Realtors Reveal: 4 Unbelievable Open House Horror Stories

So you’re having an open house. It’s no big deal—people do this all the time, right? The only thing you have to worry about is steering clear until everyone is gone and then waiting for the offers to roll in. You’ve totally got this.

Or do you?

An open house can be a terrifically efficient way to get lots of potential buyers in the door at once. But sometimes things don’t go as planned. Sometimes open houses are the stuff of nightmares. Check out these true (and hilarious, because they didn’t happen to us) tales from open house hell. Be afraid. Be very afraid.

The dead deal

“I was showing an awesome rental in a beautiful building in the Upper West Side of Manhattan, going for a shockingly low price. I had to ask: Why so cheap? My partner pulled me aside and told me the previous resident had died of old age in the apartment, and his body had stayed there for two months. The apartment had been completely gutted, but there still lingered a faint odor. So, when I was showing the apartment, I had planned to gently and tactfully break this information, but that’s when a neighbor walks in and says she was curious about the apartment ‘because of what happened.’ At which point I had to explain on the spot.” – Emile L’Eplattenier, real estate agent and writer with Fit Small Business.

Lesson learned: Sure, you don’t want to just blurt out that someone died and rotted in the home on the open house flyer. But if your home has a particularly sordid past, the open house is a good opportunity to come clean. Serious buyers will find out regardless when it comes time for seller’s disclosure. And on the chance that nosy neighbors come around asking about it in front of potential buyers, you won’t look like you were trying to hide the home’s history.

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Curse of the unwanted gift

“I was hosting a busy open house, and the home was vacant, which meant the utilities had been turned off, including the water.  About half-way through the open house I hear a mother shriek from the hall bathroom.  She had allowed her son to use the restroom, and this 5-year-old laid a load that a buffalo would have been proud of—in a nonworking toilet! The mother was mortified and they ran off as quickly as they could.  Thankfully, the neighbors had a bucket on the side of the house, which I filled with water and used to fill the tank on the toilet.  It flushed just fine and all was well.” – Morgan Franklin, Realtor with United Real Estate Lexington.

Lesson learned: Realtors have told us again and again that buyers will use the bathroom during a showing. If you’ve already moved out, it might be for the best to leave the water on for a while (buyers might want to test the plumbing or shower pressure, after all). Or at least pop up some cautionary signs on your toilets.

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The house of horrors

“Going back a few years to our first year in real estate, we were really pressing for getting listings—hard. We get a call to list a property, agree to meet the owner, and when we roll up—well, I wish we could’ve captured our looks to each other on film. Horrendous. The look, the odor, the whole package. Literally the nastiest house I’ve seen even to this day. Long story short, we list, immediately hold an open house that weekend. And held our breaths.” – Robert Page, The Realty Cousins with Century 21 Alliance Realty Group in Hudson Valley, NY.

Lesson learned: Sometimes you can get lucky. “Who comes strolling in to make a cash offer? The next-door neighbor!” says Page. “We thought looking at this place was bad for a few days. This woman had been looking at this house from her windows for decades and couldn’t take another day of it. She’s since fixed the whole place up and it looks great.”

No, you may not be quite so lucky. If your house is a blighted mess, we hope you’ll take this opportunity to think about your life choices and then, for goodness sake, do some updating before you put it on the market.

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The looky-loo stalker

“Last year I was hosting four open houses in one day which is typically the max. But so was everyone on my team! We had a total of 14 homes for sale ranging from $980,000 to $11,500,000. And the same buyer went to every single one! We have no idea how he did it, but clearly he wasn’t a (legitimate) buyer for any of the properties. Over the next several weeks he would continue to show up at our team’s open houses and oddly always wore the same outfit and had the same shopping bag from a very well-known retailer.” – Eleonora Srugo, Realtor® with the SLS team at Douglas Elliman

Lesson learned: Don’t expect everyone who walks through the door to make a serious offer. Some people may just be there out of curiosity or boredom, or because they’re a little, well, strange. Thankfully only your Realtor will have to deal with the crazies up close and personal. Just remember to take it on the chin if the number of offers on your home doesn’t quite align with the attendance at your open house.

Source: Realtor.com, Angela Colley
http://www.realtor.com/advice/sell/open-house-horror-stories/

Realtors Reveal: ‘The Hardest Home I Ever Had to Sell’

You hear how hot the market is, and how there aren’t enough homes for sale. So selling your house should be a snap, right? Right?

