I Am Sensing A Theme To This Week's Posts

So, Saturday afternoon, Jane and I were holding my listing open. I had sent out 500 post cards, advertised where I could and was waiting for the throngs of folks to show up and just want to buy my client's home.

Though we did get some traffic, it wasn't as many as I was hoping for. And frankly, most were just obnoxious--as if it was their God-given right to walk into a stranger's home and I was in their way. I am just sick of rude people.

Here's a tip folks, when you walk into someone's home--open house or not, it is SOMEONE ELSE'S HOME--how about acting like you were raised right? The strangers walking in the door expect US to be polite. One might think some reciprocity might be in order.

One man I met at the door, I introduced myself and stuck out my hand for him to shake it. He pushed my arm out of the way and barged in! I didn't feel threatened. Nor did I trip him--but I really wanted to. Another woman argued with me about how she didn't need to sign in. I did remind her of the sign at the door which said, "In order to view this home, guests must sign in." She barged out, letting me know what she thought of me, but not before stopping and grabbing a bottle of water I had put out for guests.

Agents know people who walk into open houses don't want to be sold. But we still have the responsibility to protect our seller. We also have a responsibility to make sure the strangers walking through don't help themselves to anything laying around that doesn't belong to them. We ask guests to sign in for our safety. Our sign in sheet even says, "If you would not like to be contacted, please check this box." We will leave you alone if you ask us to. Trust me, we don't want to call them any more than they want us to call them. We just want to sell the house. Honestly, we can think of 378 better activities to do on a Saturday afternoon than hang around someone else's home for four or five hours.

Open houses used to be kind of fun. Neighbors would come in. I would run comps and chit-chat about the real estate market. Now it feels like a place for the ugliest of the ugly to get a free bottle of water and complimentary refrigerator magnet.