What has been your most embarrassing moment as a Property Manager?
We’ve all had them, and the comments on this page are from fellow Property Managers that TOOK A BIG RISK and shared their most embarrassing moments with us.
And what COMEDY some of these are!
We thank everyone for being a part of our recent Facebook Competition where these comments were collected.
#1- “Well that was rather unfortunate!”
I was showing a property to some potential tenants (mother and daughter sole with a very posh accent), so we were standing there chatting away and I had to sneeze, so I sneezed and held my nose and then this huge fart came out from all the pressure of sneezing and the tenant’s mother said: “Well that was rather unfortunate!” I still laugh about it to this day.
~Patricia Stone
#2- Caught ‘trespassing’ by the Police!
A few years ago I was working in a rural area and was out doing my routine inspections. Google Maps told me I had arrived at my destination so I proceeded down the long driveway, knocked on the door, and found no one was home. I went to unlock the door with our office keys and found it unlocked so I let myself in and proceeded with the inspection.
Upon arriving back at the office the tenant called asking if I had attended as he was home all morning and thought I hadn’t been. I told him I had let myself in as it seemed no one was home and we determined it must have been while he was working down in the back shed. Later that afternoon we got a call from the police regarding a trespassing complaint, which is when I realized that I had inspected the wrong property!
The embarrassing part of this story is that I left these poor unsuspecting souls a note asking them to please clean their bathroom and kitchen.
~Jasmine Le
#3- Small Talk- Big Shame!
One of our new PMs was doing her first batch of reference calls. Usual small talk opening，including the “how you doing?” The referee returned the question and New Pm went to say “I’m good,” and “Not bad,” at the same time. It came out “I’m not good.”
He got really concerned and kept asking if she was okay and if he could help her. She got flustered but bravely continued to flub the rest of the call entirely un-helped by us, literally rolling on the floor crying with laughter, trying not to cackle in the background.
Finally, the embarrassing call from hell was over and she’s red-faced and almost crying/laughing from shame. Then the phone rings and she answers to escape us. It’s the referee!
“You genuinely sounded distressed on the phone. I just wanted to call and make sure you’re really alright. If you need to talk…”She spent another 2 minutes reassuring a stranger she was okay.
She had the best sense of humour about it. Best call ever.
~Amii Brooke
#4- No Wriggle Room!
I locked myself in the veranda of an old house – phone and keys out of reach. Had to take louvres out of the window and wriggle headfirst into the bathroom (and bath).
~Uta Peter
#5- Rear Ended!
Doing a periodical inspection authority to use office keys. Running late for the day. I turned up to see the naked rear end of the tenant going from the front gate leading to his front door. I continued to the property to do the inspection. I apologised to the tenant for running late, he commented: “I thought you had already been.” I continued with the inspection. The tenant had a G string on with a great, sun-tanned body. I will remember this to the day I die. The inspection went well and it was a very well-kept property.
~Elaine Mills
#6- Piddling great time!
I was doing a routine inspection at a gentleman’s home and as a dog lover, I was happy to see the little Jack Russell wagging his tail out the back. When I went outside she was so excited to see me that she jumped up to get pats and piddled all over my leg. What’s worse is I thought it was water to start with until I realised it was yellow.
~Lyndal Morrison
#7- Bit too kinky…
Conducting a Routine Inspection for a lovely middle-aged couple, get to the last bedroom, and discover they’ve converted it into a fetish room, complete with a rack for whips and paddles. I had to ask them to remove anything affixed to the wall and repair the damage.
~Kylee Heal
#8- Not so much of a gay time?
The first week on my own doing inspections, I’m at a large, 5-bedroom home. Knocked, called out, let myself in; no one’s home. Second, to last room, I was inspecting was a bedroom. The door was closed and I knew the rule – always knock again. Nada.
I let myself in to find a naked gay guy and another naked gay guy. And guess how I knew they were gay?
I was high-tailing it outta there, I think the most awkward part was they chased me down the hall telling me I could still inspect the room if I just gave them a minute!!!
~Marie Kay
#9- Doing donuts!
Turned up for an appraisal in my new 86. Very low and not at all suitable to properties on dirt roads. Get to the client’s house and park the car with no room to turn around. The appraisal went beautifully. Nailed it! Until I backed onto their grass and my wheels start spinning. Can’t go forward. Can’t go back or I’ll hit their fence. They eventually managed to wedge some vinyl under the tyres to get traction enough for me to leave. As I drove off I saw their grass in my rearview with 2 distinctive tyre marks. Lucky they had a sense of humour and weren’t precious about their turf
~Kylie Best
#10- Nearly flipped out!
