So we live in a short cul-de-sac where really not much has changed over the time we've lived here (except tenants moving in & out) & over the last few months, 2 of the places have been put up for sale. When this happens, like this morning, the street becomes a car park several times a week for several weeks & that's basically how we know there's an open house at one of the properties. Certain people we know, that aren't interested in buying, go to these open houses anyway but we don't, it feels nosey to me, that doesn't stop me looking up the listing online to see what price theyre trying to sell for to estimate our home's current value when markets go up & down so much. I remember being dragged thru show home after show home as a kid when my family were building from scratch, I guess that doesn't feel quite the same b/c it's not really someone's stuff, just pretend decorations (the pretend black box TV placeholders used to make us laugh as kids). When we sold our last house when our kids were little, we put so much stuff in temporary storage, it was almost like no-one lived in our house that it was almost a showhome for when open houses were arranged. Do you attend open house inspections or visit show homes? Ever had an open house in your own home? How did you manage it?
My dad built a few houses, so when I was living with him and my step-mom, we went through the process a few times of selling a home while we were still residing there. Most of our personal belongings were removed into storage. I don't remember there ever being an open house, though. My mom still lives in my childhood home, so there was no selling there, and my hubby and I have been in our current house for 23 years. I remember when we were looking for our home, going into homes and it always felt intrusive. We actually bought our house as new construction. We were told that the couple that was building the home had to back out because of financing, and at the time we thought that meant that was meant to be. What we didn't know was that there was a crazy neighbor and that the couple backed out because of her. Oh, the first five years or so in our home was NOT pleasant. You can bet if I move anywhere else (which I don't think is likely as we are happy here) that I will be doing extensive research on the neighborhood and neighbors. LOL
When we sold our last house (this was 18 years ago), our realtor had a realtor's open house (real estate agents only). It was a hot market and houses were selling within weeks and above asking price. Our awful next door neighbours tried to come into our house for the open house. The only contact we ever had with them was awful and they were just snooping, not serious. We notified our realtor and she shooed them out.
Not Open Houses, but.... I live in a small newer part of an established neighborhood. We have only 39 houses here in our part. We were house #7 to be built. I have been in most of the houses here while they were being constructed - at least until they had doors and locks put on them. It was fun to guess which floor plan they were and guess what the rooms were. They did change the floor plans offered in the process, so our house is the only one with this floor plan.
We have sold 2 homes that we've lived in. We never had Open Houses but we went through a lot of showings. We never really removed any personal belongings. Just kept everything nice and tidy. We always made sure we were away during the showings. The hardest part was keeping the house clean with all the little kids.
I remember doing this as a kid when there was just a concrete slab & a few timber frames up in the estate my parents chose to build in & them going' this is this room & that is that because of the pipes & here's the doorway' & whatnot but I had (have?) terrible trouble trying to visualise any of it - I guess that's the benefit of show homes & those black boxes so people like me can go 'oh now I get it, this is the lounge room! '
You're so right & you have heaps more littlies than me but I *do* remember this from selling our previous house!
We don't have the open house system when selling homes here. Viewings are done one buyer at a time with a private tour, at a time arranged between buyer and seller with the agent acting as the arranger. Viewings happen staggered over a period of time untill a buyer offers an acceptable price for the property. The exception is houses going to auctions and those are normally empty rundown properties and the viewers are builders and property investors estimating how mach work needs doing before bidding at the auction the following day.
I've never gone to open houses mainly because I've never looked at buying a house. I'm quite happy with the one I have. But when my cousin was looking to sell her home (no open houses, was under contract in 3 days from a showing on day 1), I went with her when she could go through the house she ended up buying. She was the first showing and put in her offer of paying cash at that time. The offer was accepted and 10 showings already set up after hers were cancelled! Now she had been looking for a few months and knew what neighborhood she wanted (mine) so anytime a house was put up for sale during that time, I would hop on to zillow and check it out because she had some specific requirements. If those requirements weren't met, she had no interest in even looking. So these days, zillow is an easy way to see what a house looks like inside without actually going in it!
i think this is part of why i feel like it would just be me being nosey going into a neighbours open house with no intent on buying and moving, you can see inside enough from online photos these days but i guess that's not good enough for some people
Hubby is an architect, so home building is a daily thing in our life (he designs high-end custom homes). We're in the 2nd house we've owned. The first one he designed, and we had it built. We only lived in it a few years, and we sold it to move back to the area I'm originally from. The house we live in now was built in the 1960's, and we've remodeled it (something I DO NOT recommend...lol). We've lived in it for almost 20 years now, and I don't see us selling it at this stage of our lives. I avoid going to open houses or looking at homes DH has designed because I come home, look around my house, and then get REALLY depressed.
I hear you! Every year they have a Parade of Homes here, were the builders showcase their best house. They are are open for Open House on a specific weekend and you just drive from house to house to view them. More for drumming up business with the builders/designers than for selling that actual house. And yes, it can make you envy big time as these are the ones with all the extras!!! We own two homes, the old one is 1960's version that needs remodeling desperately except that it is a rental and so is only maintained to a "functional" level. We built our current home over 20 years ago and even though one kid has moved out, we will probably be here for a long time.
Lol I never thought about that but I know when we go down the coast & stay in the cabin even for a few days, when we get home, our house seems sooo much more spacious!
The last house we sold - we did have an open house. It was managed by the realtor and we left for the day. The only hard part was keeping the home spotless. That was when the market was amazing and the house sold in a week. We gave everyone a week to get the bids in and then chose the best one. Easy peasy! Now ... it would take a miracle to sell our current home that quickly! When we were looking to sell and buy - we did the open houses a lot. But I don't do them just to be nosy. There was always a reason attached. Looking to buy or looking to see what our competition was when selling.
I'm a nosy neighbor. We have gone into open houses in our neighborhood. BUT- we know the 2 main realtors in our neighborhood really well- so usually it's to say hi to them or ask a question about the development. Our neighborhood is now in the 3rd (and final, thank goodness) stage, and we built in the 1st, so there has been a lot of growth & changes. It is CRAZY to see how expensive these houses are now- we definitely bought at the right time (but are not planning to sell ANYTIME soon- we'd just end up overspending to get into another home...) ALSO- I like to see what the current trends are for staging/decorating! When we sold our previous home, we had numerous open houses (with a toddler, newborn & dog!) It was SUCH a pain for all of us to be out of the house (let alone have it open house ready!) but it did sell to a couple that came to every single open house... so there's that.
The house I had before this one had an open house/s of sorts while I was selling it and the only real downside was my 15 year old son who did his best to not get it sold. He was really upset with me because the neighborhood had about 10 boys on the same dead end street so he could make one phone call and a football game etc would be in our backyard in a minute. He really didn't want to move and it was just a year after his father and I separated and we moved back to the US. His evil technique was to hide his sneakers somewhere in one of the rooms, often the living room or a room that would let that wretched smell permeate the house. Ugh! The real estate agent complained to me but I was at work all day and could only threaten. When the house sold, he chose to go live with his father and it really hurt me a lot. But the move hurt him I know. My other son had a rather half hearted agent when they were selling their house. (a friend...say no more) When they switched agents (to Redfin) the house was sold within a couple days. No furniture which is about 50% of what seems to be done round here. I've gone to open houses in my immediate neighborhood to see how that house compares to ours and what has been changed in their renovation- mostly 1910 houses When a house has really bad staging, it tends to stay on the market longer.
Ha ha! This makes me laugh because every time I see an open house in our neighborhood, I WANT to go look through the house, but then I never do because it feels nosey... so I just go look at the pictures online instead.