had surprise house showing today, they stayed 6 min.

[Jeannie in NJ]

my realtor called about noon and said he had scheduled a showing for Friday. Then 10 min later he called back and said another couple wanted to see house today at 3. Got the house clean (we had just had a showing on Sunday so it was not a total wreck). THe people today stayed 6 min lol . (we parked at the end of the street so saw them when they left) Well the house is pretty clean now for the showing on Friday, will just need a normal touch up before they get here. At least we are getting showings, we just relisted on Sat.

[Remudamom]

What kind of doo dahs look at a house for six minutes???

[Jeannie in NJ]

better than the couple that walked in the door, saw we had cats, raced out, got in their car and left.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

What kind of doo dahs look at a house for six minutes???

 

Well, I spent about that long in an open house recently. I ruled the house out the moment I went into the basement and saw that the main beam was not a metal I beam, but rather wood 2 x 12s nested together. They must have been having problems, because there was also several sections of added 2 x 4 vertical supports that had been added in.

 

Not that there is a problem with the op's house. Just that when I see a house doesn't meet our needs, there is not reason to stay around.

[snickelfritz]

What kind of doo dahs look at a house for six minutes???

 

When they realize something important isn't what they expected. We "had" to have a 3 car garage or a shed. Some listings had wrong or missing information. One that looked like a 3-car had a fence gate right next to the 2-car. One in-person look at the house (gated neighborhood, so we had to meet a realtor there) and we knew it absolutely wouldn't work. In that neighborhood and square footage, we expected a 3-car and pictures seemed to back it up. So, we hadn't grilled the realtor about the 5-10 must haves and 5-10 wants.

[Alyeska]

Yep. I know how it feels. Last year when we were selling, a lady stayed for less than 5 minutes.

 

And the previous house we sold, one person stayed for over 2 HOURS. While we were parked down the street waiting to go back home. She didn't make an offer.

 

 

 

I hope your house sells soon!!

[NanceXToo]

When they realize something isn't what they expected. We "had" to have a 3 car garage. Some listings had wrong or missing information. One that looked like a 3-car had a fence gate right next to the 2-car. One in-person look at the house (gated neighborhood, so we had to meet a realtor there) and we knew it absolutely wouldn't work. In that neighborhood and square footage, we expected a 3-car and pictures seemed to back it up. So, we hadn't grilled the realtor about the 5-10 must haves and 5-10 wants.

 

Yep. When we were house hunting, there were houses we didn't even stay at for as long as six minutes because there were things about them that ruled them out for us right away. For example, when the backyard wasn't even useable for us because it was basically just a hill rather than a flat, usable yard, I wasn't at all interested!

 

Well, like you said, Jeannie, at least you got your house ready for showing on Friday! Good luck!

[Jeannie in NJ]

I think a lot of buyers and for sure realtors don't do their homework before they go see a house. I look at photos on realtor.com, look at bird's eye view, look on a map to make sure the house is not too close to a busy road and since we are only looking to move 15 to 20 min. away, I drive by each house I like, stop, check out the neighborhood, check for traffic noise, etc. Of course I realize most people cannot do that so end up going to a lot of houses that they don 't know are not for them until they walk in.

 

Of course a couple of times, I loved a house's online photos and then walked in and the house did not for some reason even look like the same house inside . But that is pretty rare.

[Catwoman]

better than the couple that walked in the door, saw we had cats, raced out, got in their car and left.

 

Well, perhaps you need to clarify that statement, and let everyone know that your "cats" are rescue Panthers that you adopted for home security.

 

Have you found that you really don't need to sleep that much? ;)

 

 

PS. In case this doesn't make sense to you, watch this Geico commercial:

http://www.reversestreetads.com/blog/2012/01/31/new-geico-commercial-adopting-a-rescue-panther-for-home-security-to-save-money/

[Jeannie in NJ]

Cat, love your link. Actually the few times we have had house guests, they often tell us the next morning, that they woke up in the middle of the night to a cat staring right at them. Spooked them, they said.

[kalanamak]

Well, I spent about that long in an open house recently.

 

I'd been in my house 6 minutes when I knew it was time to call the inspector. I'd been looking for months, knew the houses in the neighborhood, knew the commute and all the info off the internet, and did a walk through.

Inspector found nothing major, I bid, lower; it was accepted. All took about 4 days.

 

As I recall, I left hubby to smooze and snoop more, but really, a fairly new home, when you've been in a few in the neighborhood, nothing stunning to find that the inspector won't.

[MariannNOVA]

What kind of doo dahs look at a house for six minutes???

 

 

You hit that nail right on the head -- doo dahs.:glare:

 

We stayed out saturday for three hours - an hour extra than we had to according to the time someone was supposed to be coming -- they no-showed us.:cursing:

[Jean in Newcastle]

We were in this house (a short sale to try and avoid a foreclosure) for only 6 min. when we made an offer. Ten minutes later there were 3 more offers on the house. Our quick decision got us the house! But we had done tons of research and looking prior and knew exactly what we wanted.

