Home showings are taxing, but one Vancouverite's selling stresses were recently heightened even further when they caught a real estate agent picking their pear tree clean via security footage.
On top of keeping the place spick and span, making plans to be out of the house, and (during the time of COVID-19) sanitizing to the max, Jill Chan shared this week that apparently, keeping track of backyard garden stock should be added to a home seller's showing to-do list.
In a Facebook post shared to a private group, which was reposted on reddit, Chan said that on Friday, Luxmore Realty's Peter T. Yang brought two people into her Vancouver home for a showing while she and the other residents weren't present.
That's when things reportedly got prickly.
According to Chan, Yang took notice of the property's large pear tree and berry bushes, and started to pick fruit off the trees and eat it. He then retrieved plastic bags from his vehicle, Chan said, and "picked every last fruit" from the garden.
READ: Montreal Has the Hottest Real Estate Market in Canada Right Now
Chan's post illustrates Yang encouraged the home viewers to join him in picking the fruit.
"They took a free for all on our home showing," she wrote, reporting that the group spat seeds all over the yard.
"Who does this? This garden was my late grandma who passed away last year's pride and joy, and I don't believe it is of acceptable practice to bag up someone's entire garden at a home showing like a free market."
r/vancouver
Chan wrote that she reported the incident to the Vancouver Police Department but law enforcement said they wouldn't get involved until the homeowners "find something tangible missing." Instead, she was encouraged to contact the real estate board.
"We hope this practice will be punished," Chan said. "My family still lives here and we are distraught at this behaviour."
[video width="640" height="368" mp4="https://storeys.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/2258-2-2.mp4"][/video]
CCTV footage via Jill Chan.
Charles Zhou, Managing Broker at Luxmore Realty, posted a public statement about the recent incident to the company's website; the post is titled "Letter of Apologies."
"On behalf of Luxmore Realty, my team members and I extend our sincerest apologies for the terrible experience one of our clients had with our real estate agent Peter T. Yang," Zhou wrote. "I understand that Peter made a really irresponsible and unprofessional behavior during last Saturday’s home showing. I deeply apologize to the homeowner and her family members who were offended by such behavior."
In the statement, Zhou said that Yang "feels guilty [over] and regrets" his mistakes. He is now reportedly in the process of making an official apology to the homeowner, and providing them with compensation.
"Meanwhile, our company will also strengthen all sorts of training, especially educating about property privacy," Zhou said. "We deeply apologize for Peter’s behavior and we will learn from our mistakes. We take full responsibility for what we did. And we hope the homeowners and the public to forgive us this time."
Zhou's mention of compensation isn't the first in this situation. According Chan's Facebook post, Yang offered to "give the fruit back" for that exact reason -- as compensation.
"What kind of ludicrous is this?" she asked.
