It was a day I was really excited about...
I had been working with a husband and wife, showing them homes for OVER 3 years, and we thought we had found "the ONE".
As I am entering the long, curved driveway of an $800,000 listing that, on paper, was appearing to be worth $1.2M, I quickly started rubbing my eyes and asking myself if I had taken too much CBD or Ashwaganda that morning, because I started seeing things I WAS NOT expecting.
Along the curved road, I first came across a Zebra, and then a few Highland Cattle. I kept telling myself it was just a cool horse, I must be tripping right? Wrong! Next animal along the long road to the property was a kangaroo!
...Now, if you know me...you know my inner child is on cloud 9, okay? Animals might just top my list of favorite things right above real estate.
So anyway, I am beginning to near the gate of the entrance, tickled as to what other animals my clients and I may get to see during this showing tour. The gate is wrought iron, with tons of animals welded into it, much like the entrance to the Oklahoma City Zoo. Outside, is the seller, working in the front yard. I beat my clients to the home, so I took this opportunity to introduce myself to the seller and ask let him know that I was an animal lover and very excited as to what I was seeing. The seller admitted he was a veterinarian and a lover of exotic animals, and that he had already "moved the giraffes and big cats the day prior". Shucks! LOL
My clients arrived shortly after my brief chat with the seller. Both husband and wife didn't seem as thrilled about the animals. This made me sad...for them..
..anyway, we decide to walk the exterior of the home first, as it was sitting on 10 acres. We got to meet, feed and pet lemurs and I think we spotted a few peacocks if my memory serves me correctly. We finally decide to work our way back to the front door, we open it.....and WOW! The overwhelming smell of cat piss immediately singed our noses and at least 5 house cats were staring at us. We quickly understood WHY the home was priced so well.
At one point, we decided to trek down a hallway and open a door that looked like it (should) take you to a garage or maybe even a hallway powder bath, but it led us into what I would call the "tortoise breeding center". I kid you not, there were at least 10 extremely large land tortoises and several were mounting! 😂
My clients were VERY unhappy. I had to mask the inner child that was absolutely BUZZING with happiness and excitement and bring myself back into their shoes. It was a waste of our time driving all the way out to a home, that they thought was their forever home, to be completely turned off by the smell and construction it would take to bring this beautiful home back to homeostasis.
I called the real estate agent and griped her out for not giving me a heads up or writing anything about the animals in the private notes, disclosures or descriptions.
Just another day folks!