[Catwoman]

Maybe there was just something about it that was a deal breaker.

 

Probably it was the panthers.

 

(I'm telling you; she really has them. :D)

[Tap]

I had spent two months looking at houses under $125,000 (obviously years ago). We found a house that was a great value at $150,000 on our own. I called a Realtor and asked to only see comparable houses, between $125,000 and $150,000 with some specific qualifications. We did some very quick viewings, of similar homes. We didn't find anything that compared to the one we had found, and the deficits were glaringly obvious. We didn't want to waste the Realtors time or the homeowners, so we did many 10 minute showings. We bought the house we found on our own.

 

(The Realtor knew what we were doing, she agreed to the quick showings even though we told her we had another in mind)

[kalanamak]

Who would look at a house for six minutes??? Those looking for free cookies!

 

I know someone whose "nice" underwear was stolen by a "quick viewer". Was it the husband, the wife, or were they working as a pair?

[my2boysteacher]

When we were selling our last house, we had a couple who didn't even make it past our entry way. Their realtor later told us that our house was not 'Feng Shui' (sp?) since you could see another door from the main entry.

[In the Rain]

When we were selling our last house, we had a couple who didn't even make it past our entry way. Their realtor later told us that our house was not 'Feng Shui' (sp?) since you could see another door from the main entry.

 

:lol: I learn something new everyday here!

 

OP, good luck on Friday!

[GailV]

I think a lot of buyers and for sure realtors don't do their homework before they go see a house. I look at photos on realtor.com, look at bird's eye view, look on a map to make sure the house is not too close to a busy road and since we are only looking to move 15 to 20 min. away, I drive by each house I like, stop, check out the neighborhood, check for traffic noise, etc. Of course I realize most people cannot do that so end up going to a lot of houses that they don 't know are not for them until they walk in.

 

Of course a couple of times, I loved a house's online photos and then walked in and the house did not for some reason even look like the same house inside . But that is pretty rare.

 

I've done that, but coming in from out-of-town I couldn't do the actual drive-by until I was with the realtor. There were some houses we didn't actually go into because I could see they wouldn't work before ever getting out of the car.

 

Inside the house, the way the staircase is laid out is a deal breaker for us -- it must have a landing. Few sellers photograph the staircase, and without floor plans it's impossible to tell until you walk in the house. Once you're there, it takes less than a minute to see if there's a landing, or if the staircase is unusually steep.

 

We might go through a bunch of houses quickly, then choose a couple to go through more slowly later.

[OrganicAnn]

We ruled out several houses by driving by.

 

There were a few that we would have liked to stay only 5 minutes, but unfortunately the home owner was leading the tour of the house and it would have been rude to cut it short.

[Paige]

The people who bought our first house couldn't have stayed more than 5 minutes. When they showed up, we left to go out to eat and passed them in our driveway. When we got to the restaurant, they walked in right after we were seated! The only wait we had was for the hostess to go get some menus and ask us how many. I was shocked when we got their offer the next day!

[Crimson Wife]

I walked out of a house that quickly one time. It had this awful little galley kitchen and that was a deal-breaker for me. I was not interested in buying a house that would need to have an addition put on in order to make a normal-sized kitchen (there wasn't enough space in adjacent rooms to enlarge the kitchen without an addition).

[ChristineW]

Of the more than 50 homes we toured before we found this place last year, we probably spent less than 10 minutes on half of them. If its a definite no, we didn't want to waste anyone's time. We spent more than an hour at four (made an offer on one, almost made an offer on another and disagreed about the other two).

[KidsHappen]

When we bought this house, I knew as soon as we walked in the front door that it was the one. We had already looked at several houses in this neighborhood that had the exact same floorplan so we knew that we liked both the floorplan and the neighborhood. There were several others that we knew as soon as we walked in that it wasn't a contender. I just think it means that they knew exactly what they wanted or didn't want and they got that info right away. Sometimes it is really the silliest things that make a difference. Sorry it is such a pain for you. I hope you guys sell soon.

[abbeyej]

What kind of doo dahs look at a house for six minutes???

 

Why stay in a house longer if you know immediately that it won't work?!? It doesn't do anyone any good.

[mom2abcd]

I think a lot of buyers and for sure realtors don't do their homework before they go see a house. I look at photos on realtor.com, look at bird's eye view, look on a map to make sure the house is not too close to a busy road and since we are only looking to move 15 to 20 min. away, I drive by each house I like, stop, check out the neighborhood, check for traffic noise, etc. Of course I realize most people cannot do that so end up going to a lot of houses that they don 't know are not for them until they walk in.

 

Of course a couple of times, I loved a house's online photos and then walked in and the house did not for some reason even look like the same house inside . But that is pretty rare.

 

Realtors can drag clients to areas where they have NO interest. We have wasted so much time because they insisted upon showing us houses we could tell from the area or the outside, etc. that we would have no interest in.

[beaners]

When we were selling our last house, we had a couple who didn't even make it past our entry way. Their realtor later told us that our house was not 'Feng Shui' (sp?) since you could see another door from the main entry.

