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- Business Insider surveyed real-estate agents around the country about what it’s really like working in their industry.
- We asked them about the strangest and most extreme requests they’ve ever gotten from clients.
- One agent had to conduct showings over FaceTime, while another was asked to install listening devices in a home to spy on prospective buyers.
- Several of the agents’ strangest requests had to do with pets.
- Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.
Business Insider asked real-estate agents around the country about what it’s really like working in the industry, what they wish they could tell their clients, and the weirdest requests they’ve ever received from clients.
One agent said they were asked to show a home and conduct almost the entire sale process over FaceTime. Another was asked to install a listening device in a client’s home so they could hear the prospective buyers’ comments.
Many of the agents’ strangest requests had to do with pets, from being asked to walk a client’s dog before each showing to bringing a buyer’s parrot through the house to make sure it was "comfortable" in the home.
Here are 13 of some of the strangest and most extreme requests real-estate agents have ever gotten from clients.
1. One client asked an agent to spy on prospective buyers.
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Terry Hamilton (not pictured), who sells homes in Missouri and Kansas for an average $265,000, said one of the strangest requests he ever got was when a client asked him "to install a listening device in their home so we could hear the prospective buyer’s comments."
2. One agent was asked to walk a client’s dog every time he showed their home.
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Boris Fabrikant of Compass, who sells homes with an average price of $1.5 million in Manhattan, says a client once asked him, "Can you walk my dog before each showing?"
3. One foreign buyer wanted to buy a home over FaceTime — and he did.
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"The most extreme request I received was from a foreign buyer who asked me to FaceTime him for a showing from abroad," said Jared Barnett of Compass, who sells homes from $2 million to $5 million in New York City. "He ended up purchasing the $4 million apartment all cash without stepping foot into the home until the day of the closing!"
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
See Also:
- 17 real-estate agents reveal the worst parts of their jobs, from the lack of steady income to being on call 24/7
- The 9 biggest mistakes people make when they try to sell their homes, according to real-estate agents
- Before he was a billionaire, WeWork CEO Adam Neumann was broke. Here’s the NYC building where he and his wife lived in a tiny apartment before he built a $47 billion company
SEE ALSO: 10 things real-estate agents wish they could tell you — but won’t
DON’T MISS: 11 things that make a home unsellable, according to real-estate agents
Source: Business Insider – kwarren@businessinsider.com (Katie Warren)