My best friend and I are house hunting. We saw their ad on Craigslist for a property. When we called the number, no one answered. We left no message, but they did call back within 10 mins. The Realtor we spoke to was named Lenny Pardo, who said she cannot make it out there, but told us to go and she will give us the Lockbox combination for the property. She told us to call when we arrived there, but since we'd be driving a good 45 mins, I called before we even left the house. She obliged and gave us "the lockbox" combination(s), saying "its gotta be one of those two", even though we gave her the exact address of the one we were interested in.
Sure enough, I should have listened to my gut. There was no lockbox to be found. The only device on the building that needed a dial-combination entered was the sprinkler system. We spent about ten minutes looking and decided to give Lenny a call. On this call she says, "check by the main door. There should be a black lock box with a combination lock." Once again, we scour the premises, even double checking the back door thinking she may have mis-spoke. After another ten mins of searching, we call again. Lenny now says, "its near the pipes by the garage". Ok, total opposite end of the property, but now we scrutinize every inch near the garage. Hmm, still not looking good, and there are two of us. What are we missing?
Ok, at this point, we feel like we're the idiots and we're bothering her since we're basically getting a "look harder" response. We decide to just head back home and never deal with this agency again. About 10 mins into our drive home, we get a call from Lenny saying, "how did you like it?". We told her it was nice from the outside, but never got to look inside, so we cannot fully answer. It was then she said, "The neighbor Rodrigo should also have a key and can let you in". Yeah. Great.
My gut said not to go, as its always best to have the realtor with you when touring since they can answer any questions right up front. I should have followed my instinct. I just figured we had a free Sunday afternoon and didn't really have anything else on the agenda, it was like "why not?" Ah well, I got my answer. So many red flags, but again, free time so figured it wouldn't hurt to look.
***Red flags that may tip you off, but for whatever reason I ignored them***
...About 90% of our calls go to vm almost immediately.
...When calling back, She answers "hello" so you almost think you have dialed the wrong person.
...She gives away lockbox combinations, which realtors should only have access to
...You can never talk to just Lenny, she's always talking to someone else in the background
...She never offered to find a nearby associate or her herself offer to meet up with us when we were having issues finding the lockbox
I've only dealt with Lenny Pardo (male name, but female associate) and since she represents this company, the whole company gets 1 star. read more