We hosted an open house recently and had a flurry of Buyers tour the home. There is always a mix of open house attendees; curiosity seekers, neighbours, and “professional” open house tourists. In this case, we had some very serious prospects looking at the home.

One of the elements of hosting an open house is asking all of the attendees to sign in so we have a record of people who have attended the open house. We do this for several reasons.

 In the past 37 years, I have never had a theft at an open house, however, I have heard situations where this has happened, and with a list of attendees at least you have a record of people who have walked through the home. Another reason to collect information is to have a record of which agent the Buyer is working with, allowing us to reach out and inform the agent if the client appears interested. A final reason is to have the option to reach out to the Buyer, following up if there appears to be interest in the property.

The open house mentioned above is not dissimilar to others we have hosted this year. Many of the sign-in sheets are filled out with incorrect information or with unreadable handwriting. There is little I can do as a Listing Agent to prevent this however in some cases this way of signing in is a detriment to the Buyer.

In a busy market like we are currently in, with low inventory, serious Buyers understand that to get an edge on the market means moving quickly. A good example is that in the past 7 days, all homes sold between Clarington and Whitby sold for 12% over the asking price and sold in about a week.

I have spoken with Buyers who are hesitant to give their information to an agent at an open house, mostly because they feel the agent will bother them with unwanted calls or emails. I understand this reluctance as some agents abuse this information.

This reluctance to offer accurate information can be a reason that an interested Buyer does not get the opportunity to purchase a property. In one instance, we hosted open houses on a property over a weekend making both Saturday and Sunday available for viewings. This was a unique property with no available properties that were in any way comparable. I felt the home would sell quickly and for a high value, so helping as many Buyers as possible through the home was a priority. As mentioned above, some attendees signed in with either incorrect or information that was not readable. We had 5 attendees that I would consider interested and as we finished the open house, I was contacted by an agent who had shown the property earlier in the day and ended up submitting an offer. Here is the challenge – we attempted to contact the attendees to inform them that an offer was submitted and about a third of the sign-in sheets had information that was not correct. This meant it was not possible to inform the attendees of the offer that we had in possession, or their agents if they had left that information.  In the end, the home sold Saturday evening and on Sunday morning we placed a sold sign on the property along with a note on the front door informing any people thinking there was an open house, that the open house was cancelled, and that the property was sold. I am guessing that several of the attendees who were excited about the home came by on Sunday afternoon only to be disappointed.

What we have noticed over the past few years is that people from Toronto, Mississauga and Brampton are touring homes at open houses on the weekend without their agents. This can be problematic if a Buyer is interested in a property and I as the listing agent have no contact information to inform their agent, the home may be sold without their knowledge.

If you are a Buyer, who is serious about finding a home in today’s market, it is best to tour homes with your agent. This way you will be kept up to date if any offers come in or if the timelines of offer presentation dates are changed.

My goal as a listing agent is to get as many Buyers as possible through the properties I am marketing and to allow each and every Buyer to purchase the home if it is the one they have fallen in love with. I understand the frustration when a Buyer finds their “forever home” only to find out they didn’t move quickly enough, or the presentation times changed without any notification.

If you are serious about purchasing a property or have a home you are considering selling I can be reached at lindsay@buyselllove.ca or 905-743-5555.

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