I’m not a Realtor, so I’m coming from the buyer’s perspective on this. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, my wife and I have been looking for a new home for awhile and have been through many open houses. In most cases, the listing agents were all doing a good job being pleasant and responsive, looking their best to appear enthusiastic about spending their Sunday afternoon this way. I admire agents. Working on a commission is hard so I’m not knocking anyone, but in a few cases, I couldn’t believe what I saw! Here are a few examples:

Fruitcake. I will admit, at least the effort was being made, but serving fruitcake to perspective buyers is never a good idea. Does anyone really eat fruitcake? I half expected to see little tags saying, “Gina and Steve. June 12th, 1986. Thanks for sharing our special day.”

Misspelling. No kidding, we walked up to a place that had a sign on the lawn saying, “Open Horse.” I walked inside and said to the agent, “So where’s the horse? I’d like to take it out for a ride.” I assumed he had heard about a dozen similar lame jokes already that day, but my comment took him completely by surprise. When I pointed to the lawn sign, he mumbled something under his breath and excused himself to make a cell phone call. I felt badly and wished I hadn’t said anything.

Misprinting. Not recently, but several years ago my wife and I found an open house listing in the newspaper and decided to take a look. As it turned out, the agent had misprinted the street address. The neighbors weren’t happy to see us at all.

A little too anxious. And finally and I think this one is critical, it’s never a good idea to follow perspective buyers into each room cheerfully saying, “So, what do you think?” I wasn’t sure if the agent really wanted my opinion. Then I started feeling self conscious, like he suspected we would be rifling through the underwear drawer if left alone. I was so distracted I missed seeing half the house!

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