if people think I'm nuts. I just say it. You know what I also do is I take the Supra, the black box that comes out of the lock box and I put the key in there and then leave it in the front. Yeah. Or you can put it in the, on the counter or whatever. On the counter. That's a good idea too. I used, I don't leave it in the door. I know a lot of agents do that, but for safety purposes. And then back when everybody was in lines to come into the homes, people would just barge in on you. Yeah.

And so you had to have that privacy. So every time I go into a house, I lock the door because you just never know who's going to walk in or another show. That's little tip. Yeah, I don't lock it. Yeah, I can't. I can't have that. Speaking of lock boxes, should we talk about my lock box that's in hostage? Yeah, it's still there. He wouldn't think that there was any kind of shenanigans or drama with a lock box, but there is. Right. And just for the viewers, lock boxes.

They're not cheap. They're not expensive, but they're $200 or so, right? Yeah, they're somewhere like $150, $200, something like that. So, you know, it's not expensive, but it's substantial enough. But it's something, and... it's your property. It's your property, and it's just one of the many things you have to manage. I had a client that I have since fired. it doesn't happen frequently.

She didn't accept that I fired her and she wouldn't allow me to fire her. So I tried. I attempted. they did not ever accept it. So we just had to let the listing agreement expire. so my lock box, I had my lock box. When we're getting ready to list the home, I always drop off the lock box before the sign comes, all that good stuff on this particular house.

we weren't gonna have a sign because just privacy reasons and the reasons for their selling, it just had to be all very low key. And so the lock box was also going to be kept inside the house and only brought out when there was a potential showing and then brought back in the house for safety reasons. And so I left my lock box there and then they decided that they were gonna take another two months to list.

And it just, was one of those things where they just couldn't quite figure out their timeline. And we'd be, we're going live next week and then it would be another week and another week. And it was just one of those things. And so finally I said, not really because I needed my lock box back, but just because I thought I'll just go pick up my lock box so they don't feel any pressure and we will just go when they're ready to go live, I'll come bring it back.

Because I don't really like to have them just floating around in people's houses. They get damaged really easily. They are kind of expensive. And I thought also it might help them. And them no good. Yeah, some urgency of, ⁓ she's picking up the lockbox. Maybe we should figure this out. We want to sell. Let's get it going. And so they didn't like that. They got a little upset with me and said, well, we're going to live. We're going live. We're going live next week.

And I said, okay, I just didn't want you to feel pressure and I'm just doing inventory, but if you're ready to go live, then keep it and that's fine. I was just trying to get it out of the way for you, so, cause those can get damaged. And they had a lot that they were dealing with. And so sure enough, they go live and it's probably one of the worst situations I've ever had with a client that could be considered a nightmare client.

Yeah, yeah, this could be its own episode and not to get into the details of it, but it it was a pretty Toxic situation with these particular people both parties. Yeah, and they ⁓ they ended up getting very litigious and Come to find out that these were very litigious people in general and something that they did and so it became very obvious that I was not the right realtor for them and

this was not a good or safe client for me to have. And so I very respectfully removed myself from being their realtor and ⁓ said, we can reassign you a realtor with my brokerage or you can find your own broker, whatever. We were trying to do all the things to help them continue on with the listing of their home, but extracting me from the situation and actually the brokerage.

wasn't necessarily interested in that either, but they were OK with continuing on with another assigned realtor. And I wanted my lockbox back. So I asked them if I could have my lockbox back in this whole, hey, I'm going to release you of your listing agreement. We'll find you another agent, And they came back and said, no, we're not accepting that you are leaving. And we did.

will hold on to your lockbox until we decide to give it back to you. And I'm like, are you, they're holding it hostage. Are you gonna do a police report to get your lockbox I I made this little sticker and it was like wanted or like lost, my lockbox held hostage. It's taken. My little lockbox. Oh, is then?

Okay, so then as this escalates and they're talking to my brokerage and they're talking about not releasing the lockbox. What is the deal with these people with my lockbox? I for my lockbox. It's stuck in there. It's like Barbara save me. And just so the viewers know lockboxes are completely useless to someone who's not a realtor. Right, you can't into it. a key that's on your phone that you have to have pay MLS dues and.

background check and all that. And they're hardy where they're a paperweight. Yeah, they're heavy. They're bulky. They have no use to anybody but a realtor. Only realtors can access them. And only active realtors. Yeah, only active realtors can use them. So there's no practical purpose for them. They were just, they're just hanging on to it because they think I want it. And I do, but I don't really care that much. I know. And so they're using this as...

When we're ready to release you, we'll give you your lock box back. They're giving you ultimatum with your own lock They're moving it ransom. They're like, you have to stay in this contract with us, or else we're never giving you back your lock box. It's so just today, so the listing has since expired. And so we are no longer under any kind of contract or fiduciary or anything. My pro-cringe is, OK, so we're going to start.

making arrangements to get your lock box back. I get you. And this is why we love our brokerage, because they're looking out for us. Yeah, we're like, we're going to start the steps to get your lock box back. I'm like, well, thank goodness. He's going to need sage. He's going to need some counseling when he gets back. I'm going to promise to never use him. I'm just going to let him live in my office so he doesn't have to be kidnapped You know what's going to happen? Then Bevo's going to take him. My dog Bevo will chew on him.

