Latest / Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life / Top 3 Santa Clarita open house rules for open house viewers and open house sellers that agents often keep secret

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Top 3 Santa Clarita open house rules for open house viewers and open house sellers that agents often keep secret · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: I have coined 2025 as definitely the year of open houses.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: The reason being is because of the new contractual guidelines, those documents, those contracts that buyers are now required to sign to look at properties with a singular agent, more than likely they are going to choose the other way and start just to view properties during the times in which they're being held open at open houses.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: So from a buyer's perspective, if you don't want to tie up with the agent, call them, whomever has that particular listing that you're interested in, and ask them when and if they're going to be hosting an open house.
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: And if they say they're not, then say, would you mind hosting one open so I can come look at the property?
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know how far that's going to go, but that might be a good strategy, so you don't have to sign anything as a real estate buyer.
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: What is it you're signing?
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: You're signing a contract between you and the agent that's going to be representing you to show you a single house or multiple houses or whatever it may be.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: On that contract, that buyer-broker agreement, it's going to show how that agent that's showing you the house is going to be compensated.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Are they going to do it for free or are they going to ask the seller's agent to pay them compensation if in fact you like the house enough to write an offer through them?
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: So there's a lot of dynamics there.
• 1:27
  SPEAKER_00: But the thing that brings me to this particular show is this weekend when I was hosting an open house, we had somebody come in towards the very end that very much wanted to see it.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: We were closing up shop, but of course that's not an issue.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I got everything turned on.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I was getting prepared to show the house.
• 1:45
  SPEAKER_00: So we show the house.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: They come out and they say it's a little bit small for their needs.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: But they're just starting the process.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, that's fantastic.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: I said, by the way, here's a book that I've written about how to buy and sell real estate.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_00: Please enjoy it from me to you.
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: And he said, you know, it's interesting.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: I went into an open house just prior to this.
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: It was actually in the area where my wife and family really want to live.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: And the agent was asking me to sign a document, basically a sheet showing who I was, email address, name, and those sorts of things.
• 2:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, Well, that's not uncommon.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of times sellers basically tell their agents that you're going to have everybody who comes in register before they look at their house.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: He said, Yeah, but for me it felt uncomfortable.
• 2:30
  SPEAKER_00: For me, I didn't want to even proceed.
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: Can you show me that house that they have listed in that area?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I said, give me just a few minutes.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: So I made some phone calls.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Absolutely, I can, and I got that set up to show them.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Here's the thing I will tell you.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, a lot of agents that you go into open houses and they're there, you don't know whether or not that agent actually is representing the seller.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: What I mean by that is there are many agents that host open houses that aren't the actual listing agent.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: Now, I guess in the long run it really doesn't matter because most people don't want to use the agent that's representing the seller to represent them as the buyer because they're well, they're privy to your information, all your private stuff, your bottom line, your top line.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: And then they're also privy to the seller's bottom line and top line.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: So even on the seller side, a lot of them are reluctant to have their agent represent the buyer.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: And in fact, lately in the multiple listing service and the private remarks, I do see comments in there from agents that are stating I will not be representing the buyer on this particular property.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_00: So it we do see a little bit of changing of the guard where a lot of agents that were listing agents very much prided themselves on double-ending the transaction.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: That's known as dual agency.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: We see that kind of as something that is becoming less and less popular, especially amongst real estate buyers, and especially amongst real estate buyers that now have to pay for representation, pay their agent to represent them when purchasing real estate.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: So this contract that I was talking about, this buyer-broker agreement, it does show how that agent representing the buyer is going to be compensated.
• 4:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if they decide that they're not going to charge the buyer any kind of commission and they're going to try to get their commission from the seller, it will show that.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_00: It will also give a time reference.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: It will show how long that they're going to be working with you as a buyer, and that could be as long as 90 days, at least with the current legislation.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Now it wasn't until January 1st of 2025, and we're about the third week, where that was required to be something that has to be done for every single buyer.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Before that, it was optional, at least after the lawsuit that had come down, but now it is mandatory with regard to realtors out there that are representing buyers of homes.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: When you're going into an open house, that document that you're signing is not a buyer-broker agreement.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: At an open house, you're allowed to look at it unless the seller says they want everybody to sign in before they look at the residence.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And if I were that seller's agent, I would probably educate them a little bit better and explain to them here's the problem.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: You have your house being held open.
