Once again, I decided to head out to some weekend open houses to get a first-hand look at some of what’s on the market. And, once again, as I pumped up everyone’s favorite “open house traffic” statistic, I often found myself wondering: What were they thinking?
When I say “they” I’m referring to both the home seller and the seller’s agent, whose alleged job is to advise the seller on how best to sell their house. You would think that in today’s market, when the smallest defect can cause what few buyers are out there to look right past your listing, making your home look the best it can would be a no-brainer, especially if you’re going to put on an open house.
Unfortunately, as you can see below, not all sellers see things that way. Note that in this series I won’t be linking to the real actual listing, because that would just be cruel.
Agent: “Northwest home buyers are really into homes that have that ‘lodge’ feel lately. Tall ceilings, open floor plans, and exposed wood.”
Seller: “Hmm, well I can do the wood part, but that other stuff is a no-go. I’ll just throw a little extra wood in there to make up for everything else.”
Agent: “This light switch is installed upside down. You should probably fix that before we list.”
Seller: “How about if I throw a bizarre switch plate over it instead? That will distract them from the backward switch!”
Agent: “Be sure you vacuum thoroughly before the open house.”
Seller: “That’s silly. Why would I vacuum when all the buyers are just going to traipse a bunch of dirt and mud through the house anyway?”
Agent: “Why doesn’t this room have a closet?”
Seller: “Because we had to have somewhere to put the toilet. Duh.”
Agent: “That A/C unit in the window is ugly. Make sure you take it out before the open house.”
Seller: “A/C out of the window: check.”
Agent: “See if you can do something to spruce up the basement.”
Seller: “Hmm, let’s see… Seattle people like coffee, right? And ponies?”
All of the photos in the “Real Actual Home Staging” series were shot by The Tim at real actual open houses around Seattle.
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At least its a dead wasp! Live ones don’t work so well at an open house.
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RE: Conor MacEvilly @ 1 – I have a great OH story about flies, but I don’t want to give the details publicly. Let’s just say they are not a good thing at an OH. ;-)
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 2 – Was a corpse involved?
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Maybe the other side of the switch on the magic Oracle hand says “YES” and it moves up and down under it’s own power as you ask it questions.
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RE: Conor MacEvilly @ 3 – No comment! ;-)
Alternative response: “My clients are just dying to sell you this house!”
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Now you know where the term “water closet” came from!
You know, Tim, you should photoshop a pink tail on that pony in the last pic.
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Now you’ve got me thinking about whether I’d give up a closet for a toilet in the bedroom!
I know it’s offbeat but I’d use it. It seems like one of those things you don’t think you need but you would miss it when it was gone. Probably a tough sell to the wife though. Hmm…
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By random guy @ 7:
Why couldn’t you still use the closet? ;-)
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RE: Kary L. Krismer @ 8 –
I could get ready for work so much more efficiently with a bathroom/closet combo and a toilet in the shower would guarantee an escalation clause into my offer.
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“Once again, I decided to head out to some weekend open houses to get a first-hand look at some of ”
Hmmm..out last weekend to open houses during NFL playoffs? The best two weekends of the year for football? This must be some kind of a joke Tim is putting on us……….Looking at Open Houses I find as stimulating as: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6kL6GIe-iu8
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LOL Tim
They should put you and your photos on that local Seattle comedy show after SNL.
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Tosh.0
The_Tim.0
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RE: Jillayne @ 12 – I don’t get it.
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It’s a TV show. My teenagers made me watch it last night. Tosh is a guy who takes youtube videos and then adds his own commentary. Sometimes he recreates a video somebody else did with the people who were in the video.
http://www.comedycentral.com/tosh.0/
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Last weekend, I visited an open house in Bryant (Seattle) listed at $669k that had at least 4 broken windows. I mean the single panes of glass in the windows were broken – the cold outside air was coming into the house! Are they serious?
http://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/6857-31st-Ave-NE-98115/home/315537
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By The Tim @ 13:
Old man. :)
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By Jillayne @ 12:
That show is so darn funny. I love it
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RE: Jugajoosh @ 15 – Ouch, so many Photoshop accidents. For me, all people achieve by such listing photos is that I question everything else they say, suspecting things to be the same fake than the pictures.
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RE: Jugajoosh @ 15 –
The owners don’t live there anymore.
