Author Archives: Lane Bailey

The listing said to call before visiting the home.  The listing sheet said that the alarm code was in the lockbox.  I called… the agent reiterated that the alarm code was in the lockbox.

The house had a keypad deadbolt.  The lockbox contained a code that accessed the deadbolt.

It was NOT the same code as the alarm… The alarm code was missing.  Of course, this was hard to communicate to the listing agent on the phone, as the blaring of the siren was drowning out everything else.  To top it off, she thought I was at a different house…

My buyer and I walked out to the front of the house.  He asked what we were going to do.  “Close the door and wait for the police… the agent says the system is monitored.”  We waited.

The listing agent was frantically trying to get the alarm code from the seller… the WRONG seller.  She was having ahard time understanding the address over the sound of the alarm.  So, when she called back with the alarm code, it wasn’t correct.  Alarm sounding again…

Still, no cops.

We sat down on the stoop.

My buyer asked if we should leave…  “Nope.  If the police are going to respond, I want to be sitting right here talking with you, not driving away.”  He thought it was a good point.

Here is our friendly neighborhood police officer…

He rolls up expecting a dog on premises… in addition to whomever set off the alarm.  I give him a card and tell him there isn’t a dog.  We chat for a few minutes.  And then I get a call from the listing agent.  She has the right code.  We get in and look around.

The conversation with the cop was quite friendly.  By waiting for him and not presenting a threat, he was comfortable when he got out of his cruiser.  Since we had all of the documentation he would need, in our hands… and our hands quite visible, we were all comfortable.

It could have been a lot different…

We could have tried to leave… that would be suspicious. We could have blamed the cop for showing up… that would be rude, he was just doing his job.  We could have just been angry… but there wasn’t anyone there to take the anger out on, and so it wouldn’t have been productive.  Even blaming the other agent wouldn’t have helped.  She had left the code in the box…

It would have been nice if she had the alarm code at her fingertips, but I don’t think it is fair to expect that…

The point is that by staying cool, and not developing an attitude, we sailed smoothly through something that could have gotten REALLY annoying.

As it is, the house is still on the “Possible” list…