Kathy Wall

Open House Etiquette
December 7, 2010 · · 4 Comments

For the last 17+ years, I have been selling real estate and, for the first 16 of those years,  have hated doing open houses.   I love meeting new customers, but if it is a slow day it can be incredibly boring.    Nowadays, I enjoy them a lot more,  because I bring my computer and can accomplish quite a bit (well, alright, sometimes I play word games and don’t actually accomplish too much, but I’m a lot happier!)  

While doing my open house yesterday, I had plenty of time to contemplate, since it was pouring down rain and absolutely no one came.   Fortunately, the house I was holding open was warm and cozy, so it was pretty comfortable.    Since I had so much time, I began thinking about the whole open house process.  

I thought it might be helpful for all of the buyers out there if I shared a few thoughts about the etiquette of open houses.   A few helpful hints are:        Read more

Nicole Machado

The “Runaway Buyer”…
March 12, 2009 · · 9 Comments

pk-grannyJust a quick post on a funny note… I have encountered a “runaway” buyer at two of my open houses in South San Francisco, two months apart from each other in two different neighborhoods. The first time I met her; she was so nice and friendly and seemed genuinely interested in the home. She said she liked it so much she wanted her husband to see it (he was waiting in the car). I didn’t think anything of it at the time, but once she went out to the car the husband slammed on the accelerator and took off down the street. I thought it was strange, but in this business nothing fazes me. It was about two months later Read more

Nicole Machado

Open House drawing Black Friday Crowds…
January 12, 2009 · · 8 Comments

With the Holidays behind us, buyers are back on the Real Estate scene scoping out the latest inventory. This weekend I held a home in SSF open. I had over 65 groups come through and even ran out of fliers & ended up staying well after 4pm as buyers kept showing up. I can’t remember the last time I ran out of fliers or had to stay longer then the open house was scheduled. I felt like I was at a department store on Black Friday and everything was 50% off!
The home was a single family fixer, in a desirable neighborhood. I figured there was an abundance of buyers because it was the first weekend of scheduled open houses, come to find out it wasn’t just my open house that faired well to the buyer’s scene, it was everyone’s.
Every Monday morning my office has its sales meetings. In the meetings we take count of how many people came through our open houses. Today the count was 400. Those are huge numbers which gives us all something to ponder… Buyers are out in droves, prices have come down and interest rates are historically at all time lows, has the market hit its threshold? What are your thoughts? All I can say is when it’s your time to buy or sell, it doesn’t really matter what else is going on around you. That’s the beauty of Real Estate.