Our Southeast Valley Real Producers magazine collected several Real Estate Horror Stories from the top producing agents in the area. Here are our favorites:

A Mystery in the Shower:

I was showing homes to a client. We had an appointment to show a home at a set time. We arrived, I rang the bell, no one answered so I got the key and entered the home. Within just a few seconds of being in the home, we realized someone was inside taking a shower.

We decided to leave, but when we turned to go we realized the door we had just entered had no locks or knobs on the inside. We couldn’t open it, so we headed for the back door. We were about to enter the backyard when a huge dog came charging at us blocking our exit. Our last option, besides crawling out a window, was the garage. We entered the garage only to discover it was packed full of the seller’s belongings. We figured that was our best bet, so we crawled around, over and through their belongings until we had a path cleared. My client waited outside while I went back to open the garage door and then close it again. I pushed the button and then ran through the cluttered garage, trying to make it out before the door closed on me.

I just barely made it out, but I had to practically roll out onto the cement just before the garage door went all the way down.

From Justin Cook, Top Producing Agent in the Southeast Valley

A Haunting FSBO:

All real estate coaches and brokers tell you to prospect to FSBOs, and they are right. FSBOs are an excellent source of business for agents who offer value the FSBO cannot get for themselves. However, there are some FSBOs that should just stay FSBOs.

Let me tell you about “Brad.” Brad had a rather strong “can do” attitude, mixed heavily with a “nobody-can-do-it-better-than-me” sense of self-importance. When Brad was unable to sell his overpriced and poorly-marketed home as a FSBO for 6 months, he agreed to list with our team. I should not have agreed to take the listing. Our team had professional photos taken, secured featured listing placement on Zillow, Trulia, etc., scheduled and held a mega open house, put the home on the broker tour and by all accounts gave Brad a 5-star experience.

When an offer didn’t come in after the first week is when things began to unravel. It started with demeaning comments to my administration and agents. He then started calling the sign number, pretending to be a buyer. We have caller ID, so we knew it was Brad. He complained that nobody answers the phone, that you get an automated service when you call, and that the agents didn’t know anything about his property. Thanks to CallFire, we had all calls logged and recorded, and upon review found that none of his complaints had any merit—we don’t even have an automated service.

Brad also thought Zillow was blacklisting his property because he was previously a FSBO. I showed Brad his Zillow stats and pointed out that his property was #2 amongst the 20 homes most similar to his for views and inquiries. Yeah. We’re not answering our phone. Brad took to the internet to give us 1-star reviews under a pseudo name. In just 34 days after taking the listing, we received an offer that Brad accepted, but all through the closing we had to hear about how we are paid too much, that he could’ve sold it himself if he just waited, etc.

In the end we closed the property, netting Brad more than he would have made selling on his own, and wished him the FSBO best of luck. I can only imagine what his home search was like for the next poor agent he had to find out-of-state.

From Jason Wells, Top Producing Agent in the Southeast Valley