an Alabama realtor who has shown hundreds of homes, recently experienced something she had never seen in her career in real estate. A squatter was living in the home she was showing.
Courtney Hartsfield, a real estate agent with Tyler Hughes Realty Group with Horizon Realty in Madison, Alabama, was showing a home to outside clients on May 16 when she encountered a man who was living in the home. The home was supposed to be vacant.
When she arrived at the property about 15 minutes before her clients, she “immediately” realized something was wrong.
An Alabama real estate agent found himself in such a situation for the first time when a squatter was found on a home he was showing his clients. (iStock)
“Sometimes the listing will indicate if the home is vacant or not, so you have more flexibility to show it anytime,” Hartsfield told Fox News Digital in a phone interview. “Typically, there’s also a lockbox at the front door, but the entry instructions stated that the front door would be unlocked.”
Hartsfield said these instructions were something that could surprise people. He has never shown a house where the front door was left open.
There had been a few incidents prior to her arrival that made Hartsfield feel a little nervous about showing the house, including strange entry instructions. Hartsfield usually goes with someone else when showing homes as a safety measure, like a brother or father, but no one was with her that day.
“Stepping out of the gate, everything about the day felt weird. I was with people I had never met before. I was in counties I don’t live in, and I didn’t have a ride with me. So, I was already on alert that day. I was just thinking anything could go wrong,” Hartsfield said.
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When Hartsfield Arriving at home, She followed the directions given and went to the front door of the property, but to her surprise, it was locked.
When she called the listing agent’s number she did not get an answering service, another factor she considered unusual.
Hartsfield said the company said it manages communications with many listing agents, so it would pass on information about the closed door and asked him to wait for further instructions.
When Hartsfield arrived at the home she discovered she could not enter because the front door was locked. (Daniel Aaker/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
“About two or three minutes after that a message came in that I couldn’t respond to, but it said ‘Try the side door.’ When I got to the side door, the whole handle was ripped off. It looked like it had been yanked out from the side of the door,” Hartsfield recalled.
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“I just pushed the door and it creaked open. I thought, ‘I can’t get into this house by myself.’ And, right away, I realized something was wrong,” Hartsfield said.
After waiting for her customers to arrive, Hartsfield led them inside the home and immediately noticed it wasn’t empty.
“When we took a step into the kitchen, not only did I see some pots and pans and things like that, but the first thing I smelled was food, something that had been cooked within the last day or two. It had a very strong smell,” Hartsfield said, adding that he noticed crushed Starbucks double-shot cans scattered around.
When entering the home with his clients, Hartsfield said he introduced himself several times. After several minutes of soundbites, a man from another room loudly cleared his throat, causing Hartsfield and his clients to slowly exit the home.
At this time, they came face to face with the man living in the house for the first time. He ran out the front door and shouted, “What are you doing here? What do you want?”
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Hartsfield said the man appeared to be in his 30s. When he left the home, she said he looked “out of sorts.” He also seemed “extremely upset” and “drenched with sweat.”
“I personally didn’t want to go into the home, especially if it wasn’t going to be moving off the premises, but even then, I’ve had people travel eight hours overnight to come in,” Hartsfield said, adding that the home was her clients’ first choice before this meeting.
So, they kept the man inside and continued to walk around the house and see more strange things.
“There were three bedrooms. Two had beautiful furniture. Beds were made. They were totally untouched. Both bedrooms had young women’s boutique clothing. I remember a lot of the clothes I saw had the tags on them,” Hartsfield said.
“There were two bathrooms. One of the bathrooms had been done in a really cool way, I was really excited to show them off. It was disgusting. He wasn’t backing off. He wasn’t trying to clean up or anything like that,” Hartsfield said. “Then there was a third bedroom that had a lot of stuff in it that looked like maybe an elderly person’s papers and memorabilia, pictures and things like that. And now a lot of that looked very disorganized, like maybe things had been thrown around. Someone had dug through those things and things like that.”
Hartsfield reluctantly continued to show customers the house with the man still inside, but found that many of the rooms, such as the bathroom, were filthy. (iStock)
The performance lasted a total of 15 minutes, and Hartsfield only saw the man one more time, at the end of the tour.
“There was a beautiful window wall. It was kind of like an enclosed sunroom. It was very luxurious, so I wanted to put the best thing last,” Hartsfield said. “However, until we got to that room, I never saw it again. Until we were looking at bedrooms and restrooms and so forth, I had no idea where it was.”
When Hartsfield asked the man how long he had lived on the property, he replied, “Not very long.”
She also asked if he was the owner of the house, and he said he was a “distant relative of the confused homeowner.”
After leaving the home, Hartsfield tried to contact the listing agent several times to let her know the home wasn’t vacant and to share her experience, but she was never able to get through.
He The police were also contacted, who told him that even though the man admitted he shouldn’t have been on the property, they could not enter the home without the permission of the homeowner, who Hartsfield believed was living out of state.
Hartsfield said the home has been “temporarily taken off the market.”
After going through this experience, Hartsfield Tips for homeowners and people involved in real estate.
“For homeowners, I would say my best advice would be if you’re going to be moving out of state and your home is being sold after you’re gone, or if you’re a distant relative, and one of your family member’s homes is tied up in probate, have someone keep a close eye on the property on a regular basis,” she explained, sharing that such homes are “easy targets.”
When it comes to real estate, Hartsfield advised to always be prepared to defend yourself if necessary.
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“If someone is going to show a home in an area they don’t know or with clients they don’t know, be prepared to defend yourself, just be aware of your safety,” he said. He said he was relieved he had a loaded weapon with him during the encounter. He is legally able to do so in Alabama.
“Hopefully you never have to touch it or do anything to it, but nobody knows,” Hartsfield said.
“If you think something is wrong, especially if you’re an experienced real estate agent and you know how things should go, don’t enter the home alone.”