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RE: EconE @ 19 –
Just the photoshop fairies. They must get cold easily.
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By Jugajoosh @ 15:
Call Wedgewood, Ravenna, you pick, but nobody calls that area “Bryant”
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By Racket @ 21:
Except for the people who live there. Bryant is sometimes called Ravenna/Bryant, but it’s east of Ravenna and south of Wedgwood.
Bryant is located between NE 45th North to NE 70th and from 25th Ave NE East to 40th Ave NE.
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RE: Ira Sacharoff @ 22 –
Thanks Ira.
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RE: Racket @ 21 –
Racket,
It is beside the point, but FYI the Redfin listing says Bryant.
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I understand where it is, but I have never heard of anyone say ” I live in bryant” I went to Eckstien I know the area well.
Just like when real estate agents call parts of Mounlake Terrace “mallot”
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RE: EconE @ 19 –
Nor should anyone else until the windows are fixed. I don’t understand how Windermere people can feel ok about presenting it to potential buyers.
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RE: Racket @ 25 –
I’ve known people who say they live in Bryant or Ravenna Bryant, but what in god’s name is ” Mallot”?
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RE: Racket @ 25 –
Are you sure that’s not “mullet”? :)
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RE: Racket @ 25 –
Maybe real estate agents should call Bryant Mallot instead. Because that’s where people take a mallot and break their windows before they list their house for sale…
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Bryant is just north of Arlington on Hwy 9. The area referenced is just part of “Seattle.”
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Spending the weekend perusing open houses to take snarky pictures ? I guess you could rationalize that as “work related”, but seriously – unless your looking to buy a house- are you really that bored – …do people really go to open houses for fun – wtf is up with that?
go play with your kids or something -
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RE: Jugajoosh @ 28 – Funny.
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Out looking at open houses…. makes me think Tim is getting closer to making a buying decision.
Maybe keeping the rising home prices a secret…? Certainly as home prices have dropped the head lines have screamed. But we get a YOY price increase on average home prices and all goes quiet. interesting.
King County Average Home Prices Rise First Time in 3 Years.
http://bit.ly/gjlC3H
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If I recall from some of his comments in the past, I think The Tim is fond of winter as a time to buy, strictly from a price perspective. He has already mentioned his belief in that pricing is close to historic trends and since he wants to own a house he could be out there seriously kicking some tires. If he found something that he liked for 10% less than market value I would not be surprised if he bit. Just my guess. He is a big boy and knows what he is getting into so if he decides to finally pull the trigger, I wish him the best.
I do wonder how long he would continue to maintain the bubble site after he finally buys something.
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RE: Julie Lyda @ 33 –
Why do you post mean when median is typically used?
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RE: Lurker @ 35 –
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_gollyed_lies,_and_statistics
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RE: Lurker @ 35 –
I do track both mean and median. I prefer to use average in my reports. I use a year to date average so there are many sales to average, thus the numbers won’t be weighted by any high or low anomalies.
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RE: Julie Lyda @ 33 – As far as I can recall, I’ve never mentioned average prices even once on this site.
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RE: EconE @ 36 –
“Golly” EconE, the department of political correctness has regulated your link forcing enquiring minds to resort to manual decoding and input of the “D” word.
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RE: The Tim @ 38 – RE: The Tim @ 38 –
Yes Tim, I know you only use median. I like to watch both numbers, because I feel they tell us two different things. There are so many ways to track statistics. Mean, median, and indices. Just another way to look at numbers. I think they are all important.
When looking at the King Co. median (ytd):
2007 $455,000
2008 $429,950
a drop of $25,050
2008 $429,950
2009 $380,000
a drop of $49,950
2009 $380,000
2010 $375,000
a drop of only $5,000
So the median doesn’t show us a gain, however it sure looks like the steep dropping off of prices is ending, of course, subject to anymore catastrophic economic news
I make no predictions with the numbers, but my feeling is that the market is stabilizing.
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RE: One Eyed Man @ 39 –
LOL.
I wouldn’t have noticed.
That’s when you know political correctness has been taken too far.
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I track both mean and median too, as well as the difference between mean and median. I track mean to get some idea of the strength of the upper end of the market.
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By Julie Lyda @ 40:
That sounds like a prediction.
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