I took a family to see a fancy Bellevue Hill property. It was up a steep drive with dropped garden beds on either side. After they had inspected I began to reverse back down but the passenger wheel and part of the driver’s side wheel came off the edge of the drive, the car dipped, the right side suspended in mid-air. They screamed, they all exited my vehicle and caught a taxi back to their hotel. I had to call my boss and a tow truck driver to save me.
~Sally-anne Shields-Gillman
#11- ‘Love you’…oops!
A colleague was leaving a long detailed voicemail message for one of her landlords and as she hung up said, ‘love you bye’… Had to call back and leave another message apologising lol. ~Tara Marie
#12- For you xoxo”
One of the girls forwarded me a quote that was sent to her email by mistake. I was in a hurry so I quickly forwarded it to the owner. It wasn’t until he replied a few hours later that I realised in my haste I had neglected to change the subject line which read “For you xoxo”
~Jasmine Lee
#13- Un-zipping experience!
My son was about 2 and I ended up having to take him to a property appraisal one day (the joys of single parenthood and no child care). I had on a dress with a zip down the front. I was talking to the client with my son on my hip and he suddenly undid the zip! I couldn’t get it done up with one hand so I had to bend over to put him down and do the zip back up. The client saw way more than he should have and needless to say, I got the listing LOL
~Katherine Fryer
#14- Now that’s odd!
I was so busy thinking of my day ahead, I went to work with odd shoes on. Yes, inspections, appraisals, and all. No one even told me I had odd shoes on.
~Sara Young
#15- ‘oh, this is awkward’…NOT!
There was the time I was letting on behalf of my colleague. I didn’t know the tenant, the property, or anything at all about the place! I met two lovely ladies outside and proceeded to the property knocking and calling out along the way.
Found no one home but the house was very tidy and beds made etc bar the last bedroom.
As we are all three in the room, them on one side of the bed, myself on the other, a naked man wakes from under the pile of blankets.
And not even in a quiet ‘oh, this is awkward’ kind of way.
He yawns and stretches one arm and one leg, exposing himself to these poor ladies!!
We were all in a hurry to get out of there, and I was given the “we will think about it. Don’t call me, I’ll call you!”
~Maire Kay
#16- Going bust!
I had returned from maternity leave and was still quite full in the bust area. I was out pitching for new management. The guy I was pitching to keeps on looking at my chest instead of my face. Thought it was odd but I just kept going. I signed him up at full fees, with no request to negotiate at all. I was pretty chuffed with myself scoring a much-needed bonus after 11 months of not working. Was walking back to the car, I glanced down at my boobs. I’m guessing the 2 undone buttons on my shirt helped seal the deal. The girls had ‘busted out’ so to speak.
~Mel Flanagan
I worked in an office in Western Sydney in which we managed a whole block of units. I sent out routine inspection letters to all units to complete said inspections in one go. That morning, all inspections were confirmed and I attended the property that afternoon and started to work my way through the units one at a time.
#17- At least use a towel!
I got about halfway through and saw the tenant from unit 7 who had just come home from work – at this stage I was up to maybe unit 5 – I told a tenant that I would be at his unit in around 10-15 minutes and continued working my way through. I arrive at unit 7, knock on the door, and to my surprise/shock, the tenant opened the door stark naked!!! I was speechless for a couple of seconds before regaining composure and requesting he either clothe himself or at the very least wrap himself in a towel!
~Helen Prince
#18- Pee bottles labelled??
Doing routines for a number of units in a complex, one of the tenants was not answering so I used the keys. I found a hoarder. The place smelled really bad. I called out and finally hear a voice say, “In here.”
I gingerly make my way to the rear of the unit and locate an elderly man in bed. He proceeds to point to his collection of bottled bodily waste and then says he’s getting hot then starts fanning the bed covers. Copped an eyeful of an old naked man – it was a deliberate fanning to get a reaction; unfortunately for him, I ignored it and asked 20 questions.
He took some convincing but I managed to get him the assistance he needed. We had the unit cleaned up. Until I left that agency he would constantly complain that when I sent him to the hospital they did something to his willy and he couldn’t get it up anymore!!
~Aimee Werne
#19- Hugs and kisses!
Conducting a private inspection in a high-end rental to two separate potential tenants. I took them back down and let them out of the building. As I leant forward to grab the door for them, one of them thought I was leaning in towards him and he proceeded to hug and kiss me. #awkward
~Natalie Lord
#20- Blonde moment!
Quite a few years ago I showed a lovely family through a property. They had recently relocated from Tasmania. We were discussing the application process and I asked if we could get the EMAIL address for their Property Manager in Tasmania rather than the phone number because our office didn’t allow overseas calls – BLONDE moment!!! I really do know that Tasmania is part of Australia! I understand now why the couple gave me a really funny look.
~Danica Sterk
#21- At least he combed his hair!
A man came out of a shower wearing a towel and said he’d better make himself respectable and for me to wait. He came back out combing his hair still in a very small towel.
~Kim Saxby