Once in a while, we go into open houses just to see what the insides of other people's houses look like. I passed one on the way back from getting a coffee on North Cambridge, so I popped in. It was an apartment building. Another guy came in with me.
As we got to the unit, the other guy walked past a bit to look down the hallway. The real estate agent, this elderly White lady said, "Excuse me, sir! Are you here for the open house? That is not the seller's property!"
I looked around, whoa, it was a tiny place. About 500 square feet, according to the info sheet, which had no price. It was clean; it was in good condition, but about what you could expect for 500 square feet.
The only price in the info sheet was the assessed value, which was somewhere around $268K, I think? Which seemed reasonable for the area, sadly.
I asked the real estate agent if that was the asking price, and she indignantly stated, "It never is!"
OK, guy.
The actual price was $449,000. For 500 square feet. That is fucked up. This is the point we've gotten to here. We really need to make other places more desirable to live by getting public transportation out there. (I also have other rants about this, but I'll save it because I've taken an overly long break from taxes at this point.)
Charming real estate agent asked, "Do you have any questions?" I started "Yes—" but then she hushed me and said, "No, you" pointing to the other guy that came in with me.
Then, I just left since really, this was all I needed to know, and possibly more than I needed to know.
She followed me down the hall to apologize and explained that she didn't mean to be rude, but that other guy made her nervous earlier.
That other guy, incidentally, had dark skin, and was possibly Middle Eastern or South Asian. He was a mild regular dude behaving like any other open house visitor.
She also clutched my arm while explaining this, which was weird. Was it some kind of power move?
Anyway, maybe there were other factors that could explain her behavior, but mostly likely, she's just another racist. It sucks to be treated suspiciously when you're just doing what everyone else does.