At least according to this Ohio journalist, open houses are local entertainment. People in Kitsap County don't act like this. Do they?By John Campanelli Newhouse News Service
It was a Sunday around noon, which meant that Terri Bortnick, like almost every other real-estate agent, was getting ready for another open house.
As she drove up to her listing, in one of the more affordable areas of high-priced Hudson, Ohio, she saw a good sign: people waiting, in this case a husband, wife and their four kids, all dressed like they'd just come from church.
Clearly, the family wanted to take a look around. Well, not exactly.
"Aside from occasional cookies and maybe a muffin or two, open houses are not known for their spreads. And as any real-estate agent can tell you, they really aren't known for homebuyers, either.
Most of the folks traipsing through open houses — and perhaps as many as nine out of 10 at expensive or unique homes — have no serious interest in buying the place.
Agents call them "looky-loos," "tire-kickers" or "curiosity seekers."
Agents know who they are because they either leave the sign-in sheet blank or sign in as "Sanjaya Jones," "Hillary Linton" or "Anita Bath."
"A lot of times, they'll just come out and admit it: 'I'm just a nosy neighbor,' " says Realty One agent Stacey McVey.
Agents see a few different categories of looky-loos.
• The neighbors:
The first people through the doors of an open house are usually folks who walked over.
They want to see how the bathroom was remodeled, what room the shouting comes from and where they've been hiding the borrowed rake.
Neighbors might seem an annoyance, but most agents welcome them. They can be valuable in marketing the house.
"Many marketing guides say that you should have a neighborhood preview," says McVey. "You invite them an hour before the first open house. You feed them, show them the house and then pat them on the butt and say, 'Now go find a new neighbor.' "
• The enthusiasts:
The more expensive the home or the more unique its look, the more decorating and architecture buffs show up, says McVey.
They are folks like Lakewood, Ohio's Craig Bobby, a mail carrier and amateur architecture historian who adores Victorian buildings — so much so that he has photographed more than 20,000.
When he enters a home, he hopes to see everything the way it was, original and intact. If not, he doesn't waste his time. "If it's 100 percent modernized, I turn right around and walk out the door," he says. "I didn't walk into an old house to see a new house."
Bobby, who spends more time at house museums and on home tours than at open houses, sees little difference between his hobby and a visit to the art museum. "Victorian architecture is very artistic," he says. "They're almost like gigantic works of art on the street. I see them that way. In many ways, I'm just a lover of art."
• The investors:
With a stagnant home market and a growing mortgage crisis, it's no surprise many homeowners are preoccupied with how their investment is holding up, even if they have no plans to sell. Many open-house visitors study homes and prices as if poring over stock tables. "People are obsessed with the value of their house, just obsessed," says McVey.
• The voyeurs:
Aside from folks looking for Sunday brunch, people are generally well-behaved at open houses, agents say. They don't snoop in the dresser drawers, take inventory of the fridge or critique the DVD collection. Yet, many of these folks are there solely to examine how and where other people live. They are open-house hobbyists or, worse, addicts.
"It's a cheap hobby," says Helen Bailey, an agent for Howard Hanna Smythe Cramer. "They don't have to pay for the theater."
Almost all of them are women, says McVey. They tour homes with a friend or relative, never alone. They're educated, social and usually in their 30s and 40s. "They're the same people who go to parties and look in the bathroom vanities," says McVey.
Copyright © 2007 The Seattle Times Company
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