For many years, there has been an awkward moment when consumers attending an open house are asked to sign in. It is understandable to not want to become someone’s prospect or lead, and it doesn’t seem necessary to many folks. We see this pushback everywhere: a cashier asks a customer at checkout for their email or phone number, and is told they just want to buy the thing and be on their way. It seems like everywhere we go, we are asked for our information. You can’t even log onto some websites without a popup window offering you a discount if you enter your email handle, and you haven’t even decided if you want anything they sell.
I get it it.
People don’t want to give out their personal information.
They don’t want to be solicited just because they were shopping or browsing.
Stop the madness.
I relate to the headache. I truly do.
But here’s the thing. When a consumer seeks to enter an open house, they aren’t entering a place of business, a store, an office, or even logging onto a website. They are asking to enter someone else’s private residence.
If a utility worker showed up to your door, they should have an ID badge and some reassurances about your security and their legitimacy, because this is your home. It’s where you live. You might have small children or elderly parents there. You probably have prescription medication. Perhaps you have a C-Pap machine or medical devices. You of course have valuables. And there is the matter of privacy; what’s on the refrigerator? What’s on your kitchen table?
Now, you might say that anyone selling their home should make allowances and adjustments for these things, and you’d be right but it is still their home. They have a right to know who is entering their home and how to contact them afterward for any reason. That’s the social contract of open houses. There are other important reasons for the sign in.
- Security. The business model of real estate is meeting strangers alone in an empty house. 99.9% of the time the consumer is a good person. But thefts so happen, and so do assaults on agents. The seller and the agent have a right to know who they are dealing with, and open house sign ins do have a deterrent element for people up to no good.
- Efficiency. When an agent makes an appointment to show a home to a client, they have a service agreement and in all likelihood have vetted them for financing. Not so at open houses, where anyone can walk in- curious neighbors, lookie-loos, and visits from unqualified people who aren’t capable of buying the home.
- Personal possessions. I’m not talking about theft or damage to the home. I’m referring to the copious list of belongings that open house attendees have left behind. Glasses. Coffee mugs. Notebooks. Ear buds. Keys. Hats. Coats. I still have some awesome headphones someone left behind years ago because-guess what? They left a bogus number on the sign in sheet. I tried for hours to reverse engineer who they were. No joy. They lost headphones and I lost a chunk oy my Sunday night.
- Accountability. The seller will want to know how many parties attended their event. A sign in log answers that question.
- Agent follow up. Yes, of course our job is to contact open house attendees after and get their feedback or see if we can help them further. It’s simple to opt out of that if you don’t want to be solicited. But one call, email or text does not shatter your right to quiet enjoyment of your life. You’re attending a work site as well as a private home. Please let us do our job.
It’s pretty simple. If you are committed to being off the grid, attending an open house is not a wise place to go. In the context of how little privacy anyone with an email address or mobile phone truly have in an era of browser cookies and digital footprints, signing in at an open house is pretty benign. The seller and the agent have an absolute right to know who is entering that private residence and how to contact them afterward for any legitimate reason.
So if you attend an open house and bristle at the idea of losing your anonymity, please understand that the agent has a job to do on behalf of the client, and the homeowner expects them to do it.
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Why Do I Have to Sign in at an Open House?
I get it it.
People don’t want to give out their personal information.
They don’t want to be solicited just because they were shopping or browsing.
Stop the madness.
I relate to the headache. I truly do.
But here’s the thing. When a consumer seeks to enter an open house, they aren’t entering a place of business, a store, an office, or even logging onto a website. They are asking to enter someone else’s private residence.
If a utility worker showed up to your door, they should have an ID badge and some reassurances about your security and their legitimacy, because this is your home. It’s where you live. You might have small children or elderly parents there. You probably have prescription medication. Perhaps you have a C-Pap machine or medical devices. You of course have valuables. And there is the matter of privacy; what’s on the refrigerator? What’s on your kitchen table?
Now, you might say that anyone selling their home should make allowances and adjustments for these things, and you’d be right but it is still their home. They have a right to know who is entering their home and how to contact them afterward for any reason. That’s the social contract of open houses. There are other important reasons for the sign in.
It’s pretty simple. If you are committed to being off the grid, attending an open house is not a wise place to go. In the context of how little privacy anyone with an email address or mobile phone truly have in an era of browser cookies and digital footprints, signing in at an open house is pretty benign. The seller and the agent have an absolute right to know who is entering that private residence and how to contact them afterward for any legitimate reason.
So if you attend an open house and bristle at the idea of losing your anonymity, please understand that the agent has a job to do on behalf of the client, and the homeowner expects them to do it.