When visiting an Open House , you are often greeted by the listing agent hosting the Open House.
This is a wonderful practice and you would hope to connect with the realtor showcasing the house. Ideally they would provide information and answers to any questions that you might have about the property.
The one thing to keep in mind however, when visiting an Open House is that the listing agent represents THE SELLER. When you first arrive at the Open House, they will typically have a sign in sheet and that is a perfect place for you to note who your buyer’s agent is ( even if they might not have a space for that on the sign in sheet )
So, if in conversation they start to ask you questions that might be of personal nature such as “ What have you been pre-approved for by your bank?” or, “ Is this house in your price range? What is your top limit for pricing?”
Any of these questions are ones that really should only be shared with your buyer’s agent, lender, and closing attorney.
Let’s play this scenario out to see how sharing this information might be to your detriment should you love the house and then decide to write an offer. We will treat it like it’s a play write below:
Listing Agent: “ Welcome to our Open House !!! My name is Sally Sells A Lot. Please feel free to tour the house and let me know if you have any questions !”
Buyer: “ Thanks so much! It’s a great house !!! So far, it looks perfect for our family !!!”
Listing Agent : “ Great!!! I hope that you love it so much that you write an offer! “
The buyer tours the house and then stops in to say goodbye and thank you to the listing agent on her way out.
Buyer : “ Thanks again! “
Listing Agent: “ Well I hope that you decide to buy it! How does this fit into your price range? How much are you pre-approved for?”
Buyer: “ Well, this is actually a little below what we are approved for which is great!!! We are approved for up to $275,000 so with this being only $250,000 my husband will be thrilled!”
STOP!!!..................................
Now what do we have here?
The listing agent knows that even if this buyer writes an offer below the asking price, that they can go well over.
It now makes it MUCH harder for this buyer to negotiate a great deal on the property .
You gave away information to the listing agent who represents the SELLERS best interests and has no obligation to keep anything that you just shared with them to themselves.
Of course feel free to ask questions about the house, talk about the weather, or even chat about whatever else might be interesting but PLEASE protect your information that would help you negotiate an offer should you decide to have your buyer’s agent draft one for you.
You may be picking up on the fact here that I feel VERY strongly about buyers having a buyer’s agent. It might even surprise you to know that if I was ever buying real estate in another state, I would without a DOUBT hire a buyer’s agent to represent me in the sale. Who would have thunk??? Lol
I hope that this post may give you great tools to use for your future Open House visits if you decide that it’s time for you to purchase a property.
Happy House Hunting !!!!
Tanya