Today is a GREAT day for an open house

Home sellers, if it's not too late, today -- the Sunday after Thanksgiving --  is a terrific day to hold your house open.  People are sick of being in the house with their relatives, the exciting football games are over for the weekend, and home buyers are going stir-crazy and itching to get out of the house.  You'll have more people traffic than you'd expect. Really.

Pounced on by Realtors at an SFV open house?

I applaud my buyer clients who go to open houses by themselves and most home buyers do that nowadays. They've viewed the home on line and only have Saturday or Sunday to see it.  But here's what often happens:  a buyer innocently walks in to an open house and is immediately assaulted by the Realtor there and peppered with questions -- what are you looking for? Are you preapproved? How much are you preapproved for? What do you want your monthly payments to be? Are you working with an agent?  What do you have for a down payment? The poor buyer, who was compelled to sign in, finds themselves called, emailed, texted, sexted, you name it.  I used to do this kind of hard sell when I was a new agent too -- until I realized that people hated it.

Do you think that they are doing this because they are working hard for the seller? Nah. They are trying to pick up business -- your business -- any way they can.  (Again, disclaimer: I used to do this too back when I was a new agent and the earth was still warm.) There are lots of hungry Realtors out there.

Here's my client's experience from yesterday, and it's all too common: What I failed to tell you about my experience at ... open house yesterday is what a hard sell I ran into. I was met by 2 agents AND a mortgage broker. I felt like I was at a Mercedes CPO lot and everyone was trying to meet their month-end quota. I was "required" to fill out their guest sheet and now I'm getting calls and emails. 

AND, one of the agents was trying to steal my business, "I know you have an agent, but I might be able to find you some things."  

Sure, buyers, there are lots of great Realtors out there who are doing open houses.  They'll greet you, and give you the information about the property that you seek.  And then get out of your way. Sellers, please keep agreeing to open houses.  They work.  But you might want to reign in your agent's obnoxious hard sell enthusiasm. Buyers, please keep attending open houses.  They're a wonderful way for you to see a property when your agent can't be with you.  But be firm with pouncing Realtors.  Or take your pepper spray with you.

Ask me anything: is Spring the best time to buy or sell a house?

Is spring the best time to buy or sale a house? If you live in a place that's buried in snow four months a year, yes.  Not here.  Here, the best time to list or buy is whenever it's the best time to list or buy for you.  Here's what I can tell you about seasons (what are those?) and Los Angeles area real estate:
- Because the days are longer, you can squeeze more showings into the spring and summer months;
- Inventory usually is shortest in December.  But that doesn't mean that houses don't sell -- they do; and just as rapidly as any other time if they are in good condition and priced well.
Please let me know if I can give you any other insights into good times to list or buy a home.

Record-breaking turnout at my open house today in Burbank's Magnolia Park

I held 848 N. Avon in Burbank open today, and it was the busiest open house I've ever had.  We had 213 people through.  My previous record was 198, last year on Cordova.  I think this is due to the low level of house-for-sale inventory -- many, many qualified buyers, not so many sellers.

Open house thiefs

Got this email today; this is sad but has happened to all of us:

"Please be aware that there may be an individual or small group targeting open houses for valuables or checks. I have a client in Studio City that had a checkbook stolen during an open house that has resulted in thousands of dollars potentially lost by writing checks in CA and MN over the past week. As careful as we are during open houses, this is something to watch out for, especially if there are a number of people in a group. FYI, in this case we believe it to be a group of 3 women and the "main" client represented herself as "Michelle" who said she was an asst to a celeb previewing properties. Please pass this on to other agents you know so we can all keep an eye out."

I like to think my intuition is great and I can spot people who are up to no good.  (I'm always suspicious of teenagers in groups.)  But when this happened at a listing of mine six years ago, it was two adult men who pulled up in an expensive car just before we closed.  Another time, it was an eight-year-old girl who pocketed an iPod during a regular showing (she and her parents returned it). Most of us agents always caution our seller clients to remove money, jewelry and small collectibles from the property they're selling because we just can't be everywhere at once.  I also warn my clients not to hide their valuables in obvious places, such as top dresser drawers.

Weirdest question of the week

The oddest question I received at my Sunday open house: "Would you sell to a molester?" Which made me want to answer: "Why? Are you one?"

For the record, I always like to find out as much as I can about potential buyers.  But we have laws in place to protect people's privacy and civil rights, and I'm not the FBI.

Latest questionable Realtor trend

The latest trend is home marketing has appeared this week: many Realtors are only showing a property once or twice. No, not once or twice to you. Once or twice, period. The house is usually held open for a couple of hours one day, then maybe a couple of hours another day. And then offers are due. But what if you want to come back and see the house when it's quiet? Or bring parents or spouses back? IMO, a home should be very easy to show for at least seven days in order for everybody who is looking to have an opportunity to see it. If you're a seller, casting your net wide is the way to get the highest and best sales price. If you're a buyer, you should be able to take a second or third look to make sure it's the house for you.