“Hey Jen,” she texted, “I need some advice. This is what we walked into. It’s pretty nasty. I called the list agent who informed me the cleaner had already gone through. Is there anything I can do for them?”

Unfortunately, I too have had experience with this, on both sides of the transaction. I have represented both buyers who have walked into a dirty home and sellers who generously left behind a home in a state of “character-filled” disarray. I quickly responded, “You have two options; I can either call the other Realtor on your behalf and employ some assertiveness, or the other … you can go in and clean it for your clients.” Notice there is no option for leaving it as is for her client to clean herself.

Although “housecleaner” is certainly not part of the job description under the qualifications for a Realtor, it has come in handy on plenty of occasions — pet wrangler, temporary nanny, volunteer chauffeur, marriage counselor, divorce referee, amateur garden gnome, emergency response coordinator and part-time comic are just some of the unexpected roles that I have found are part and parcel of the real estate gig. We do what it takes to be sure our clients are well cared for and a transaction runs as smoothly as possible.

There are other more obvious roles that a Realtor has as well. These roles are just part of the daily grind and might as well be included in an “unofficial” real estate job description — where, ironically, the easiest part for a buyer’s agent is actually showing houses. That is why I was quite dumbfounded when I received the following text last night: “Hello Jen, how are you? I’m at your listing on ____ and I want to see it, but I feel bad asking my Realtor to drive up here to show it to me.”

“Um, what?” I mumbled to myself. But you don’t feel bad asking the seller’s agent, who is not representing you, to drive up and show you the house? Instead of saying that out loud, I said, “Is your Realtor located some distance from here by chance? You know I have driven all over Utah, including St. George, Kanab and even Blanding to show homes before. That is our job as a buyer’s agent.”

“Well, he lives about an hour away. It looks like a great house,” was his reply, “Hopefully you will hold an open house on it soon and we can come see it.”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him he had already missed two open houses and that he really should just give his agent a call. Seriously, the horror — imagine having to drive a whole hour just to earn that generous commission, all for doing the job you signed up for. I was rolling my eyes so loudly I was sure the gentleman could hear it even through text.

In his defense, I can’t assume he knows the protocol for how all this works. I did, however, assume that when he signed an exclusive buyer-broker agreement with his agent that he was made aware that his agent was agreeing to be employed by him, specifically, to show him the houses he was qualified for and wanted to see. As such, perhaps we should have a lengthier discussion on the minimum expectations that one can have when they enter into such an agreement. Stay tuned next week for Part Two; it is sure to be just as captivating, if not more so.

Jen Fischer is an associate broker and Realtor. She can be reached at 801-645-2134 or jen@jen-fischer.com.