Stranger showed up at our apartment unannounced

[Anonymous]

That’s why I never answer the door (unless maybe I know the person, and sometimes even then). No good comes out of unannounced visits, ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asking if he and his child could take a look at our apartment because they lived there years ago and the child was born there but has no memory of it. How would you have responded?

This happened to me but I knew that the father and daughter were genuine as they had extensive knowledge of the history of our hand made home. We had a great discussion and it made me feel good to learn more of the history and meet them. They were nice people.

I can understand the urge to visit old places you have lived especially if kids were born there as I get so attached to places where we live. However, not sure I would do this for a more generic apartment rather than a stand alone house.

If my intuition was on the fence about whether they were genuine or not, I would not let them in but just chat outside the door or through door with chain lock in place.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was some show or movie I saw in the past few years where this was the ploy used to get into a house and murder people, can't remember what it was though.

Happened in Night Agent on Netflix

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This happened to us in our home but it was an older woman. I had a newborn and my mom decided to let her have a look around…

Holy cow is that dangerous!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would have never opened the door.

This.

[Anonymous]

A family let us do this with the house my grandparents built. My grandmother had just passed away and we were all in town for the funeral. We called ahead. They recognized the name from junk mail..and knew of our family in general as my parents still lived there. It was so lovely to be there again, see the changes and the current owners even got a few questions answered!

That said...if someone just knocked on my door I would not let them in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am hoping to do this someday. During the pandemic we rapidly moved from the high rise apartment in downtown NYC that I brought my newborns home to (they were by then toddlers) and haven't set for in it since the day we left (movers came and packed up our things without us). I'd love for them to be able to see it when they're old enough to remember. I was thinking about sending the tenants a letter request beforehand and bringing a gift if they say it's ok. It's a doorman building so not a big security risk of us trying to come back after.

No that’s weird.

[Anonymous]

I was born in Chicago in 1974. My dad's family went back four generations there. In 1976 my dad got transferred to Ft Belvoir and that was the end of Chicago.

In 2004 my grandmother died and me, my dad, and my brother brought her back to Chicago to bury her next to my grandfather.

While there, my dad took us around his old haunts, including the house he grew up in. We walked right up to the door, knocked, and when a young woman holding a baby answered, explained that it was his childhood home and could we walk through. Incredibly, she said OK.

So we walk through the house for 10 minutes and on the way out my dad- who was law enforcement- told the lady that while he was very appreciative of letting us in, she should never have done what she did. She just kind of froze.

And we left.

To this day I can not believe this woman with a baby let three large men just walk into her house.

[Anonymous]

Somewhat related—my mother moved closer to us a few years ago, bought a house and moved in during the fall. On Mother’s Day of the next year, we were visiting her, and there was a knock at the door —a man with a giant bouquet of flowers.

He was looking for the women who had lived there prior—she and her husband were going through a divorce and had to sell the house, and he thought she was still living there alone. He was apparently an acquaintance of the couple who’d routinely come over for game night (he legitimately described the rec room in the basement that had been set up with a poker table, etc when my mom had viewed the house).

I guess he’d had feelings and had waited a respectful time, and thought he’d give it a shot, but apparently was not a close enough friend to know they’d both left the house. We didn’t invite him in, and he left with his bouquet. We didn’t have any other info for him. Always wondered what he did with the flowers, and whether he managed to track the ex-wife down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Asking if he and his child could take a look at our apartment because they lived there years ago and the child was born there but has no memory of it. How would you have responded?

An aprtment? No.

A house the previous owners built with their own hands (not hired a builder)? Sure.

[Anonymous]

I live down the street from a house where a famous actress was born. Rumor is that she used to show up and say hi when she was in town. We have met the now-adult children who grew up in both the houses we have owned. We recognized their last names when they introduced themselves, so we knew they were not casing the joint.

[Anonymous]

If it’s a man, absolutely not. Sorry. They can come back and tour when my husband and 3 of his friends are home and I’m out.

I do know who the previous owner of my house is, and the neighbors all remmeber her fondly; she was a single mom and raised 2 girls here for 20 years. She left me the nicest letter on the counter when we closed, with some pictures of the house and how it looked back in the 90s. She clearly loved this house. Her college aged daughter came by last year and timidly asked if she could just look around the yard to see if some of the plants she had planted were in bloom, she was visiting the area on college break. I obviously said of course. She didn’t ask to come inside but I probably would have let her- the neighbor waved hello to her, etc, it clearly wasn’t a scammer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was born in Chicago in 1974. My dad's family went back four generations there. In 1976 my dad got transferred to Ft Belvoir and that was the end of Chicago.

In 2004 my grandmother died and me, my dad, and my brother brought her back to Chicago to bury her next to my grandfather.

While there, my dad took us around his old haunts, including the house he grew up in. We walked right up to the door, knocked, and when a young woman holding a baby answered, explained that it was his childhood home and could we walk through. Incredibly, she said OK.

So we walk through the house for 10 minutes and on the way out my dad- who was law enforcement- told the lady that while he was very appreciative of letting us in, she should never have done what she did. She just kind of froze.

And we left.

To this day I can not believe this woman with a baby let three large men just walk into her house.

Your dad sounds kind of cruel.

[Anonymous]

I had that happen at my current house but it was legit. I’m the third owner so I knew the history. First owner stopped by a few heads after I moved in. He was a bachelor and the house definitely had single-guy-decorating-a-house vibes that the next owners didn’t do anything about. I felt bad that I’d pulled down all his wallpaper and painted. I blamed the prior owners.

I would never allow it in a place where I didn’t know the history.

[Anonymous]

My son did this in Glover Park a couple of years ago and the family was lovely and welcomed him in.