Is it standard practice for a realtor holding an Open House to leave your house unlocked and leave for hours?

Question

My house is not empty--it's full of furniture, personal effects, etc. I haven't moved yet!! There is jewelry, laptops, etc., etc. (all put away), but easily accessible for a thief who can walk in off street and root through things. The realtor showing my house left a sign-in sheet on the counter and bottles of wine for people who came while she was away to take as a courtesy for viewing the house. She returned 2 hours after the allotted Open House time and seemed surprised to find me home from work. I came back after the Open House to check on things and discovered the realtor had left the entire house open and unlocked and unsupervised.

Answer 1

Absolutely not...empty or not!!

Call the broker, tell them you want another Realtor or you'll be cancelling the contract for malpractice.

Then call the Real Estate Commission along with your Board of Realtors and file a FORMAL complaint.

She is not to leave the property...period.

Answer 2

No very unprofessional of her, where did she go for the two hours? I would call her broker this morning and ask is this the company policy in regard to open houses, then give the broker an ear full    

Answer 3

She was way out of line. You state you left  jewelry, laptops, etc in your home. You should also know to leave valuables, paperwork, personal information, etc. somewhere else while total strangers come into your home.  BTW, fire the Realtor!

Answer 4

I AM SO SPEECHLESS, I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT SOME

PEOPLE DO !  ....i Honestly don't know where you live (Country)

but hey i think anywhere in the world this is not correct !

You should charge her with accessory to stealing and just to teach

someone like this a lesson make one of your lap/tops whatever

disappear !  Maybe then others like her , would think twice about

treating people in this manner !

I had a terrible experience with a realtor. the owner of the home

wanted the property sold as his daughter was getting married, we

were renting, i was at the middle stage of my pregnancy. They

totally ignored me and dropped in morning night anytime. I was

so unwell at the time ... it was awful, only by accident i had a

call from the owner who had no idea this was going on.!! Most of

them are greedy beast !  Make sure you always check on them!!

As it turned out, the new owners wanted us to move back in,

because we had been such good tenants . What irony ! Too late

we went out and brought a place of our own after the previous

experience.

Answer 5

I agree with the above posters, as a Real Estate agent myself, I can say that her actions are definitely not acceptable. She should have been in the home the entire time that it was open. If she left the home for any reason, she should have locked up.

You definitely need to call and discuss this with her broker. What she did was unethical and unacceptable. I'm sorry that you had that happen to you.  Not all agents are that irresponsible.

Answer 6

Absolutely not!!  I would be FURIOUS!  I would fire her butt right now!  Then I would contact the broker that hired her and tell him/her about it!  You could actually sue her if something was taken out of your house.  I hope other real estate agents respond to your question.  I would like to know what they have to say about it.  We buy and sell a lot of property, and I have worked with many real estate agents that are awesome at their jobs.  When I saw your question posted, I called one that has two properties up for sale for us right now, and he couldn't believe that the realtor just left your house un-locked and open with her not there.

Answer 7

OMG!!   I have never heard of anything so irresponsible in my life!

I hope nothing was stolen!

It is also ILLEGAL to give alcohol away as a gift, even to people you know are over 21.    Wine can only be given without charge by the wine makers themselves.

I am rather speechless.   You should call your state board right away and report this occurrence.   Both the agent and their broker should not be in this business at all and the real estate board will take care of that.

I could go on and on with a list of liabilities not only to you but to anyone who may have come into your house.

Answer 8

Uh no.  I would fire them immediatly.  That is such a gross violation of the contract.  Not to mention an ethical violation.

Answer 9

I wouldn't think so. There needs to be an agent there that can answer questions for prospective buyers. I don't think what she did was professional or legal and I would be talking to someone that she reports to. You might consider using a different realtor.

Answer 10

That's EXTREMELY irregular and unprofessional. I'd take this up with her supervisor and her supervisor's supervisor. If she's part of a chain of Realtors (Century 21, etc.) I'd take it up with them at the management level as well.

And I'd certainly find myself another Realtor.

Answer 11

Not standard that I know of. I would file a complaint with the realtor's office and possibly change if they are doing other things that are shady.