The other day while showing a condo to one of my home buyers, I came across a number of cut lock boxes while getting the key for the unit I was to show my client.
Curious as to why these boxes were cut and lying on the floor, I reached down and picked up a box with a notice wrapped around the lock box. It was a notice from building management requesting that this particular lock box had to be removed by May 24th or it would be cut. The day I was showing the unit was November 1st…
The lock box had been lying there for 5 months…
What’s even worse is that when I shook the lock box, to my shock there was a key inside! I shook my head… here we have a lock box, with a key to an apartment, abandoned and lying on the floor. What’s worse is that because it’s a mechanical lock box (where the code remains the same) there’s a chance that someone who showed the property 5 months ago could still have the code…
Now to be fair, most real estate agents will not remember a code from a home they showed 5 months ago, but the fact remains is that the key was unsecured, lying abandoned on the floor.
I’m not going to begin to guess the story behind this lock box and this particular situation, maybe the unit didn’t sell, maybe the realtor was fired… My guess is that the unit sold and the realtor didn’t bother to give the key to the new owner. But regardless, a real estate agent put the lock box there, they were hired to do a job and didn’t do it. Once the job was done they couldn’t be bothered to take the 10 minutes to remove the lock box and return the key to its rightful owner.
A Complete lack professionalism, No integrity…
Sadly, incidents like this are more common than you think. There are many people who get into this industry for all the wrong reasons; they are focused on chasing dollars instead of doing the right job. Their goal is to get the contract signed at all costs, to make a quick buck. Everything is good as long as everything works out, but the problem is when it doesn’t.
Once the deal is done they move on to chase the next one. In this case they didn’t even finish the job of returning the keys to the proper owner.
I believe the number one priority of a real estate agent is to protect the interest of their clients and to always act with Integrity. That means doing the right thing, especially when no one is watching. It means treating everyone with respect even if they are your client or not.
I found a quote the other day that sums up integrity perfectly.
Real integrity is doing the right thing, knowing that nobody’s going to know whether you did it or not. Oprah Winfrey
On my way out I let security know there was a cut lock box from 5 months ago, lying on the floor with the key still inside. I just hope whoever owns the unit changed the locks!
