We had a our first Open House today. It was a perfect day. Beautiful weather—warm, sunny. We have prepared the house, removing lots of our belongings and paring it down to the essentials. We put an ad in the paper. We put an ad on craigslist. We made sure our signs were visible from all directions and tied balloons to them. We put flowers on the table, along with extra flyers and a sheet listing improvements we've made to the house and a plant list for the garden.
I baked chocolate chip cookies for our guests (and to impart that delicious aroma to the house) and put out a pitcher of sparkling water.
Then we sat back and waited for someone to come. And they came! We had a good turnout. People liked the house. We met some really nice people. I don't know if anyone who came today will make us an offer, but they spent time and really looked and seemed interested. I feel encouraged.
Mid-afternoon a realtor called. He had seen our ad and wanted to let us know what a huge mistake it was to try to sell our house ourselves. I explained that we wanted to try it ourselves and might, at some point, engage a realtor to help us and we have one picked out if we need her, thank you very much. He wouldn't give up. "Do you understand what has happened to the real estate market?" he hissed. Well, duh, yes I do. He wanted to come by at 3 tomorrow. No thanks. OK, then 5. No thanks. He could drop by around 7 then. No thanks. Well, then what would it take to get just 15 minutes of our time to find out how we could actually sell our house with an aggressive, professional salesperson, such as himself? He was snarling at this point. This was where I told him that the more he talked the less likely it was that we would ever consider his services. And I hung up.
Other than one very unpleasantly persistent realtor, it was a great day.
Way to go ! Great way to handle an unprofessional person like that! Sounds like he was just plain angry at the market ! That's the sort that can give real estate agents a poor name ! You house looks SO wonderful !
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you regarding the "day one" results (minus the unprofessional clod). I did a similar layout when selling my house around a divorce: fresh paint, new rugs, fresh flowers and potpourri (no, I did not bake cookies). I did list through a woman realtor and within three days, older folks came and visited, and bought! The house never looked so good and that was the tragedy and irony of it all as, after 30 years in this house, I chose to leave. I did not want to live alone in a house that held so many family memories. Maybe I will blog about this.
ReplyDeleteYou and your husband are going from good to better and close to daughter and Sofi. What a blessing for all of you! Much success in the new home. Show us piccies. Hope one of your weekend visitors is ready to buy!
Good luck Terry. Fingers and toes crossed. I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't love that house.
ReplyDeleteTerry,
ReplyDeleteThe house looks great!!
You are doing everything perfectly and I'm especially impressed by the plant list...not something I would have thought of, but my husband, the gardner at our place, would love it!
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad you had a good turnout. The worst part of our FSBO experience -- granted, this was in an isolated rural community -- was staging an open house where NObody, except maybe a local realtor or two, showed up.
ReplyDeleteYou have the eye for "staging". I'm betting you sell it very soon! We sold our house ourselves last summer, to a couple not working with a realtor, and then bought our condo, without a realtor, from a couple selling without a realtor. I see a trend here. No wonder that guy is frustrated and grumpy!
ReplyDeleteGood luck on selling your house.
ReplyDeleteThe cookies looked yummy. Also,
I loved your article in QA Mag.
you GO GIRL! If I was a potential buyer, I'd much rather deal with a sincere owner who is passionate about the place than a pushy and obnoxious agent who would clearly do Anything for a quick sale, and who is disrespectful enough to not take NO for an answer. I really don't know how people can do business with these types, I also dig in my toes! The house looks great, and if it's meant to be, it will happen.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on such a successful turnout. Did you end up getting an offer? If you're still looking for another place to list your property for free, try Snap Up Real Estate. We have totally free property listings and you can state whether you're willing to talk to a Realtor or not, right on your listing.
ReplyDelete