 

I don't know if I've ever been in a house before where you couldn't see another door or doorway from the main threshold. I'm having trouble imagining a realistic floorplan where this is even possible, unless your front door opens directly into the center of a hall. Huh.

[QueenCat]

GOOD agents know their selling area cold; they have been in every house (or every model, if you are looking at newer subdivisions, condos or the like), they LISTEN when you talk to them and have good questions that help you figure out what you really want. (Eg., you might say, "We have to have a 3 car garage!" when really what you need is a 2 car garage and protected storage. There's more than one way to have that criteria met.)

 

I LOVED our last agent: I had a toddler in tow, and she would take me to about 6 houses at a time, and while I RACED through the house with my very clear ideas in mind, she would take my toddler around and he would count the potties. At the end of the visit, I always got The Potty Report. I could ask her to review a certain area with me for her thoughts, and because she knew the houses so well, she could help me balance out the ideas. We went in a few stinkers, but not very many, really, for how many I looked at.

 

 

 

This reminds me of the agent that helped us buy the house we are in now. We had filled out a form asking for area info and real estate agent info on a local website. We had around 50 agents respond. We sent them each the same email. Basically telling them we would be new to the area, were going to start homeschooling, have a child with Aspergers (wanted info on local support group), and that we would know for sure if we were moving in about ten days. Most sent a quick reply saying that once we knew "for sure", they'd be happy to help.

 

Except one. The one we hired. She sent back an email, about a day later than everyone else. Why? Because she spent some time getting contact info on local homeschool groups, and an autism group. Plus she used her contacts to find me three moms, who have children with Aspergers, who would be willing to talk to me about options in the area. She was also a very good agent!

[lcelmer]

better than the couple that walked in the door, saw we had cats, raced out, got in their car and left.

 

 

That would be me ...... kiddo 2 & I have a super bad allergies and asthma combo, and am not interested in having to re-carpet or decontaminate a house.

[Jeannie in NJ]

yes, we assumed that one of them was allergic to cats. What bothered us whas that while our realtor tells people he shows thru the house that we have cats and he informs other realtors but they must not tell their clients and then it is a waste of that clients time as they cannot even come into our house.

[PrincessMommy]

What kind of doo dahs look at a house for six minutes???

 

I guess I'm a doo dah.

 

I would pre-screen houses via photos from the internet & mapquest then pare them down to 5-6 I wanted to see with the realtor. Even then you can't always tell from the photos if the house was even remotely close to what you wanted. After nearly 8 months I had almost 450 houses in my delete pile. Anyhoo - there were some where I went in and immediately knew it wasn't going to work out - for whatever reason. Why waste anymore of mine, my realtors, or the sellers time?

 

to the OP - I'm sorry it didnt' work out. It is very frustrating to put all that work into it only to have it not work out. But like you said, at least it's nearly ready for Saturday.

[Barb_]

Our house was on the market for 6 months. My husband had moved ahead of us, so I was homeschooling (oldest was 7, the other two were 3 and 1), pregnant, and alone. We had multiple showings every week. Usually there was at least one each day. It was horrible.

 

One Monday night there was a knock at my door. It was our realtor who was 'just in the neighborhood' and wondered if he could show this couple our house. I was p*ssed. Once every two weeks I took a day completely off to do laundry and this was my day. He *knew* that. I was so sick of staying on the kids 24/7 to keep everything picked up and the fingerprints off the walls that I had let everything completely go. We turned up the music, baked cookies, left the mess on the table and the counters, threw the piles of laundry up in the air...seriously, there were tiny underwear hanging from the ceiling fan. We were blowing off some serous steam.

 

I hissed at my realtor, "Not NOW! The house is a disaster."

 

"How bad could it be?" he wanted to know. Heh-Heh. I'll bet you all know exactly how bad it could be. I was in my bathrobe and was sporting a really attractive mud mask, but I decided I had nothing to lose. I told him they could come in and if they liked what they saw I'd be happy to clean the place up and let them take another look at it the next day (when he really should have come in the first place, IMO).

 

They came in; they stayed 5-10 minutes and left. Do you know, they called the next day and put in a good offer? What the heck? When the time is right, it's just right.

[mom2scouts]

Well, I spent about that long in an open house recently. I ruled the house out the moment I went into the basement and saw that the main beam was not a metal I beam, but rather wood 2 x 12s nested together. They must have been having problems, because there was also several sections of added 2 x 4 vertical supports that had been added in.

 

Not that there is a problem with the op's house. Just that when I see a house doesn't meet our needs, there is not reason to stay around.

 

 

Sorry, but this made me laugh. When we wanted to buy the house we are in now, the owners turned down our offer and accepted another offer. The buyers backed out because there was a wood beam in the basement and it had been cut slightly to allow a shelf to fit. My dh and I are architects are we knew that "beefing up the beam" with a few supports was just as good and not an issue. All those Structures classes paid off! We've been living here for almost 14 years without a problem and we got the house for lower than our original offer.