Open houses have always been a great way to expose a property to buyers, but open houses for downtown condos are getting fewer and further between.
Why? Many condominiums no longer allow them…
As I sit and write this blog post on Sunday night, I’m frustrated that, once again, the garbage chute at my condo has been “Out of Service” for 36 hours.
That’s life at Vu Condos, where, as it was explained to me last night by the concierge, there are only two “guys” who know how to reset the chute. These magical guys do not work on the weekend, and thus the garbage chute is often out of service for a day and a half when you need it the most.
It’s pathetic, laughable, and yet completely fixable.
And it’s something that our condo can choose to change, or not. It’s up to them.
Every condominium is free to make their own rules, and manage however they choose.
Whether it’s the security company, the property management company that hires security, or the board of directors that hires property management – each of these parties is going to run the condo how they see fit. And this is where many residents will disagree with the people that oversee their homes.
For example, I think the garbage chute issue at Vu is utterly insane. I think that it’s beyond frustrating to have a chute that’s never working, and that property management should do something about it. Whether it’s teaching the concierge how to “reset” the chute and add that responsibility to their job description, or whether it’s hiring another staffer to help ensure that the 500 residents of the building aren’t stacking up garbage in their living rooms – something should be done.
But that’s just me. Maybe other residents like storing rotting trash in their foyer for two days. Who knows…
Maybe it’s property management that needs to act, or maybe it’s up to the board of directors, but either way, this could be seen as a “problem,” or it could be something that neither management or the board of directors wants to address. It all depends on how they feel, and where one condominium might act, another might leave it be.
This, of course, leads us into the topic of open houses in downtown condominiums, and how many buildings have begun to outlaw them.
Consider that every condo-owner in the city will one day sell their condo. So I’m of the mindset that at some point, every resident will benefit from an open house for their own condo, and yet many residents are on board with the growing “ban.”
When I first started doing open houses nine years ago, there wasn’t a single condo that kicked me out, or gave me a hard time whatsoever.
Today, I’d estimate that roughly HALF of downtown condos have some sort of restriction on open houses, or how they’re conducted.
There are those condos that have no restrictions whatsoever. You can put an “OPEN HOUSE” sign out front, tape a sign that says “Buzz 1022” to the foyer wall, and then sit up in the unit and press “9” to let people inside when they call.
Then, there are those condos that don’t allow you to sit in the unit, but rather insist that you wait in the lobby to personally escort people up to the unit.
Lastly, there are those condos that don’t allow you to do any business of any kind on their premises. This is where things get a bit dodgy.
I was doing an open house at 33 Lombard Street last year, and I was under the impression this was a building that allowed “Open house by appointments.” What that means is that I can’t buzz people up to the unit, but I can personally escort people myself. This is the case, however they won’t allow the words “open house” to be uttered, nor do they allow any signage on the property.
That’s fine, right? I’ll just put my signs out on the street, and wait for people to show up.
This did not go over well…
The concierge at the building went outside and confiscated all of my signs! Then he brought them into the building, and put them in a locked room behind the front desk. Screw me, right? I felt like a child having his bee-bee gun taken away!
He told me that there were no signs allowed on the property, and I said that was fine, since my signs were on city property, ie. the sidewalk thirty feet from the entrance. He stuttered a bit, searched for some words, and finally said, “There’s no open houses allowed in the building!” I told him that I wasn’t hosting an open house, and that I was doing “appointments” for anybody interested, and that I’d walk them upstairs myself. He didn’t agree, and in the end, there was nothing I could do.
What’s the difference between an OPEN HOUSE sign that’s five feet from the building and five hundred feet from the building? Nothing, in my opinion. But the concierge took any sign that was within sight of the building, and told me that he would continue to do so until I left.
I didn’t want to rock the boat, but I felt this was all a little silly.
It felt like the concierge was making up rules as he went along.
I ended up leaving the building, with my tail tucked between my legs, and I had to explain to my clients that I was essentially kicked out (the president of the board happened to be in the lobby and told the concierge to tell me to leave). Of course, nobody asked the “Com-Free” Realtor to leave and take his signs, but I guess everybody is afraid of those guys…
So what’s the right thing to do?
Should we ban ALL open house activity in downtown condos?
