We have already established that Gary White was untrustworthy but still I handed him a set of keys to my home. Was I mad? Possibly, but not totally.
Estate agents vary in their approach. Some would do anything rather than take a prospective buyer; others
KEY MISTAKE: Think carefully before handing your keys to an estate agent
insist that you leave them to show your home to prospective buyers.
The latter type should be told politely never to make contact with you again.
Firstly, it is your home and no sharp-suited estate agent has a right to demand access to it at their whim. You may feel that you just can’t face showing people round. We thought the same so were happy to have an agent who included “free” viewings as part of his service.
In retrospect, that was another mistake. Firstly, showing people your home is not as traumatic as you might think. The people come in, smile a bit, say they like it and leave. They may not give you honest feedback and it can be a bit nerve-wracking at first but it’s nothing to be afraid of.
If you don’t conduct the viewings, you have no contact with the buyer at all. And that means that all communications are dependent on the bond of trust between you and the agent. That’s a recipe for misery.
If you aren’t there, how do you know who was in your home? How do you know if anyone was even there, rather than a phantom viewing by an agent pretending to be doing something. Can you rely on the agent to retain the important details of the best features of your property and location? Can you trust him or her not to rifle through your knicker drawer?
There is another issue with agents who conduct all the viewings: availability. Say someone calls your agent and says: “I’m looking at flats in the area on Thursday night. Can I see the property you have for sale? It’s the only night I can do.” What if the agent is showing properties on the other side of the city at that time?
The chances are you will end up missing out on a prospective buyer, who you were never even told existed.
I did one thing right, which I would urge anyone who is still determined to allow an agent access to their home to follow. I retained my mortice lock. I had made some excuses and promised to get a copy made – “but in the meantime, I’ll leave it on the latch when you are coming round and lock up later”.
There are, of course, security and insurance implications of leaving your house less than fully locked, so you should leave it in this way for an absolute minimum of time. However, if things go wrong, you can easily replace the inner part of the latch for a few pounds, meaning that nobody has full keys for your home.
Ultimately, the agent will try to retain your keys as a lever in any disputes and you will feel very insecure, possibly faced with a large bill for replacing a mortice and latch lock. And, should you be unfortunate enough to be a victim of a break-in, your insurance policy may well be under threat should it transpire that you had left your keys with a third party.
Gary White is welcome to my latch key. I’m sure he knows where to stick it.
