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Open House Safety in Santa Clarita: What Every Buyer and Seller Should Know · Connor with Honor: AI, Real Estate and Real Life

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Good day, everybody.
• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's already August 2nd, 2025.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: Hard to believe.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: We are at Saturday, big open house day today on Saturday and also on Sunday.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: You can go to Santa ClaritaOpenhouses.com to see what's happening.
• 0:13
  SPEAKER_00: There are a couple hundred of these scheduled over the weekend.
• 0:17
  SPEAKER_00: One of the things to watch out for when you do go into open houses, the agents there, sometimes they're not actually the listing agent, just so you know.
• 0:24
  SPEAKER_00: And you might not want to work with them.
• 0:27
  SPEAKER_00: And you can just tell them that.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can say I already have my own agent.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: If they want you to sign in on something, again, that's totally your call.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I've never seen a case where an agent prohibited somebody coming into an open house.
• 0:40
  SPEAKER_00: But on the other hand, in some cases, the sellers like to insist because anybody coming to, coming into an open house totally unvetted.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: And what that means from a seller's perspective is anybody could come in and having my law enforcement background.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: I have known of individuals and cases of people casing open houses, actually coming in, seeing what the sellers have, and then basically after the open house coming back at some particular period of time and maybe thieving the property or other things.
• 1:13
  SPEAKER_00: In addition, during open houses, in some cases, most agents are very good.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: They follow people around.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: They ask a lot of questions.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: You know, they're kind of irritating in some cases, but their job is to make sure that the seller's property is protected during that time and also, of course, to elicit or to elicit, to try to get buyers for these particular residences and try to find out what people are looking for, if it fits, get some feedback, these sorts of things.
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: So if you feel like you're being followed around, don't sweat it.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: You probably are.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: In addition to that, if you are sellers out there and you're contemplating having an open house and you're resident yourself, make sure you listen to the few tenants that I give my sellers.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you take all the prescription medication out of any medicine cabinets or drawers or anything and just lock it up, put it behind closed doors, make it difficult to get to, and that includes any other kinds of medications.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: If you have a change bucket or a change jar or a change shelf or whatever it may be, make sure you remove all that.
• 2:17
  SPEAKER_00: Again, coins, would somebody steal them?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: You just never know.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Kids, a lot of times, they'll come in and they'll see quarters and money and maybe take them when the parents aren't looking.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Also, if you have things in drawers and in closets, if you're one that has uh believes in that Second Amendment, has some firearms in the closet in the corner.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: My dad always kept his rifles in the corner of the closet.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_00: I never understood that.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, they're free and open for anybody to get who wanted them.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you are a homeowner that has those types of guns laying around or somewhere, maybe in drawers and stuff, of course, people shouldn't be going into your drawers.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: People shouldn't be looking into your dresser, but it it's a very odd thing.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: In many cases, I've heard things opening that I never thought should have been open, but I've already given my sellers the rundown.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: So there was nothing that was at risk.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: But you hear drawers open and close, and you know that was a dresser.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: You hear medicine cabinets open and close, which I guess, you know, to see how deep they go, and maybe if they have lights in there or some kind of a back mirror, whatever it may be, that might be a reason.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: But again, if you have those guns in the closet, people are going to open closets to see the depth of the closet.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: They might see guns there, and who knows?
• 3:28
  SPEAKER_00: It might not be them themselves, but maybe they have a cousin or a friend, and everybody has that uncle that they can't stand.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: Well, some of us do.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, they know that they'll rip people off, and you happen to Mitch, oh, yeah, I went over this open house today.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_00: Boy, that guy had quite an arsenal.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: You'd think he'd have a safe.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Then all of a sudden he tells a friend, he tells a friend, and then, you know, six degrees of separation later, the owner's getting ripped off.
• 3:48
  SPEAKER_00: Also, after you get done uh having your house hosted open, make sure that you uh kind of pay attention, what's going on in the neighborhood.
