Realtor horror stories: ‘We opened the door and it smelled weird.’ – Boston.com

By Jim Morrison

Every real estate agent has a hatful of horror stories that tend to fall into one of two categories: The best stories are the ones they will tell you only off the record over a glass of their favorite beverage. The other stories are pretty good, too (and often gross). You just have to know whom to ask.

After showing her international clients dozens of homes, Morgan Antonell of Compass finally found a condo for these first-time home buyers. It was on the first floor of an old home and vacant. They had several contractors in to give them estimates for projects, and a week before the closing, they flew in their parents to see the place and share the excitement.

“We opened the door and it smelled weird,” Antonell said. “We walk into the kitchen, and there’s sewage coming up from the sink [and] all over the first floor of the house. They were freaking out in their native language, but I could tell their parents were trying to calm them down. They had already broken their lease, so they had nowhere else to live.”

Ultimately, they got out of the contract and found another property — in five days. They’ve moved in and are reportedly very pleased.

“The moral of this one is: If you’re representing buyers who are buying a property that’s been vacant for a bit, it’s really important to have weekly check-ins on the property to make sure nothing like this is happening.”

Sandra Balzer Tobin is a veteran Coldwell Banker agent. During the Great Recession (2007-2009), she listed a home for an older couple who was downsizing and moving to the Sun Belt. The market was weaker then, but after a few months, they accepted an offer. The buyers asked whether the sellers would include the fancy new washing machine and dryer in the sale, and the sellers agreed, Tobin said.

“So we finally get to the closing day, and we do the final walk-through. Afterward, I locked it up. We’re all driving to the closing, and the other agent called me and said, ‘Sandy, that washer dryer is not the same washer dryer.’ I was only five minutes away from the house, so I turned around and went back, and sure enough, there were another washer and dryer, scratched and dented and held together with duct tape.”

Tobin was mortified. The sellers had left the state and weren’t going to be at the closing, so she informed their attorney of the situation. The attorney called one of the sellers and the seller doubled down, yelling on speakerphone that it was the laundry set they agreed to leave.

The attorney, who had known the seller for a long time, took Tobin into a private conference room and asked her whether the machines were the same ones the sellers had agreed to leave. She confirmed they weren’t, and the attorney negotiated a fair price reduction on the owners’ behalf. Thankfully, the buyers bought the house.

Tobin wondered aloud how the sellers would react to the price reduction.

“Don’t worry about it,” the attorney said. “I’ll take care of him later.”

Melvin A. Vieira Jr. of RE/Max Destiny said good communication can prevent and solve problems in a transaction, and bad communication only creates them.

Some sellers’ problems are self-inflicted, Vieira said, because they hear only what they want to hear.

“I once listed a home for a seller and explained the entire process to them,” he said. “I told them they had to have the septic system inspected, but they didn’t. They said it would be fine.”

When the home was appraised at the exact amount that the buyer and seller had agreed to, the homeowner was thrilled — until she wasn’t. Vieira asked her once again if she had the septic system inspected, and she assured him it would be fine.

“The next day, she calls me to tell me the septic system had failed,” he said. “She was all over me and the buyer, thinking we were making mistakes when she’s the one who almost tanked the deal. Anyway, she put money in escrow for a new septic system, and the buyer was very happy with that.”

John Barmon, a real estate agent with Coldwell Banker, is more accustomed to unusual work-related events than most. A former actor, he played the bratty Spaulding Smails in the 1980 smash-hit film “Caddyshack.” Barmon said college kids still Google his name, find his cell number, and call him late at night to see if it’s really him. (It really is).

Back in the early 2000s, when it was still possible to purchase a three-decker in Dorchester for around $200,000, Barmon said he found one in Field’s Corner that his clients liked. They made an offer, and it was accepted. During the home inspection, the inspector looked at the original corroded cast-iron waste pipe and warned everyone not to touch it. He said it could fail at any moment and proceeded to remove the cover from the nearby electrical panel.

Without a word, the listing agent walked over to the waste pipe, took out a pen, and tapped it.

“Then this little, tiny trickle started,” Barmon said. “Then that turned into a bigger trickle, and it’s starting to splash. And I turn around, and there’s a little puddle under it. The home inspector said, ‘We’d better get out of here,’ but he wasn’t serious. And just as he’s saying that, the whole thing just gives way and sewage just gushes all over.”

And with that, both the inspection and the deal were over.

Jim Morrison can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X @jimmorrison617. Follow Address on X @GlobeHomes.

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