Agent forgets to lock a door! What would you do?

**realestatefla1** · 02-24-2007, 05:28 AM

Normally, when we give out showing instructions we never ask a Realtor to remember to lock the door! We take it for granted that an agent knows that when they open a door we than close it! Very Simple, very easy to remember.

At 10:00p.m. last night I received a call from the next door neighbor of a listing we have in Boca Raton, Florida.
She told me that the front door of our listing was "Wide Open". The sellers are away for the weekend.
I got dressed and drove 40 minutes to Boca to make sure that the door was locked and that everything inside the home wasn`t disturbed.

I`ve been showing homes for 10 years. In those 10 years I have never forgot to lock a door. I`m a believer that locking a door is common sense.
I`ve had alot of wild and zany things happen to me,but yesterday sealed it.

I`m debating when we now give out showing instructions if I should start mentioning to "lock the door" when you leave!

How do you handle this type of situation?

**Codythebest** · 02-24-2007, 03:17 PM

Boca Raton, huh?
Are you with the South Florida Association of Realtors?
If so, login to your lockbox web page and see who was the last agent to show the property, unless you know who already. And talk to him/her...
It should be the responsability to the last agent to show if there's anything missing...

**realestatefla1** · 02-25-2007, 05:43 AM

Cody,
I spoke to the other Realtor, they denied that it was them. Part of the cost of doing business.

**Codythebest** · 02-25-2007, 05:56 AM

They denied...umm...of course...
Nothing you can do...

**REbuyersgroup** · 02-25-2007, 06:57 AM

S@#$ happens. We're all human.

**FlaGal** · 02-25-2007, 12:42 PM

What's the problem with telling other Realtors to look the door when they're done showing your listing. Say you've had a bad experience and you're just trying to protect your sellers interest.

However, this brings up another concern I've been having about lock boxes. I started in January and our Gen. Manager suggested I go preview houses, as many as I can. Next morning I pulled up active listings and started calling the listing agents. 9 out of 10 times I was given the lock box combination without making sure I was who I claimed to be. Up until now I've seen about 50 spec homes with brandnew appliances, many high-end. Nice paycheck if someone drove around collecting them.
I've talked to other agents in my office about it and nobody seems concerned. How time consuming can it be for the listing agent to call my office and leave the lock box code in my voice mail. If I'm legitimate, I'll know how to retrieve it. All it would only cost a minute or two.