But who would have thought that this whole thing could happen on a lockbox where you have, I don't know, it's just crazy that these people are holding onto this lockbox and they think it's important. And now there's this process in place to try to get it back to me. Right? It's just nuts. I have a story about a lockbox too. I was showing a brand new home and it wasn't in a neighborhood. It was a small builder.

I get there and I try to get the key out of the lock box and you know how you push it up? It felt like it was jammed. Yeah and so when my client gets there I'm on the driveway pounding this lock box on the side of the concrete. And at that point I already called the agent, they didn't answer and I'm like how? I have tried and sometimes it works. Yeah it did. it hard enough. I'm just being a fool. It'll unlock.

figured out something the other day and this was like a year ago when I was showing that house but the other day I found out there's a black tab on the bottom of the lock box that's rubber I think it's so that you can pull it. wow I've just been a realtor since 2014 and I'm learning this. That's all I think it's there for is to pull to get it unjammed. Unjammed well I had one that got real jammed bad on one of my listings ⁓ the inspector did it.

He just, I don't know, he put it in bath, I don't know what he did. Put chewing gum up there, maybe a pack of cigarettes, I don't know. He was just so jammed. And I could not get that thing un-jammed. So of course, just sat there for two years until I decided to finally take it to Abor to see if they could help me. And they're like, yeah, and they're like, so they just replaced it, but they couldn't even get it open. Well, she didn't do that in front of me. She's like, yeah, this one's jammed.

and she just put it away. She didn't even... felt like there's a huge markup on those. Because they just replaced them no problem. Yeah. And then I didn't have to pay the full price because they were changing it out instead of getting a brand new one. But, you know, it's just it's such a small thing to complain about. But here we have a whole episode about it. It is something, you know, it is something. So then what other showing shenanigans? So another one I had

that was interesting is this house it's in Georgetown and it's an older house. It's a historic home. Believe it was built in the early 1900s. Gorgeous home. And when I first got my license, one of my things that I was doing was going to vacant homes that I liked, like historic homes and all that stuff and just getting comfortable opening doors, turning on lights, using lock boxes. So I didn't feel like I was fumbling in front of

clients even though I still do. I was gonna say I've had my license 10 years and it's still. I still do but for whatever reason I felt like well this is a good thing for me to do because I wasn't busy and I was like this will be good. Get to see the product. Yeah and I can familiarize myself with these vacant homes. I wasn't doing it in homes where you know you had to make an appointment. It was just the go show vacants and and I loved this house. I wanted this house for Craig and I.

And I walked through this house and I, Craig was with me cause he was just kind of tagging along. And I took a picture by the mantle and then we went out to dinner afterwards and that house came back on the market since then a few times, but then it came back on the market and had a buyer for it. And this is so many years later. So that was 2014 when I first took that picture in the house and then

I think it was 2023 when I showed it again. So it was a long time ago. And I showed it to one of my favorite clients And so her whole family came and I was so excited because it felt like it was full circle to come show this home. But the pictures on the MLS were not really showing how the house looks, like really looked.

And I was telling the agent, I'm like, oh, I'm so excited because this is my favorite house that I always wanted to show. And when I first got my license, I did the whole thing. she's like, oh, this is great. Full circle. Bring me an offer. And so I opened the door. And it's packed. I I can't even tell you how packed it is. It's packed with these statues and antiques and gargoyles.

glass balls and you can barely walk through it. And it's like a Zillow gone bad showing, you know, it's one of those and there's stuffed dolls like with China faces, you know, it was terrifying. And so here my client comes, she's got all her client is very... Yeah, she's got taste. mean, she's a very... she see past that stuff? Probably not. I don't think anyone could. And she has her kids with her too.

And her parents and I'm like, my gosh, this is going to be horrible. up this house. I was so excited to show them this house. they went through this house and everybody was horrified. We were just, and the kids were like, don't touch anything. Then we go upstairs ⁓ I'm up there with the daughter and her husband we, there's dolls all on the bed. So you have all this antique furniture.

and these porcelain dolls. then all of sudden we just hear weird music box like. ⁓ We use that for intro. We all look at each other They're like, no, this is not the house. but before we leave, can you guys take a picture of me by the man? Because I have to go back full circle with it. then on my social media, I posted a picture of me.

when I first got my license and then that day, same pose, and it was crazy to see the difference in my face. You know, like I was the gray hair. Well, yeah, well, there's that in the Botox. But just like I was so tentative and scared and I could see the insecurity of a new agent. the next picture, I was just so comfortable in my skin loving what I was doing. it was so kind of cool to see that difference, not just.

the house and what it was, just the beginning of my career towards, you know, my stride in the middle of my career. And that house has gone on the market again. Like I it was two years ago. Yeah. So I'm pretty sure that house is haunted. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. And it's such a cool house. It's a shame. We'll have to talk about it.

Yeah. we'll have to just do an episode in it because we'll be on the market right now. No, I think it pulled off because nobody bought it. when it back, we'll record that. We won't know. ⁓ Well, this is fun. This is talking about ⁓ lock boxes and showing showings and dogs and all the good stuff. So thanks for tuning in. We'll see you next week. Yeah. Next week, we'll have another topic for you.