Realtor who pried door open crossed line

The Baltimore Sun

Selling a home can be incredibly stressful, which is why many of us can appreciate aggressive real estate agents who work hard to make a sale.

That said, there is a major difference between assertive and unethical.

Anita Grey wasn't quite sure what to do upon discovering that a potential buyer's real estate agent had used a butter knife to pry open a storm door to show her Odenton home while the 53-year-old retired office worker was out visiting friends.

"No one had called to set up an appointment," Grey said. "When I got home that afternoon, I noticed that certain lights I left on had been turned off. I noticed a toilet paper roll was sitting on a counter. I noticed the storm door was unlocked and you can only do that from the inside.

"When I spoke to my Realtor, he found out that another Realtor from a different brokerage borrowed a butter knife from my neighbor and pried open the storm door to get to the lockbox," Grey said. "I guess she wanted to be the first to show my house to clients."

Nothing was damaged. She demanded and received a "quasi-apology" from the offending agent, Grey said, but the incident, which occurred at the end of May, has left her feeling rather uneasy.

"The Realtor made some kind of joke that she had sold a house before by breaking into the house to show it to her client," Grey said.

Boy, this one's a doozy. I'm all for industrious agents going above and beyond the call of duty, but a line really must be drawn at what sounds an awful lot like breaking and entering.

"That is embarrassing," said Ilene Kessler, president of the Maryland Association of Realtors. "It is not professional and completely inappropriate. To break into somebody's house with the aid of a next-door neighbor, I have no excuses for that."

Each brokerage conducts itself differently and rules may change from jurisdiction to jurisdiction, Kessler said, but the same standard practices are followed by most real estate agents.

In most cases when they hire a realty company, homeowners sign an agreement that spells out how a home should be shown. Often, the agreement states that homeowners should be called in advance to set up appointments and that listing agents should be present when a house is shown.

"Many of us use a service that makes the appointments," said Kessler, who has been a Realtor for 22 years. "They sometimes don't make the appointments for the exact times the house will be shown, but 99 percent of the time, it's close."

Most of those measures are taken to protect not just you - the homeowner - but also the agent. It can be dangerous business. In late May, a real estate agent was shot to death in a Prince George's County home he was showing.

To be on the safe side, many brokerages insist that potential buyers are verified and prequalified before they are shown homes. They also recommend that homeowners remove valuables and that all windows and doors are checked after a showing to be sure that no one unlocked them for later entry.

Homeowners are also often advised not to let anyone into their home unless an appointment is scheduled first - which brings us back to Grey's run-in with the overzealous agent.

Agents in Maryland are supervised by their brokers, who are regulated by the state Real Estate Commission. Grey could file a complaint with the commission, which receives about 800 complaints a year ranging from misrepresentation to dual agency charges (where the agent does not disclose that he is representing both sides), said Executive Director Katherine Connelly.

With only five investigators, however, the commission examines, reviews and addresses about only 400 of those cases every year. In cases where commissioners determine charges should be filed, the office of the attorney general is consulted. Currently, the commission is still dealing with complaints from 2006.

"It can take six to nine months for a complaint to work its way through the system," Connelly said. "It used to take a year and a half. We try to recommend a possible consent agreement without going the full length of a hearing so that the complainant and respondent has restitution or resolution. It helps unclog the system."

Grey could also file a formal complaint with Kessler's group. Ethics complaints should be filed within 180 days of when the complainant found out about the incident. A grievance committee reviews the allegations and then determines whether the conduct is in violation of code. The case is then forwarded to a hearing panel, which determines fault.

Realtors found to have violated the ethics code can be disciplined in the following ways:

Required to attend ethics courses or other classes about the responsibilities of real estate professionals.

Reprimanded.

Fined.

Membership suspended, or terminated for serious or repeated violations.

Realtors who belong to the association usually submit to arbitration. Kessler did warn, though, that the process might be lengthy and "could cost more money than it's worth."

At the very least, Grey should write a letter to the agent's brokerage to complain. Without some formal objection, the agent might not even realize that she behaved so unprofessionally.

"I am going to write a formal complaint to her brokerage and cc it to the Maryland Association of Realtors," Grey said. "When I came home that day, I knew someone was in or had been in my house. I went through every closet to make sure no one was in there. That was really frightening."

It's one thing putting up with an insistent agent who tells you how set up your house for a showing or pushes his suggestions on how to price your home. It might even be OK to put up with an agent who calls on short notice for an appointment.

It is not all right to let an agent make you feel uncomfortable or unsafe.

Reach Consuming Interests by e-mail at consuminginterests@baltsun.com or by phone at 410-332-6151. Find an archive of Consuming Interest columns at baltimoresun.com/consuming

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