I think that there are two main reasons why residents don’t want open houses in their condos:
1) Safety
2) Ego
Seriously, I’m not making this up.
Yes, we all know that safety is a huge concern with open houses. It’s very easy for somebody to gain access to a building during a public open house. All you have to do is buzz the unit hosting the open house, enter under the guise of attending the open house, and then do whatever you want – vandalize, steal, rape, kill – whatever people are afraid of.
I’m not denying that there are safety concerns, and I’m not arguing in favour of the most open of open houses, but I think there’s a happy medium somewhere.
But EGO is also a large part of the equation. There are a lot of residents that don’t want the “little people” coming inside and getting a peek at where they live. Whether it’s a true luxury building or not, many residents just look down their nose at “outsiders.”
So let’s not forget that the reason we have open houses is to try and sell real estate. And if open houses are banned, then it gets tougher to sell the units within the building. If a building isn’t selling well, then prices drop.
Working backwards, you’d think that every condo-owner would be in favour of some sort of open house, right? When it comes time for them to sell, wouldn’t they want to know that the building allows effective marketing of units, and that units have been selling well in the past?
It’s a tough trade-off.
The last thing I want is to have people running free in my building after being buzzed in by a Realtor, but I think that completely banning open houses isn’t going to help with resale value.
There are a lot of buildings where the Realtor is required to sit in the lobby and wait for people to come in, then walk them up to the unit and basically escort them in and out of the building. I think this is a compromise, and it ensures that people off the street aren’t roaming free.
The trend, however, over the last few years has been an outright banning of open houses in many buildings (I have three listings right now – and two of the three buildings don’t allow open houses of any kind), and even those that do allow open houses have massive restrictions that almost make them pointless.
For those of you that think 99% of people that come through open houses are tire-kickers, I disagree. I’ve sold a lot of properties off open houses to buyers that just happened to be “passing by,” and many buyers come to the weekend open houses because it’s convenient, and they couldn’t find the time during the week.
I know that every condominium has its own set of rules, and its own vision for the building as a whole.
But personally, I think an outright ban on open houses is a step in the wrong direction…
ScottyP
at 8:13 am
The EGO factor you brought up should not be understated. And the best part is, these hypocrites are going to be the first to complain when it comes time for them to sell their units….
Harry
at 9:01 am
When I was condo hunting I always told the realtor ‘I was just passing by’. That’s a natural reaction to a nosy question. Your not going to say ‘I’ve been watching this building for six months’ to the seller. I am amazed that realtors still rely on 1950s style sandwich boards when most folks do searches through the internet now. Realtor.ca is a great tool and allows for announcements of open houses which is little used by realtors it seems. I think some of you folks think people still drive around aimlessly for hours looking for Open House signs.
Joe Q.
at 11:32 am
The open-house listings on Realtor.ca are indeed little used, but often in cases where they ARE used, the info is inaccurate. Last summer I went to about 4-5 open houses listen on Realtor.ca that ended up not actually taking place.
Harry
at 11:57 am
True Joe. That has happened to me. So I got into the practice of calling the agent’s office before hand to find out if the showing was still on. Sometimes these things get cancelled and the agent forgets to update the online listing.
Krupo
at 10:24 pm
Done much online and “passing through the neighbourhood finding sandwich boards” searching. Both methods have their merits.
Though this post was another reminder of why I’m so glad to have steered clear of condo life. The other factor was my friend getting hassled by her building’s security for having “too many people” at her condo’s BBQ area. I understand why such a policy would exist, but talk about a buzzkill for someone doing a party once a year!
Geoff
at 9:25 am
I sold our condo and did not have or want an open house. David I think you missed the real benefit of open houses – that it’s a good way for agents to meet future clients. In the day when I can go online and see (or should see) every room in a house, there’s no need for an open house. When we sell our house, we won’t be having an open house. If you’re interested, make an appointment and come by and see it. I don’t need troops of people – mostly neighbours, and other lookyloos – going through my house and my stuff just to get ideas.
David Fleming
at 10:08 am
@ Geoff
Oh I’m aware – meeting potential buyers is probably why many Realtors do open houses. Not to sound corny, but when I’m doing an open house, I’m only thinking about the seller.
I agree that the effectiveness has been minimized with the developments online, but that old adage, “It only takes ONE buyer” rings true, and you never know where people are going to come from!
