Andi Grant's Blog - Everyday Real Estate with a Twist

Tenants Being Used as Pinballs in the Seller's Short Sale Machine

This past weekend I took a set of retiree buyers to view homes in Murrieta CA over 50 miles away from my service area.  This was due to my client not being treated very well by the referral agent.  Even with pre-approval in hand, no appointment had been setup in two weeks, calls were not being returned - that sorta thing. 

Anyway, we drove up to the neighborhood of the first home my buyer insisted on seeing and I groaned inside.  Because neither the MLS description, MLS photos, nor the agent when I spoke to her the day before indicated to me it was a gated community.  I only had the remote key to the front door and not the gate combo. Although the printout said "Go Direct" I should've asked.  How could I have forgotten to ask? I pulled over to the side and attempted to call the agent.  It went straight to voicemail as in mailbox full or phone turned off.  A large SUV pulled into the roundabout driveway so we immediately tailgated followed them in.  We drove deep into the complex and ended up parking right beside the same SUV. 

As the young lady (age 30-something) got out of her car, I apologized and assured her that we were the "good guys" getting ready to view a home for sale and not stalking her.  I also mentioned that we were grateful for her allowing us to come in having come all the way from LA.  She wearily laughed and told us she was glad she could help while gathering her groceries.  In the back seat I couldn't help but see three little blonde heads all in car seats.  We joked with her that she had her hands full literally and figuratively.  My buyers even offered to help her, which in hindsight now, could have been deemed awfully suspicious, but she politely declined. 

With printout in hand we went looking for unit #101 and wouldn't ya know it.  A super huge Marmaduke looking dog was standing taller than all of us with paws on edge of the wraparound patio that also included a portion of the path to the front door.  My Supra remote key useless as this too wasn't mentioned in the MLS private remarks.   

The woman that we had parked next to walked towards us with plastic bags of groceries hanging down both her arms, as she ushered her 3 little boys up the walkway.  One was clearly special needs who was determined to wander off.  She looked at us and asked which unit we were we coming to see because the one behind us was up for sale.  I told her it was unit #101 (pointing to the one in front of us).  She looked confused then upset.  She then told us that we were the second set of people to come to see the house she was renting (the others the day before).  But according to the seller and agent the home had already been sold.  She and her husband had already gotten a notice to be out by August 31st, but then were told there was no urgency because the "new buyers" weren't in a rush.   I asked if she had gotten a call from the listing agent telling her that we were coming, she said she postiviely hadn't.  That was unacceptable. 

She apologized and asked if we could give her 10 minutes to clean up a little and settle the kids.  We apologized and asked her only if she were sure.  She said she didn't want us to have wasted a trip.  In perfect timing I got a return call from the listing agent.  I didn't go into the gate code or Marmaduke issue but told her the tenant had no idea we were coming and is under the impression that the house had already been sold or was in escrow.  She assured us that it wasn't because the home had an approved short sale, but had fallen out of escrow and they needed a new buyer ASAP!  She told me that the buyer had no idea and the seller was trying to hold onto them as long as he could to continue getting rents until he could get another buyer into escrow.  I told her we were placed in a very uncomfortable position but I didn't lay into her too much just in case we were the next set of buyers and needed her full cooperation. 

The tenant motioned for us to come in.  She tied the "harmless" dog up.  We stepped into the home and oh my goodness.  One child was climbing up a built-in wall unit, the special needs one was throwing a temper tantrum at the top of the first set of stairs, while the youngest was in the middle of the floor with arms raised crying.  This poor overwhelmed lady looked as if she were going to burst into tears!  I know I'm going to get a lot of flack from readers for this, but I put my keys and purse down and asked if I could (pointing to the baby), she threw her arms up shaking  her head yes as if she couldn't verbally answer the question if she wanted to. 

I picked up the crying 2 year old and shhh'd him and patted his back as we all toured the home together with the mom explaining to the buyers about the amenities and how great the area was.   The baby was quiet for about 10 minutes which is forever to a mom! The home was completely thrashed.  Clothes strewn, toys and boxes everywhere, dried stains on a couple levels of the carpet.  There was one level that was completely spotless.  I guess that was all she could manage under her chaotic circumstances!   My buyers although having a hard time with the mess, because of the layout was still considering an offer.  I was advising against it simply because it was tri-level with no ground floor bedroom.  Although both quite spry, not advisable for retirees as I had been diplomatically explaining to them on the drive up. 

I called the listing agent afterwards and left her a voicemail and text explaining how bad we felt popping in on the tenant who had 3 kids all under the age of 5 (one special needs) and a dog.  How gracious and cooperative she was to allow complete strangers into her home although we were unexpected.  In other words that was unacceptable and tenants have a right to be notified especially since it states it on the MLS! 

It's an overall bad situation for all parties.  Bad for the seller who is trying desperately not to lose another month's rent while trying to get a new buyer in.  Bad for the listing agent who is trying to hold onto to the shreds of a listing after a buyer falls out.  Bad for the buyers' agents that are unknowingly popping in on very emotional and sometimes hostile situations.  But most importantly in this particularly case, very bad for the tenants that have 3 young kids under age 5, are packing to move, have strangers popping in unannounced at all times of the day, a listing agent that is not communicating with them, and a seller pushing them to go, then stay.  Through circumstances not of their own, these tenants are being smacked and bounced around like pinballs in a pinball machine at the seller's and agent's whim and convenience until the seller can "score" again.

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  Pinball machine public domain wikipedia.  Pinball balls photo courtesy of Ian Crowfeather , crying baby photos by nezemnaya, dog photo by Defence Images all for Flickr nd Creative Commons.  This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic License.