• 3:58
  SPEAKER_00: If there's some strange vehicles out there, if you see people that you've never seen before, you know, take some pictures maybe without getting caught and make sure, and again, this doesn't happen, but it's the cop and me, the past cop and me, that kind of makes this a concern, just to make sure that you yourselves are covered.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: So these are some of the ideas, things to think about with regard to open houses.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, open houses do a fantastic job at getting people more familiar with properties because right now, because of that lawsuit that we had, it does require a contract for a buyer to look at a house with a buyer's agent, even if it happens to be the selling agent of that particular property or the listing agent.
• 4:39
  SPEAKER_00: A contract is necessary.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of buyers, you know, they don't want to do that.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: It they just feel it's funny to sign something like that, especially when the historical record hasn't been the case.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna find in the future that's gonna come a lot easier.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be very normal, just kind of like Mellaruz is for some of the different cities that have imposed these extra taxes.
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: In Santa Clarita Valley, where you know, we have some that are, some that aren't.
• 5:03
  SPEAKER_00: You'll probably have a better chance of running in in the resale market and properties that do not have mellow ruse, but it's gonna depend on the time of construction.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: The newer ones, a lot of them are gonna carry them, but that's gonna depend on the builder.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the builders take it upon themselves, as they did in the old days, before the mellow and ruse was something that started, they pay it off.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So, and you might run into these particular builders.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: I know Toll Brothers is famously good for that.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if that's gonna change in the future, but a lot of times they get the mellow ruse paid off so that the individual homeowners don't have to pay that extra tax.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: And that tax, if you do the numbers, I'm sure it does a lot more than pay for just the items it says it does, at least over time.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: But again, that's an extra fee.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the properties have them.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: It works out great for some people, but it's something that has to be factored in in your monthly payment for your qualification amount.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: And also, when you're doing your total numbers as a real estate buyer, make sure you factor it all in.
• 5:59
  SPEAKER_00: Make sure you're putting in what you're gonna be paying potentially for electricity, for gas, for the different utilities.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: Also, what the HOA fee is gonna be.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: I would split up that uh that Melaruse and your property taxes, even if it's coming out in your payment per month.
• 6:15
  SPEAKER_00: I would definitely factor that in so you have an itemized list of what it costs to homeown a residence, and then also then do some deductions.
• 6:24
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, there are, depending on if you qualify or not, but you can talk to your CPA, tax accountant, or even one of the online expert sources, and find out how you can get that mortgage interest deduction coming off your taxes, and then you factor in that number.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then you'll more than likely find if you qualify for those things, you'll more than likely find that actually owning real estate is going to equate to being a much better deal financially than renting one.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: Something to consider, something to look at.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of the properties will start to hit the market.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_00: I know that there's rumors that the uh president, because he can't get the Fed share to move as far as interest rate goes, they might contemplate actually changing the capital gains rules.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: So if you are somebody that needs to sell a property, you're going to encounter capital gains, which is a massive amount of money that maybe that should be waived.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And if that happens, that will definitely spear off a lot of real estate activity.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: A lot of people starting to sell properties because of the capital gains waiver.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see if that actually happens, but if it does, it'll be a blessing to a lot.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully, it won't flood the market too much and cause a buyer, uh, basically, buyers to pull back because the interest rates are still going to be high.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, changing the capital gains isn't going to do much for interest rates at all.
• 7:46
  SPEAKER_00: That would be a much better story if in fact they did lower interest rates, because instead of and capital gains is good too, maybe they could do both.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: But while the Fed's stock, we are not going to see much movement in the interest rate world.
• 7:58
  SPEAKER_00: Check with your lender, see what that rate is.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it has come down from the last time.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: And again, the Fed funds rate isn't where that mortgage interest rate is based.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: The mortgage interest rate is based on the 10-year bond.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: So that may be something.
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: That's why it adjusts and moves up and down here and there.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_00: Watch out for yourselves.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_00: Go to Santa ClaritaOpenhouses.com.
• 8:20
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, also, of the 805 active listings on the market for sale, there are 15 that are coming soon.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't have access to the coming soon listings, you can go to Santa Clarita coming soon.com.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: You'll land on that page.
• 8:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's a form, and you'll be able to fill it out, and I will get you those coming soon listings.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_00: Lickety split without an issue.
• 8:42
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Connor with Honor.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you in the next one.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks for watching.