The Real Estate Cupboard #103 Archives by Steve Hubbard, Certified Buyer’s Representative
Open Minded & Open Houses
I represent buyers and sellers. One of the marketing methods I use when representing a seller client is the open house. I find it a wonderful way to draw attention to a property. Not only do newspaper ads announcing an open house seem to get a little more attention than they otherwise might, but signs pointing the way on the day of the open house bring people to the property, as well. And since I try to restrict my “for sale” listings to homes in which I would like to spend some time, it is especially nice for me. And I guess I have to admit, it is a little like a principle in Vedic Science known as the principle of “economy of effort”, something like “do less and accomplish more, or in the extreme “do nothing and accomplish everything”. What I mean to say is there is not really a whole lot to do while waiting for a car to pull in the driveway beyond just sitting there. If it’s the right car, though, the one carrying the people for whom this is the perfect house, everything will have been accomplished by my simply sitting and waiting for those nice people to arrive. Although not so easy sometimes to just sit and wait, if you believe in the advice of the Austrian Philosopher, Franz Kafka, who said “You need not leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. You need not even listen, simply wait. You need not even wait, just learn to become quiet, and still, and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you to be unmasked. It as no choice; it will roll in ecstasy at your feet.”, it is the best course of action. I take his advice to mean, have an open house, sit there quietly and someone will come along and buy the house.
This week’s open house was at a really fun property. I mean the long exterior wall of the master bedroom is all glass looking out to the beautiful and very private woods of the mountainside in back. There is a fireplace in the bedroom, too. It is totally cool. And the master bath, featuring jacuzzi and bidet, is really sort of part of the bedroom. It’s a little bit of a trip back to the 70’s – just wonderful. But really it was the setting that I enjoyed most about this house this weekend. It was so peaceful. And so while others were enjoying their memorial day weekend however they chose, I worked. I sat and waited at a great property surrounded by wonderfully peaceful woods.
My waiting was worthwhile in a number of ways. I got some rest but I met lots of nice people, too. I met some of the neighbors who were curious about the house. I met people from the city looking for a vacation home. I met a local couple who is renting now and thinking about buying soon. And I met a really interesting person. I mean she was interesting in a depth kind of sense. What I mean to say is delving the depths of this person’s mind to try and figure out what is really going on in there would really be interesting. First it was “I’ve seen every property is Ulster County and this is it”. “I have lots of money and I want to do this in a hurry.” And “how much is a home inspection?” ” $350? – Really that much?” And then it was “Well, I think I’ll come back to tomorrow to look around some more, but this is definitely what I have been looking for and I’ll make an offer when I come back. She was back in 20 minutes saying she wanted to walk the land. As far as I can tell she walked around the house one time and proclaimed again that this was it and she’d come back tomorrow and make an offer. She came back the next day and looked around some more and said she’d make an offer before she left. I said “great, good move, it’s a great house”. Eventually, as I made my way to my car to get an “offer to purchase” form I noticed she was making her way to her car while saying something like “and where are you going to be tomorrow?” She got in her car and drove off. I have not heard from her since. Would somebody please tell me what was going on there. I really have no idea.
Guess what! The Vedic principle and Kafka referred to above may have been right; I got an offer from one of the other visitors. We’ll see how it goes.
Steve Hubbard owns and operates Steve Hubbard Real Estate Services.
All Rights Reserved©