Well, not always. Even in the fastest-moving, most in-demand areas, certain homes—for whatever reason—just sit … and sit … and sit on the market. As a seller, this may lead you to contemplate harm to yourself, your pet canary, your life-size Jeb Bush doll (hey, who are we to judge?). But don’t do it! There’s always hope.

As inspiration, check out these true-life tales from real estate agents on the hardest home they ever had to sell. Their hard-won lessons may benefit sellers struggling to unload their own digs.

Smells like sabotage

“The most difficult home for me to sell was a five-bedroom in Diamond Bar, CA. The seller had her daughter and the daughter’s children living with her. No matter how much notice I gave them to leave before a showing, they were always there—frequently walking around in their underwear, the smell of weed wafting through the air, even ‘Do Not Enter’ signs on certain rooms. Eventually, my listing expired. There was no shortage of other agents wanting to show the property, so they listed with someone else, but big surprise: It still didn’t sell. Six months later, I received a call from the seller asking me to relist. I told her only if the family agreed to follow my directives. This time around, they cooperated, and in 2015—two years after my initial listing—the property sold.” – Julie Marie McDonough, real estate broker and author of “How to Make your Credit Score Soar”

Lesson learned: Listen up, home sellers—if your agent offers some advice, take it. They’ve sold hundreds of homes, so they know what works. So leave the house during showings, already. And put on some damn clothes.

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Bring in the drones

“A $12.9 million Fifth Avenue trophy property had been on the market for three years with several different brokers. Everyone said this property was overpriced and would never sell. My co-worker and I weren’t daunted. We took a risk and brought a drone into Central Park—which is technically illegal—and shot some stunning visuals across the reservoir for a promo video for the apartment, even with cops standing nearby. Drones open up the world in visual marketing, and this gave us the ability to shoot and record some grand and spectacular footage from high up in the air. We had so many people taking photos of us and the drone. Lots of attention. But it worked! We got interest in the place, and it sold soon thereafter. The sellers thought it was a straight-up miracle!” – Phillia Kim Downs, Phillia & Claire

Lesson learned: Use the latest tech advancements to shed fresh light on your home. This new perspective not only grabs new eyeballs but could also inspire someone to make an offer.

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Doughnuts for dollars

“In Portland, OR, Voodoo Doughnuts has a cultlike status—and one of my agents had a listing for a home that was owned by one of the founders. After being on the market for years, the sellers were getting frustrated, so we decided to throw in an offer for free donuts for life to whoever bought it. Now, someone is getting all the glazed, cake, and sprinkles they want: The couple who bought the home had actually gotten married at a Voodoo Doughnuts and had doughnut tattoos!” – Jenelle Isaacson, owner, Living Room Realty

Lesson learned:  Doughnuts rule. Also, sometimes the quirkiest offer or (sweetest) enticement will help you stand out from the pack.

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Eminem infamy

“We had a property in West Bloomfield, MI, that was clouded by several vacant properties throughout the subdivision. It wasn’t moving at all. So we decided to hold an auction—and the centerpiece of our marketing plan was using the owner’s notoriety as the award-winning producer for Eminem‘s hit song ‘Lose Yourself’ to drive up the price. In the end, we sold the property for $924,000—the highest comparable sales price in the last five years.” – Sara Rose Bytnar, Beth Rose Real Estate & Auctions

Lesson learned: Celebrity connections, even tangential ones, can grab added attention that can get a home sold.

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Trailers and trash

“As a newer Realtor®, I took on what ended up to be a nightmare in El Sereno, CA. The sellers—a brother and sister who weren’t speaking to each other—were unloading a lot with a burned-out house that had become a dumping ground littered with cinder blocks, old tires, five motorcycles, and countless beer and wine bottles. They wanted to sell it as is, so we tried. We were in and out of escrow three times where investors would offer, than cancel as soon as they saw the lot. But we stuck with it. After eight months—and nearly giving up—we finally sold it to buyers who were young and excited to turn it around. And for a surprisingly large sum!” – Stephanie Miller, associate partner, Partners Trust

Lesson learned: No matter how long the sales process drags on, take heart: One person’s trashed property is another person’s treasure.


Source: Realtor.com, Kimberly Neumann
http://www.realtor.com/advice/sell/hardest-home-to-sell/?iid=rdc_news_hp_carousel_theLatest