FSBO Open House Etiquette

[Anonymous]

OP here. I honestly didn't put a lot of thought into it, but it seemed like a natural thing to say as they were standing by the door when we were about to exit and looked like they wanted to know what we thought. I think if I hosted an open house, I would want to know how successful it was right away.

We really had no idea how much the house would have been. There was no paperwork out, we didn't see any advertisements for the open house other than the signs around the neighborhood that we just happened to be driving through.

I know most sellers realize that serious buyers don't usually come out of open houses, but we actually purchased our first home that way. We were on our way home from touring places with our realtor debating about whether to make an offer on one place. We drove by the open house sign, figured we'd give it a look, and the next day we were back with our realtor and the day after that made an offer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Did you think the house seemed overpriced in general? Given what you describe, the house should be on the low end of comps in the neighborhood. If there is a realtor helping list the house and putting it on MLS (and nothing else), you may want to call her/him and let them know.

How is this any of the OP's business? The seller can price the house however he/she wants.

[Anonymous]

We also bought our house at an open house.
But to have it for sale, I would expect some common curtesy from the buyers. Honesty is really appreciated, even when the person says that they want to place their house on the market and just want to get to know what they could possibly ask for theirs.
If you are just browsing, be polite and honest. But if it is not an open house, do not expect to come in without prior agreement and walk thru when the family is having breakfeast. How hard is that?

[Anonymous]

When you are having an open house, you have to expect people to come through who might not be interested in buying - people who are just looking, or interested in getting their own remodeling ideas etc. There's nothing wrong with that; it is in the nature of an open house. Of course, during non-open house hours, people who aren't really interested should not disturb the family. There is also nothing wrong with stating that the property is out of your price range. It is polietly letting the sellers know you are not interested, which they might otherwise think you were.