The Deals and Duds of Westchester's Real Estate

Oct 16, 2008

11:22 AM

Strangers in Your Home: Strange Tales from the Open House

The concept of an open house scares many people. Everyone and their Aunt Bea traipsing through your house, opening your closets, petting your dog, and commenting on your décor choices. Talking to a few realtors, it seems some people have funny ideas of what’s appropriate behavior at an open house. Very funny, in fact.

“During one of my public open houses in Briarcliff, a middle-aged couple stopped in. I greeted them at the door, thanked them for coming, and asked them what drew them to the open house. Was it the ad in the Times, the ad on our website? The husband responded, ‘No, we saw the sign on the road and my wife had to use the bathroom so we stopped in.’ This was certainly a new take on the ‘open house’ concept.”
Nancy Matchen
Houlihan Lawrence
Briarcliff Manor
nancymatchen.com


“At a converted barn in Chappaqua, myself and some clients gazed out the windows overlooking the swimming pool and saw a 60-something-year-old man with a large build floating around aimlessly—and naked—with a six-pack of beer. The police were called and the man, a neighbor, was arrested. The incident made it onto Channel 12 News and the story ended up in the Journal News.”
Mark Seiden
The Mark Seiden Real Estate Team
Briarcliff Manor
markseiden.net

“My wife was doing an open house in South Salem and two men came by, one was holding a small dog. Upon entering, the dog leaped out of his arms onto the ground, and took off running through the house. My wife warned them that there was a cat in the home, and they spent the first ten minutes of the tour chasing around the dog through the house. An interesting way to tour a home!”

“We were doing another open house, which was a completely remodeled farmhouse in Hillsdale, New York [Columbia County]. The owners had taken a really dilapidated house from a falling down eyesore to a beautifully as well as a prospective buyer from Manhattan, who was quite impressed with the home. The renter started saying what had happened in each room, and that he was surprised the home was still standing after all it had been through. Needless to say, the Manhattanite didn’t buy it.”
R. Scott Richardson
Keller Williams NY Realty
White Plains
richardsonrealtyteam.com

“At a Bedford open house, I walked into the bedroom with some prospective buyers—and found the owners lying in bed! They overslept.”
Barbara G. Harris
Houlihan Lawrence
Bedford

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