I was showing homes with a buyer this weekend and one of the listings I scheduled just happened to be having an open house. I drove up and noticed the family still in the home. The first thing my buyer said was "Oh, are the sellers going to be here?". I was confused as I expected an agent to be there holding an open house. I ring the doorbell and a man opens the door and says he's been expecting me. I asked him if he was the agent and he said no, he was the owner. I asked him where his agent was and his response was, "my agent couldn't hold the open house and he told us do it." I immediately sensed how uncomfortable my buyer was as the whole family of 8 was just hanging out in the house like they would normally do on a Sunday afternoon.
My client spent maybe 2 minutes in the home and I could tell she couldn't wait to get out of there. I simply couldn't believe that the agent would encourage this and that the seller had no clue how damaging this was to the sale of his home.
The home was actually quite nice, but was instantly crossed off the list and is now known as "the home where the family was hanging out during the open house".
Note to sellers: If your agent is not available to hold an open house one weekend DO NOT hold your own open house as you may actually lose a buyer by doing so!
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