More adventures in house-hunting

You're bound to have a few odd stories when you tour a lot of homes. Two weekends ago a client and I ran into two surprises while touring homes on Madison's west side.

Surprise #1 came when we entered one home to find two cats waiting for us on the inside. Within a matter of seconds one cat jumped out and bit my client's sister. A few seconds after that the other cat lunged across the hall at my client. Needless to say we high-tailed it out of there without seeing much of the house.

Surprise #2 came during a FSBO showing. The owner escorted us through the home to show us each of the individual rooms, including the bedroom with a man crashed out on the bed. This was at 12:45 in the afternoon, 15 minutes before his scheduled open house. It was an awkward moment, one that ended quickly with our departure out the front door.

For the sake of these two owners it's too bad these showings were cut short. My client, like many other buyers, invests a lot of time researching neighborhoods and reviewing online listings and photos before she decides which homes she would like to visit. These two homes had already made her first cut, while dozens of other homes did not. Both of these sellers missed out on a good opportunity to sell their home to a ready and able buyer.

My client wrote her offer this week. The house she chose is vacant. No killer cats. No sleeping guy sprawled out on the bed.