Most showing instructions — what Realtors need to know to open up and then lock a home they’re showing to clients — are pretty banal: turn off lights, leave card, remove shoes, etc.
Occasionally, you’ll get a twist like “don’t let Fluffy (invariably, a 120 lb. Rottweiler) out, or directions on how to disarm a security system (note to Sellers: if you want to encourage showings . . . turn off your security alarms — at least during business hours!).
However, the showing instructions for foreclosures can give you pause.
Here are the instructions for a foreclosure I’m showing this afternoon: ‘report any major property damage, broken windows, etc. to the Listing Agent.’
I’ll certainly take a minute to relay any problems I find, but I don’t consider myself to be in the (unpaid) property management business.
If a foreclosure I want to show appears to be seriously tampered with, my advice to clients is to skip it (I usually don’t get much argument).
P.S.: As I’ve previously posted, the reason listing agents representing foreclosures often have no clue about the condition of the properties they’re selling is that at least a few are simultaneously listing hundreds of them.
My favorite line from them is: "we cannot answer questions about the property because we've never seen it."
Nothing like representing a client on a property you have never seen.