Open house!

One of the good things about selling your house is that you get to go look at other houses that are for sale. 
You get to see some really nice houses, some really "interesting" decorating, and meet some, um, unusual folks out there.  Take the people I met this past weekend.

I pulled up in front of a nice looking two story.  As I got out of the car, I could see the other potential buyers leaving their cars and scoping me out.  They stared at me - whispering to themselves, I imagined, things like "Why is SHE looking at this house?  We are going to buy it!", and rushing to the front door to enter ahead of me.  Why it is a race I have NO idea. 

My first hint of weirdness wold be the fact that this was billed as an OPEN house, and yet, the front door was not only locked but apparently bolted as well.  I rang the bell and the bolt slid back.  The door opened a crack, and a face peered out.  "Can I help you?"  a voice called. 

"Um, yeah, isn't this an open house?"  I asked. "Can I come in and see?" 

She opened the door just a bit wider and said suspiciously, "Is it just you?  Are you alone?"  I looked around me for confirmation and nodded my head.  She opened the door and granted me entrance.  I wasn't sure if this was really where I wanted to go - she seemed a bit odd to me, but I thought it was worth a shot.  The house was in a great location and would fit our family, and even though our house isn't sold, I thought it'd be good to see what else was out there.

She offered to give a tour and I declined.  I'd much rather look at a house on my own, puttering around and thinking about how I'd set up if we moved into the house.  I spent a few minutes looking here and there, and came around the corner, running smack into the male owner of the house.  He, apparently, was of the "No personal space" era, pushing his face right into mine.  "Are you going to buy my house?"  he demanded. 

"Well, I'd like to look at it, if that's ok."  I said.  He breathed out - coffee, anyone? - and said, "I've got a contract on the house already, I'm just waiting to sign it until tomorrow.  You'd better not waste my time if you want to buy it."  he growled.

So, yeah.  Why have an open house if you have already SOLD the house?  It turns out that the selling price that the new buyer offered was $60,000 less than the asking price.  No wonder he wanted a different buyer.

Selling a house is a drag.  I'm just finding that out.  The hard way. 

Comments

[frances]

The whole process of buying and selling houses is insane. We went through it in the spring. The worst part was a)having to keep the house spic and span every second of the day (ha!) and b)having to leave the house with five minutes notice because potential buyers were coming by. As for buying, we simplified the process and bought the second house we looked at (thank goodness for on-line listings, which help you narrow down your search without leaving the house!). Good luck finding a great house and getting yours sold!

[Katie]

I'm lazy and haven't read through the commments but have you buried a St. Joseph's statue yet?

My mom bought me one (they come in a special box just for home selling, lol) when we moved in 2005 and I never could bring myself to bury him. Luckily we had people knocking down our door to rent/buy (we ended up renting it out for 2 years and sold it to the renters over the summer) but I think we were the exception not the rule. (The town had put a ban on new construction so if you wanted to move in, you had to wait for someone to move out.)

[Jennifer]

I love going to Open Houses. I guess I'm what you call a Looky Loo in realtor's terms. I do think it's funny how a house can look so great from the outside and be a disaster on the inside. Hey folks, if you're going to sell your house, clean it first! The best is when the owner follows you around the house and you have to keep quiet about the weirdness. However, I live in the NYC area and there were recently two women arrested for stealing stuff at open houses. So be careful and lock up any jewelry or nice handbags and stuff. You never know!

[Elizabeth]

NO - don't BURY St. Joseph. He can just sit on your mantle (or some special place) - and then can be put in a new special place in your new home.

Buying and seeling homes is a dreadful thing, between keeping ones home spotless, and touring odd homes with odd people. I prefer NO one to be home when looking. Are you using a real estate agent? I forget...

[kalisah]

I'm guessing these folks weren't using a realtor?

[Sarah L.]

Oh, I feel for you. When we were moving I hated having our house ready to show at any time, but apparently other sellers do not feel this way as they haven't cleaned their house in, say, a decade!

[Loralee]

This post made me break out into hives.

I dread the thought of selling my house. I want to barf at the thought of dealing with the "Screaming Masses."

UG. I so feel for you.

[Philippa Alan]

BTDT and hated every single solitary minute of each of the 4 houses we've sold in 20 years. I pray to God every day I won't have to do it again.

What cheesed me the most was the buyer howed up with a video camera at my friend's house when she was selling. Unbelieveable! She video-taped the entire house, inside and out, so she could show her mother and friends what she was going to own soon. I couldn't get past the fact that this buyer was videotaping the inside with my friend's furniture and personal belongs still in there! Huh? I DO NOT THINK SO!! Talk about violation.

Moving, buying, selling - yuck.

[MJ]

Selling a house -- major yuck. Buying though is much more fun!

We did videotape the houses we were viewing, mostly cause we lived an hour and 15 minutes away from the area we were moving to. It wasnt like we could just go back and request another showing. We wanted to look back at the video as we were deciding.It turned out we absolutely fell in love with the last house we viewed so it didnt matter.

[amy]

The owners were present? That is really too weird. Too personal. They should be working with a realtor or have an impartial party present (not themselves) when people come through.