Chicago Open House “horror” story

              Due to the recent assault on a Realtor in my area, I decided to share a similar scary experience.  About 3 weeks ago, I hosted an Open House on the north side of Chicago; Something just didn’t seem right with the home, possibly due to the next door neighbors arguing and fighting loudly outside! Anyways, upon entry to the home, I noticed that the alarm system’s keypad and door/window sensors were on the floor and there were open and unlocked windows. After inspecting the home, which had a ton of cubby- holes and hidden areas, I deemed it safe.

              After 30 minutes passed, with no visitors, a man came to the property.  He stated the seller had given him “permission” to park “a car” in the garage. As he barged in and started to feverishly look into drawers and cabinets for a garage door opener, I became extremely worried.  Me and the listing agent knew nothing about this arrangement, so the seller was called.  After I told the man, we have no knowledge of this arrangement and we would contact seller, he became agitated and left.  He soon returned with another man and stated he had the seller on hold on his cell phone, but this situation was odd and unsafe as the man tried to get me outside of the home, but I declined.  I locked the door and left the men outside by the garage and called the seller again, where he did verify the validity of the man’s story.  Even so, the men seemed unsavory and this whole situation was like an NBC “Date Line” story, so I left! 

The moral of the story is: If a situation is questionable or unsafe, leave immediately…Safety first!