Knock Knock in Key West

 

This is a True Story related to me by a friend and local real estate broker. The broker has a long lasting business relationship with his valued customer who called him soon after the "Knock Knock" story concluded.

There was a knock on customer's door.

KNOCK KNOCK

CUSTOMER: Who's There?

REALTOR:  I am a Realtor. I have a Two Million Dollar Buyer for Your House!

Upon which the customer opened the door only to meet a woman who identified herself as a real estate agent in Key West. She said she was working with a buyer who was prepared to make a two million dollar offer on the man's house. She explained her real estate background and asked if she could show the house customer. The property owner dubious but did not call his agent. He told the real estate agent okay and decided to see what happened.

The next day there was a knock at the door:

 Knock Knock. 

CUSTOMER:  Who's there?

REALTOR:  The REALTOR from yesterday.

The owner opened the door but the buyer was not with her. The owner invited the agent inside whereupon the agent pulled out a listing agreement as she started to describe how she planned to market the property. 

The owner got up and showed the lady agent to the door. He called his long time Realtor to tell the story. My broker friend told me the name of the national brokerage which has an office in Key West but did not tell me the name of the agent.

There are at least two ways of viewing this story. One is the lady agent was protecting her commission by getting the owner to agree to pay a commission before she showed the property. That makes sense. 

An alternative explanation and probably what really happened is the agent was knocking on doors looking for listings. 

Another Knock Knock Story. No Joke.

About twenty years ago I was working with working with a gay couple who lived in the Virgin Islands and wanted to relocate to Key West to purchase a guest house.  There were only a few properties listed for sale at that time.

The listing Realtor was also the owner. He operated the business as a passive investor and was not involved in the day to day operations. He told me his manager would show the property. I set up showings for my customers and mentioned to a woman agent in my office that I would be showing Newton Street Station, an all gay male guest house. She had first hand knowledge about the place because she lived across the street and was intimately aware of it as she had watched the manager greet new guests in the nude for years. She had shown the property to prospective buyers and  said the manager conducted showings in the nude.

I searched our kegacy MLS files but could not find any listing photos from when the guest house was offered for sale. The photo below dates back to 1970 and appears to show some renovations underway. The property was located in The Meadows Area of Key West and about as far away from the excitement of Duval Street as one can get. The property looked pretty much the same in the late 1990s when I showed it. 

I told my customers what to expect. They took it in stride. I do not recall much of anything about the property as I avoided looking at the obvious. (I don't know why some men feel the need to show off - especially if they are too old to do so.) Over the following months I showed the guest house several more times to both gay and straight buyers. The manager always opened the door in the nude and always conducted the showings.

During that same time period I had a listing on a different guest house. I remember showing it afternoon when the buyers' agent mentioned he was going to show Newton Street Station right after leaving my listing. I warned to expect the manger to greet him and his customers in the nude. He was shocked but appreciated the warning. A few days later that agent and I ran into each other. He thanked me for the warning. He said had warned his straight buyers from the Midwest so they were not shocked.