My 60-Second Rental Tour
I see a lot of condos.
Anywhere from 10 to 30 a week. Most showings are uneventful. But once in a while, I have a new, strange experience.
I show a lot of studios and 1- or 2-bedroom condos in Toronto. They’re small…walk-in-closet small.
But even with that size, clients still want to take their time walking through their prospective home. Maybe a 10-minute tour. You look through all the closets, check if the drawers work, look for mold, notice the colour mismatch between the backsplash and countertops. The usual home investigation.
But this one showing was different.
As soon as I opened the door to this 1-bed condo for my client, we were slapped in the face with the smell of a thousand-year-old garlic and onion sandwich wrapped in eight layers of dust.
It was the kind of foulness that reminded you of that prototype nose wash you invented when you could no longer stand your big brother puffing his morning breath into your 8-year-old face every day just because he “loves you.”
In between gulps for air, I told my client to take their time touring the unit.
While they did, I pinched my nose with one hand and checked my phone for messages from other clients with the other.
As soon as I finished texting, I looked up and my client was already speed-walking to the door, calling back, “I think I’m done!”
And just like that, 60 seconds later, it became my shortest showing ever. The smell made sure of it.
