The woman who is potentially buying my home has 7 business days (her choice of timing) from the time her offer was ratified - on Wednesday, April 7 - to do a home inspection. Since the offer specified "business" days, my realtors and I figured that probably meant that she wanted to do the home inspection on a business day. Wrong! The home inspection is scheduled for Sunday, April 11. From 10 am to 1 pm. Now I understand - believe me! - the challenges of taking time off from work to do all this home stuff. And so I'm sympathetic to the desire to do the home inspection on a weekend. But...shouldn't I have been asked whether Sunday would work for me? Wouldn't that have been the courteous thing to do? I think so.
It got me thinking about the other courtesies that are involved in the home selling and buying processes.
A lot of the homes that I've been to see have asked prospective buyers to take off their shoes before walking around. Makes sense to me. Rather than having a bunch of people track dirt on your newly cleaned floors and carpets. Saves on having to vacuum before leaving home every day, too. Several places also provided little booties for those people who might not want to take off their shoes to walk around. All very civilized and...well...courteous.
In my listing, my realtors asked that prospective buyers call me first to check that it was okay to go. Most of the realtors who stopped by called first. I know this because there's a lockbox on the house that tells my realtors when another realtor stops by. So we could compare the number of people who called me and the list of who actually used the lockbox. Interestingly, some realtors clearly did not call first. Even without the lockbox, I could tell that some people were not doing the courtesy of calling first. For example, the other day, I came home and the front hall lights were on. Not only had I not left them on when I left home that morning - it having been a sunny day - I almost never use that light. A clear indication that someone had been there. But I had not gotten a single call that day. Not very courteous.
Part of realtor etiquette also includes leaving one's business cards behind. There's a sign on my dining room table specifically asking agents to do this. But again, some do not have the courtesy to do so. I know this because, on more than one occasion, I have been called by more people than there have been cards left behind. Now, I know from my own experience, that sometimes a realtor might call and then he/she and his/her client might not actually make it to my place. It's just courteous to call, even if you don't get to that particular place. And so presumably some of those who didn't leave a card fall into this category - they simply never made it to my place. But others, and I'd speculate it's the majority, just decided not to leave a card. For whatever reason. Again, since there's a lockbox on the front door, my realtors know who stopped by anyway. But courtesy (etiquette) suggests that this non-card-leaving behavior is inappropriate.
The one other area where courtesy comes into play is in taking about the home as one is wandering around. Most of the time, I haven't been home. So whatever the client and realtor discuss is unknown. But on those occasions when I have been home, it's interesting to see how many people have no qualms talking about my home in front of me. Most have - thank goodness - been complimentary. But I will also say that, when all I get is a single comment on the way out that my "home is very nice", I have to wonder if it's just courtesy, and not a sincere comment. I'm not insulted in any way by this. My home may not be to their tastes - lord knows, I've been to several homes that were decorated in ways that were not my taste. And I'm sure that some people came and my house was too small for them, or they thought it was priced too high. Or some other such thing. Again, this is not an insult. It's just their take on things. Yet, common courtesy dictates saying something nice as one is walking out the door. So I appreciate the courteous note, even if it's complete BS.
It would have been nice if I had been given an option or two when it came to a weekend open house. But perhaps that's not "required" courtesy. Sure seems like it should be, under "common" courtesy. Lesson learned for when I'm scheduling my own home inspection.
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