My First Open House
Aloha BP family. I just wanted to take the time to document my first open house. As a newly licensed agent, I was asked by my broker to conduct an open house on one of her listings. I was excited for the opportunity!
The house was a single-family home, located in a tight knit community. It was a 4 bedroom and 1.5 baths with a nice little cottage. The open was to start at 2:00 PM and conclude at 5:00 PM, but I decided to open a tad early at 1:30 PM.
Here's what I noticed:
(1) Even though I didn't know the finer details of the property, a handful of neighbors basically told me everything about the house. These lovely people have been residents of the neighborhood for 40-50+ years! One of these neighbors asked me why the asking price was so high. Before she answered, she stated, "I paid $15,000 for my house. There's no way this house is worth that much!" It was hard to keep my laugh in...Most importantly, the neighbors told me the history of the home, it's previous owners/rental tenants, and the history of the neighborhood. I don't know about you guys, but I really enjoy listening to stories about the "olden days."
(2) Interestingly, some of the most serious people were the neighbors themselves. From what I was told, many of them own multiple properties in this neighborhood. However, a middle age lady (and her family) seemed very interested it. Other than that, the heaviest amount of interest came from the 65+ age range. Very interesting.
(3) I clearly stated to each person that this was not my listing. I told each person, "If you have any questions, please contact my broker." Not surprisingly, there were a few people who kept asking questions. "What is this?" "What is that?" "Why is this like this?" My response, "I do not know the answer to my question, but I'm sure my broker could answer them. Here is my broker's contact information [hand over broker's business card again]."
(4) People who are more "established" seem to know what they want and don't want. By "establish", I mean people who (A) appear to have money; (B) people who are seriously looking for a new home. These people do not waste time. They really know what they are looking for. About a third of my visitors were like this.
(5) Living in Hawaii, it's respectful to take ones footwear off before entering into the home. I clearly ask, "Can you please take your shoes off?" People nod, but they leave them on. I dare say it's just common knowledge in Hawaii for people to take off their footwear. I didn't want to be pushy about this, but thankfully there were no marks left on the floor. Any suggestions on making people take their shoes off before entering?
(6) How do you deal with misbehaved children? There were two different sets of kids who came in with their parents. The kids were sliding around the hardwood floor and move all the staging materials. I was tactful and said, "Please be careful." The kids would stop momentarily, then they would have at it. Any suggestions?