You can’t imagine what home buyers, sellers, and their agents will do to buy or sell a house in today’s housing market.

Chain and padlock the gate

so no one else can get in to see the house.

After reading an Inman article about today’s historic low housing inventory crisis, I thought you’d enjoy hearing about some agent-client experiences they highlighted.

Let's take a look at the lengths home buyers, sellers and agents will go to in order to have an advantage.

1. Chain and padlock the gate
2. Buyers offering sellers freebies
3. Contact the neighbor to put in a good word for you
4. Agent “accidentally” showing up a day early to view the house
5. Seller receives top dollar offer on the first day of showings but was too quick?
6. Buyer’s agent steals key to get into seller’s house
7. 190 showings, 32 offers

Chain the Gate!

An agent showed up to her own listing to find that the gate leading to the property had been chained and padlocked by the buyer or buyer’s agent.  No one was going to get inside to show the home before that buyer did!

Spa Package Included

Some buyers are getting creative when writing up their contracts, including bonuses like spa packages, free moving service, and even free rent to the sellers until they can get into their next house.

Contact the Neighbor

A quick cash deal was already in the works when another broker tried to get a foot in the door by writing to the neighbor.  The goal?  Encourage them to get in touch with the out-of-town home seller to let them know their buyer was also interested, and to give their offer serious consideration (didn’t work).

Accidentally Showing Up Early 

A recent trend in this competitive market includes agents booking their appointments for the go-live date but accidentally showing up the day before.  Sneaky.  Really sneaky.

Seller Receives Top Dollar Offer But…

After the first day of showings, the seller received a top-dollar offer but wanted to keep showing the house.  Why?  They might get a better offer.  Keep in mind, the longer a house stays on the market, buyer interest decreases and the house starts to lose value.  They were eventually convinced to take the great offer.

Steal the Keys

Showings were set to begin at 3pm.  The seller’s agent arrived early and was going to leave the key in the lockbox but, instead, left it in the mailbox because the owner said they would be there in a few minutes.  The agent returned at 2:35pm to find the door unlocked and an agent and his client looking around the inside of the home. When the seller’s agent asked the buyer’s agent if he had an appointment, he said “yes”.  “How did you get a key?”  He just randomly found it in the mailbox.  Hmmmm…  The seller’s agent looked up his appointment and discovered that it was scheduled for 5:30pm.

190 Showings, 32 Offers

An agent in Minnesota couldn’t believe the amount of activity on a house he put on the market at the end of March, 2021.  4 days before it was listed as “pending” in the MLS, 190 showings had been requested and 32 offers submitted (another 10 were turned away).  This is truly a crazy time in the housing industry!

Conclusion

As you can see, the housing market can get very competitive and crazy at times.  Save yourself the headache of handling these scenarios on your own by having an experienced real estate agent manage the issues for you.  You'll be glad you did!