DB
at 9:51 am
Yes…Ian (Condo President) is very hard nosed but he runs a tight ship so people are happy.
K Dailey
at 9:56 am
I’ve sold one house and two condo units to date, and like Geoff I specified to my selling agents that no open houses were to be held. The restriction didn’t hurt the sale of any of the properties–the house sold in two days, the first condo sold in seven days, and the second condo sold in one day.
The above is my experience only, and obviously other sellers’ mileage may vary, but when I sell my present home I intend to specify “no open house” again. I’m happy to leave the premises on short notice whenever anyone wants to view the property.
I see no advantage in letting passersby and, as Geoff says, “lookyloos” wander through the unit and the building just out of idle curiosity. Those who are seriously in the market for a home can make an appointment; those who are just looking can view photos and a video of the unit on the internet and then make an appointment if what they see appeals to them.
jeff316
at 9:42 am
Agreed.
There is a house down the street from me listed by a no-name realtor from an upstart brokerage.
Last weekend they held two open houses, eight hours in total. This house is listed for more than 1 000 000$ (it is overpriced by at least 20%.)
I saw the realtor leaving, looking slightly down, and I had to hold back from telling her that if she truly had a million dollar home, not only would she have not needed an open house, but having not one but two of them just cheapened it.
Gerrit
at 12:22 pm
My wife & I have bought two homes (a condo & house) and both of those were from seeing the open house. One we thought was out of our price range, and the other we saw right before we were seriously looking. By the time we got a realtor involved, we’d already made up our mind.
In a hot market, I can see why you wouldn’t want an open house. But when there is tons of inventory, you really do need to do what you can to get extra people in the door. Whether it’s a friend of someone in the building, or someone who is only casually looking.
I always tell friends who are interested in entering the real estate market to go “open housing” before starting with a realtor. It allows them to understand the market, and see what they can afford (and whether it’s worth buying a home on their budget). It’s hard to set priorities before you know what is out there.
DavidP
at 2:13 pm
Bring your garbage down to P1! It’s much better than letting it stink up your unit.
Potato
at 7:49 pm
“It felt like the concierge was making up rules as he went along.”
It sounds like this was your first experience with a condo concierge… making up rules as you go along is the whole reason people take the job.
Now to be fair to the anti-open-house side, many newer high-rise condo buildings have hundreds of units that are sorely under-served by the elevator banks and visitor parking. With turn-over times getting below 5 years, each building can expect to host multiple open houses every single weekend. I can see why the staff would want to move to a no-open-house policy.
George
at 10:25 am
Great point regarding building size. I think open houses are practical for unique properties (i.e homes) and some lofts/boutique condos. Larger than that and you run into frequency issues.
JC
at 12:47 pm
I wonder how that Concierge would have liked having the police show up and a charge of theft being made against him?
I had a person doing a FSBO steal my (brand new) sign and frame once. Idiot didn’t bother taking my sticker off the frame and then threatened to call the police when I took it off his front lawn. “Go ahead… I’ll wait for them”.
In my opinion, some buildings don’t really suffer from open houses not being permitted because they’re very popular to begin with.
I find that a big part of the problems you run into with open houses at condos is that too many residents think they are in charge, or have little else to do but make other peoples lives miserable. Ego perhaps. I did several open houses at a condo last summer and found out halfway through that one of the residents had blacked out my phone number on the “Please call xxx-xxxx to be buzzed in” notice I’d left.
I suspect it was someone with a grudge against the seller. You live in a building that is hard to sell in the first place because of major construction all around it, hate your neighbor and then make it harder for them to sell… so they’re still there – apparently annoying you….where’s the logic in that?
Hazen Colbert
at 12:15 pm
Open houses are not a form of home marketing. Open houses exist solely for real estate agents to prospect for new clients.
Excessive open houses degrade the image of a condo building and distract from exclusivity.
Christine
at 12:23 pm
I am selling my condo and my neighbours have placd a call to the Management Company stating my Open House signs that the Real Estate Agent put on my property and ont he city side boulevard were put out too early. This was Wednesday of this week….today (April 27th) is the open house. I never had a problem before with open hpuse signs and all of a sudden I have complaints. My agent took them down to satisfy and pacify the neighbours.