Warning Live Snake in Office!

A good lesson in showing spaces...

My first real estate internship was a great opportunity I happened to find on craigslist as my junior year at Miami ended.  I was a temporary leasing agent at a small office community which consisted of me showing and leasing small offices to business owners in Cincinnati.  I hadn't had much luck all summer, but the experience and confidence gained from the position helped me tremendously.  And then the day came...

I thought I had a lease in the bag... the wife liked the complex and brought her husband back to see the office.  I had done a good job finding them a deal on a large space in the basement of one of our buildings.  As soon as they arrived we took off with keys in hand to show the husband the unit his wife had already fallen in love with a week earlier.  As we approached the front door we noticed something taped to the door...

The neighboring tenant had posted a giant poster saying, "warning! Live snake seen in this unit" and the date the terrible snake was seen slithering around my vacant unit.  Needless to say, not a good start to a showing.  All three of us stood there for what seemed like an hour until the large Eastern European husband said, "Well come on, I'm not scared of any snake... Open the door."  I opened the door, let him walk in first, and didn't see a single snake in the unit.  Of course, the couple did not lease the space, and I hung the poster on the wall of my bosse's office to commemorate my retirement as a leasing agent.  As I transition to real estate sales, I can sure tell you one thing... I'll check my open houses for "snakes" (anything that might surprise any visitors) before I ever let the first prospect in the door.