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: I have signs everywhere.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: People are going to be coming over to look at it.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the people that are looking at it aren't going to be buying it themselves.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: But these people know people.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then those people whose people they know, they also know people.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's that whole six degrees of separation thing.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: You never know when one person viewing an open house is going to have somebody 18 degrees away from them that it heard from a friend of a friend of a friend that there's this house being held open.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's great.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's on a corner lot as they want.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's across the street from a park and it has a pool.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: There you go.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: So then those numbers stack up, and then the house ends up getting selled as kind of a result of the open house.
• 6:01
  SPEAKER_00: Open houses rarely sell properties.
• 6:04
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at statistics online, anywhere from two to seven percent actually close and sell during an open house.
• 6:11
  SPEAKER_00: But you have this again, these seven several degrees of separation, you don't really know.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: So what I tell my sellers is this we want to depersonalize the property to a point where nobody sees your schedule on the refrigerator if you have a calendar, nobody sees any personal pictures of you and your family.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: And again, if people go through, if the seller is mandating that they don't take pictures or video, that's usually established up front.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, it's hard to watch everybody with the camera because everybody's holding their phone in their hand.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: So in order not to even have to go down the road, I would remove all those pictures of real people.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I say real people because you can go to Walmart and we can get picture frames that have fake people in them.
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Those those uh caption art, those types of people that are inside photographs.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, they're real at some point, but they're not people that live in the residence.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: So again, feel free.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: If you have to have picture frames set out, those are probably the best people to employ having those as part of those frames.
• 7:19
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, I would, as my as I educate my sellers for open houses, get rid of any of those certificates, those graduate certificates, or even other types of certificates you have hanging on walls that show your name, show what kind of degree you've gotten, show what kind of training you've been through.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, if you have stuff in your residence, at least to a point, that you can get rid of that might show what kind of employment you're in.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have uniforms in the closet that show you're a police officer or a firefighter.
• 7:50
  SPEAKER_00: Not everybody loves those people and those professions.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Now, of course, firefighters can't do any wrong because of all the fires we've had in California and they do a great job.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: But having said that, I would keep those out of the closet, at least during the showing.
• 8:06
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, prescription medicines, if you're taking anything and you have that in a medicine cabinet or on a counter anywhere, I would also put that away.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't even have it in the residence.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: The same thing with jewelry, the change bucket, the change drawer, whatever that is, where you throw your loose change if anybody uses change anymore.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_00: I would also have that put away so it's not privy to those people coming in.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And yes, guns are still a thing.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: People still have guns, people still like to shoot, and also like to defend themselves in case somebody comes into their house and tries to kill them.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I get that.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: I would have those guns put away as well.
• 8:46
  SPEAKER_00: People open closets.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: Weird circumstances, people open dresser drawers.
• 8:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't understand, but again, people open things.
• 8:58
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have things inside your dresser that are within eyeshot, I'm sure they're not ruffling around digging through clothes, but again, you don't know who's coming in because it is an open house.
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Them not wanting to sign something, this guy was a police officer about to retire.
• 9:15
  SPEAKER_00: That's what happened yesterday.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: And they have their own methodology, they have their own thought process, and he wasn't about to put his name down because he felt offended.
• 9:26
  SPEAKER_00: Well, there's a lot of people that feel offended, folks.
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: So if you want to have your open house being held open in the best way possible so you can get maximum exposure, then you should listen to your agent if they're telling you this, hopefully, and put all those things aside.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: So when you do have people coming through, they'll be able to come through it without any issue.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: Watch the market.
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: Check out our blog at Santa Clarita Openhouses.com.
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's also my book there.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's for sale on Amazon.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: It talks about updated for this year, 2025.
• 10:00
  SPEAKER_00: It talks about buying and selling real estate.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: I am Santa Clarita Openhouses.com and Connor with honor.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: We will talk to you soon.
• 10:07
  SPEAKER_00: I appreciate you watching.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you in the next one.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Don't forget to hit that button, like and subscribe, please.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_00: We will have more videos as we do every day talking about the real estate market, dynamics, what to watch out for.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: And again, we do interview people, especially now because of the fires.
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: There's going to be a lot of insurance issues here in Southern California, and that was already a mess for real estate buyers, even in the San Francisco market.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk to you soon, ladies and gentlemen.
• 10:35
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for watching.