What exactly happens at an Open House?

DH & I keep saying we're going to go to one, but we never do (fear of the unexpected I guess)... Do you just look around? Are you 'harrassed' at all? (I just keep picturing the horrible high pressure timeshare presentation we went to and it makes me cringe)

I'm sure this all sounds silly, but this is prob something others girls here would like explained as well

You go in and sign in - your name address phone number stuff like that. Depending on the realtor some let you look around on your own, some follow you. They tell you about everything like when things have been updated and stuff like that. They let you open closets and look everywhere. Some are more annoying than others...no one is going to pressure you to commit on the spot though. They'll ask what you're looking for and will offer to set up an appointment to find houses that you might like.

It's not bad at all. I love going to open houses. We're meeting with a new real estate agent tomorrow and going to see some houses and then we're spending the afternoon on our own going to open houses. There are a ton this weekend. Where are you looking?

Thanks for explaining Ang!! Well, we were a bit late on the Town of Babylon's $15k down payment assistance (they arent accepting any more apps and we were waiting until we had all the wedding $$ in the bank to apply, but whatever, everything happens for a reason)... we can expand our search a bit now, but we're still liking the West Babylon area.... We may venture a little further out east though, but not too much further... We dont have fam out here as it is and i dont want to be even further from the ones we do have

Where are you looking? Our housing budget is pretty low with me being unemployed again.... so we're looking for a decent area and even co-ops at this point are looking like the better choice for us...

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Posted by FuTuRe MrS MaZz

Thanks for explaining Ang!! Well, we were a bit late on the Town of Babylon's $15k down payment assistance (they arent accepting any more apps and we were waiting until we had all the wedding $$ in the bank to apply, but whatever, everything happens for a reason)... we can expand our search a bit now, but we're still liking the West Babylon area.... We may venture a little further out east though, but not too much further... We dont have fam out here as it is and i dont want to be even further from the ones we do have

Where are you looking? Our housing budget is pretty low with me being unemployed again.... so we're looking for a decent area and even co-ops at this point are looking like the better choice for us...

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Gina, have you checked Deer Park? I thought I heard someone saying there were quite a few condos in that area?

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Posted by FuTuRe MrS MaZz

Thanks for explaining Ang!! Well, we were a bit late on the Town of Babylon's $15k down payment assistance (they arent accepting any more apps and we were waiting until we had all the wedding $$ in the bank to apply, but whatever, everything happens for a reason)... we can expand our search a bit now, but we're still liking the West Babylon area.... We may venture a little further out east though, but not too much further... We dont have fam out here as it is and i dont want to be even further from the ones we do have

Where are you looking? Our housing budget is pretty low with me being unemployed again.... so we're looking for a decent area and even co-ops at this point are looking like the better choice for us...

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We're looking pretty much all over Nassau...Levittown, East Meadow, Carle Place, Massapequa, Bethpage. Mostly houses that need some work - but that's okay with me because I want to make the house my own, you know?

Have you been pre-qualified for a mortgage? It's a really good idea to do that before you even start looking for a house you you actually know what you can afford. We have a great mortgage broker, if you need one. He's located in Farmingdale, and I think that's where you live now, right? Let me know and I'll pass on his info.

i am in deer park!! i love it here!!

don't know much about the codo's though..

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Posted by FuTuRe MrS MaZz

Thanks for explaining Ang!! Well, we were a bit late on the Town of Babylon's $15k down payment assistance (they arent accepting any more apps and we were waiting until we had all the wedding $$ in the bank to apply, but whatever, everything happens for a reason)... we can expand our search a bit now, but we're still liking the West Babylon area.... We may venture a little further out east though, but not too much further... We dont have fam out here as it is and i dont want to be even further from the ones we do have

Where are you looking? Our housing budget is pretty low with me being unemployed again.... so we're looking for a decent area and even co-ops at this point are looking like the better choice for us...

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2010 crashing,,,, ive seen a TON of open house in west u babylon.... if you dont mind tell me (fm may be more private) what your looking for and a price range, i can tell you some nice ones i saw

Open houses are great! DH and I started going to them a while ago… it’s good to go to a bunch and that way you can see what’s out there and what you like and don’t like.

Some realtors are pushier than others, but only once was the woman like, “So are you ready to make an offer?” Most of the time they’ll just let you walk around on your own.

They usually make you sign in when you go there and put your phone number, but no one’s ever called us afterwards.

Like some of the previous posts said, some REA are more pushier than others. Everytime I went to an open house I told them, 'Oh this is the first house we ever saw!' or 'We just started looking last week and have NO idea what we want' (I used this line up until I found my house 3 months later). I saw a co-op in Feb and had the listing agent call me 2 weeks ago asking me if I wanted to see some of her co-op she listed. I told her I bought a house already and I think she fell to the floor bc she was silent for awhile.

Do you have an agent or are you looking for one? My agent set us up on Listing book and you can edit it to only show you homes that you want (area, bedrooms/bath, taxes, price range, etc) so you dont waste your time looking at crap. Its a little bit more advanced than MLS. I prefered it more bc it told you whether or not it was a short sale or foreclosure which we were staying away from, but MLS does not always tell you that. They will also email you when a new listing is added.

I had NO idea what DH and I wanted when we first started looking, but after seeing a few homes we were able to say OK we want this, we need this, we dont need that, etc.

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Posted by IrishBrideASmiling

Like some of the previous posts said, some REA are more pushier than others. Everytime I went to an open house I told them, 'Oh this is the first house we ever saw!' or 'We just started looking last week and have NO idea what we want' (I used this line up until I found my house 3 months later). I saw a co-op in Feb and had the listing agent call me 2 weeks ago asking me if I wanted to see some of her co-op she listed. I told her I bought a house already and I think she fell to the floor bc she was silent for awhile.

Do you have an agent or are you looking for one? My agent set us up on Listing book and you can edit it to only show you homes that you want (area, bedrooms/bath, taxes, price range, etc) so you dont waste your time looking at crap. Its a little bit more advanced than MLS. I prefered it more bc it told you whether or not it was a short sale or foreclosure which we were staying away from, but MLS does not always tell you that. They will also email you when a new listing is added.

I had NO idea what DH and I wanted when we first started looking, but after seeing a few homes we were able to say OK we want this, we need this, we dont need that, etc.

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I have to agree with Listingbook. I loved it when we were looking for houses! So much better than MLS but you have to get a real estate agent to sign you up. You don't have to sign with that real estate agent but you give them your email address and they send you an invitation to join listingbook...it's free. A real estate agent at an open house I went to actually did this for me. I would also suggest not getting a realtor for yourself because you can do all the work yourself. FH and I would drive around the neighborhoods we liked on Saturdays and Sundays and just stop at the open houses. We also looked on MLS and Listingbook and made appointments to see the houses we liked that weren't having an open house that week.

We ended up seeing a house on Listingbook and called the realtor to set up an appointment to see the house that week. We loved the house and made an offer that night! It is a good idea to get pre-approved for a mortgage because it does allow you to get a realistic view of what you can afford and if you do find a house you like and want to make an offer you wont be able to unless you have been pre-approved.

FM me if you have any other questions.

Like everyone else says, it really depends on the REA as far as how pushy they are. We've gone to open houses where we've been completely ignored and then ones where REA won't stop calling!!!

We started lying. They don't ask you to sign in if you already have a REA of your own, so we started saying we did.

Just have faith you'll find something. It took FH and I a full year to find the house we're in contract to buy.

Oh and I've lived in W Babylon for 10 years. If you're looking for co-ops, Whalers Cove is really nice. A friend of mine used to own there.