Posted by laurielnc on 5/22/09 7:36am
Msg #289569

Has anyone ever done this before?

Went to my signing yesterday morning. Found house, walked up to the door, man answers door and opens door smiling. I walk in, shake his hand, and I say good morning and cute dog. Start looking for a table to sit down at and he looks at me and says "who are you?" We're signing paper's correct? No, I don't know who you are. This is address 101***correct? He says there are (2) 101's on the street. One is north and one is south. The borrowers home is facing the street but his mailbox is on another street!

I go to the right house and the borrower says that his neighbor signs for stuff for him all the time. Well, that has cured me and I will ask borrowers name from now on. Most of the time I'm so focused on the address I can't remember their names. Of course I have their name with me but not right in front of me, it's inside the cover of my folder. It will be on top from now on.

Reply by Teddog/CO on 5/22/09 8:33am
Msg #289572

Laurie,
How red did you turn? But the up-side he was a nice guy I've come close to the same situation. Luckly I noticed the W not E on their mail box and just kept driving. We have a lot of (Rural subdivisions) on ten acre lots. The roads are confusing because they are semi-circles with a lot of round-abouts if someone doesn't have their complete address on the mail box causes problems.
Thank God for my Jeep LED it displays the direction that you are driving.

Laurie don't feel bad it's happened to all of us Just keep your cell and info handy.

Have a great weekend

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 5/22/09 8:38am
Msg #289573

That's why it's my habit to greet the person at the door with "Mr/Mrs. Smith?" - when they say yes I then extend the hand for a handshake and introduce myself....confirm who they are form the getgo.

Reply by Teddog/CO on 5/22/09 8:50am
Msg #289574

That's always a good idea Linda

I always intro. w/BWR's name and then show them my drivers license so they know who's entering their home. But you'll have to admit Linda "there are just some days" when everything turns to doggie dodo . lol
Have great weekend

Reply by Linda_H/FL on 5/22/09 8:59am
Msg #289576

Re: That's always a good idea Linda

""there are just some days" when everything turns to doggie dodo ."

Ain't that the truth!!...LOL

Reply by Marian_in_CA on 5/22/09 11:58am
Msg #289603

Re: That's always a good idea Linda

I do the same thing, I always make sure to greet them by name first, and introduce myself before I step in the house. I haven't had any mishaps like that as a signing agent, but when I was a missionary in Brazil it happened a LOT.

Talk about messed up neighborhoods! I remember one specific time so well that i still know the name and the street. We were looking for a man named Marco da Silva who lived on Rua Antonio Joaquim Calloda da Silva. Yeah... turns out that Silva is pretty much like Smith... and in this part of town, just about all of the people had the same last name and all of their streets did, too. They wanted their roads named after famous people with the same last name.


It's kind of like a bunch of people names Smith or Jones all decide to form their own town and name their streets after famous Smith's and Jones's. And of course... the streets meander over crazy hills, and you can't just ask for the person by name... you have to know his nickname, too.

And of you know anything about Brazilian homes, especially on the outskirts of cities, it's not exactly the kind of thing you're used to seeing in the States. These weren't really to the level of the shanty towns, but they weren't great, either.

And, Brazilian people are often quite friendly, so the one guy we were looking for actually took three days of climbing up and down and knocking on doors and talking to everyone to find. We were even fed lunch by total strangers. Most of them teenagers and young adults excited to practice their English with me.

We finally found the guy were were looking for (after talking to about 8 different Marcos) and he laughed, but told us that if we'd just asked for Marco Gordo (Fat Mark) people would have known where to send us. Heh... it was fun, but we didn't know to get a nickname!

Reply by Christine Hall on 5/22/09 9:03am
Msg #289577

That happened to me once a few summers ago, the guy was outside washing his car or something and I walked up in a suit with my briefcase. After some small talk about the weather etc I asked if he was ready to go in so I followed him in the house. I pulled out the docs and he asked what this was about. It turns out I wanted the house next door. It was a shared very long driveway kind of house. He thought I was a saleperson so he was going to listen to my speal (sp). Anyway, we both thought it was funny and I walked next door to my signing.

Reply by Teddog/CO on 5/22/09 9:14am
Msg #289581

Christine Lol

It will never cease to amaze me how folks will just leave you into their home without knowing who the *ell you are. Guess we just look honest.

Hey Christine have you ever considered going into direct sales sure sounds like you would do Very well.

Thanks for the laugh

Reply by C_in_OKC on 5/22/09 9:58am
Msg #289587

I did something along those lines yesterday, only in reverse. The neighborhood was new with houses that haven't had the fences put up yet. I pulled onto a shared driveway with one house set back behind the other. I rang the doorbell but didn't hear it sound and no one came to the door. I tried knocking, still nothing. I started thinking to myself, 'Great! Even though I confirmed the appointment as usual, the borrower has forgotten and isn't home."

I pulled out my cellphone and called the borrower's number. The Mrs. I spoken with earlier answered right away and said, "Oh we saw you pull up and wondered where you went to! We're out back on the deck, come on around."

So I walked around the back of the house and lo and behold, no deck and no borrower! I had gone to the wrong house # 10015, they were # 10025.

Some days I need a Tom-Tom or a Garmin just to get from the driveway to the right house!

Reply by BrendaTx on 5/22/09 12:58pm
Msg #289621

Aw heck. I didn't get the opportunity to send

someone free money! Darn it.

Reply by OR on 5/22/09 8:36pm
Msg #289683

Re: PayPal said they couldn't do it...ooooooh too bad n/m