I hosted my first open house this weekend. Quite interesting.

We had open houses for all of our listings yesterday. The only listing I had that wasn't already under contract wasn't ready for an open house, the seller is just procrastinating on making her house "eye ready". We allow showings but it just wasn't ready for an open house. I hosted an open house for another agent in my office. Boy was this a learning experience.

1. I learned that I need to learn to speak Spanish. The agent called me days before the open house assigned to me by my broker and wasn't really happy with the fact that I didn't speak Spanish because the house is located in an area where mostly everyone speaks Spanish However, she was very supportive and thankful to me for hosting an open house for her listing.

2. My eyes have been opened to how neighbors can adversely affect the sale of your home. WOW!

The traffic was slow, only one guest in the four hour period to be exact, so I sat there with the door open most of the time and heading to the door at times to admire the scenery. There was a teenage girl next door outside on the front steps with her boyfriend playing around, no problem. After a little while, her sister and dad comes home. I guess her sister finally pays attention to the sign outside (its been there a while because the home is in good shape and priced right but has been on the market since May) and says, "Thank Goooood, they're finally selling that house." Then the other sister and her boyfriend respond repetitively (they see me sitting there mind you) "Yeah but their selling to black people." I kept my cool and called the listing agent. She was already aware of this problem. She let me know that the community relations board at the local police station have already been alerted and she is intending to escalate because they do that alot and that they harass the sellers all of the time because they are Arab and Muslim. hmmmmmm

I have never experienced this in real estate but I wonder if any of you rainers have experienced trouble in selling because of pesky neighbors.....