So my hubby and I decided to take a house hunting break due to the holidays. As we start to get back into the swing of things we've decided to go to some open houses the past few Sundays to ease back into it. Normally open houses are from 1-4 which isn't a large window of opportunity so here are some quick time saving tips to help you maximize your house seeing ability ...
1) Be Organized
Being prepared and organized will save you time and aggravation!! I strongly suggest getting yourself a mini notebook that you can bring with you and sometime before your Sunday adventure make up a list of which open houses you want to see (BONUS: this notebook will also come in handy when you start going out with your realtor. I have a page for each house we see and write down our pros and cons, etc. When you see 4-5 houses in one outing its hard to keep track of which house had the awesome staircase and which house smelled like cats!) Normally I write down the addresses, listing price, # of bedrooms and bathrooms, and the time of the open house. *IMPORTANT* Make sure you write down the time of the open house for each house you're interested in. Most of them are from 1-4 but sometimes you get a 12-3 time slot in there and nothing is more aggravating them driving 20 minutes to a house only to have their open house be over. Trust me I have first hand experience with that ... except we drove 45 minutes!!
2) Plan an exact course of action
It's a good idea to
figure out the order in which you'll see these open houses. Having a set
list of houses will save you the time of trying to decide which one to
see next. We started at the location closest to our house and went from
there. We have a pretty good working knowledge of the area we were
looking in so we were able to plan which houses to see pretty easily. If
you aren't too familiar with the area you're looking in then Google maps
will be your best friend! Go one by one through the open houses you've
picked and check out how long it'll take you to get to each one from
your starting point and plan your course of action. My
suggestion is always start closest to your current apartment/house and
end at the furthest away - I like doing it this way because (1) I have
the ride home to talk about the day with my husband and go over the
different houses we saw, etc. and (2) If there's time we can hit up some
of the open houses we pass on our way home that weren't on our list. Granted doing this
is a gamble as you don't know what price range the house will be in
until you get inside but it's a fun way to end the day and we like to
make a game out of it. My husband and I like to guess the stats of the
house before we get inside and see how close we come. Remember house
hunting can be stressful at times but it should be fun all of the time.
3) Invest in a GPS or Navigation App
I know GPS's can be expensive so if you don't want to shell out the money for one, most phones will let you download a navigation app for pretty cheap (if not free). Nothing is easier then getting from one open house to the next then a GPS who can give you the most direct route. This past weekend we saw 5 open houses, not too bad considering we didn't make it out of our apartment until almost 2. If you don't have any sort of navigation system then your best bet would be to print out directions via Google map (or your go-to online direction site) from one house to the next. You already have your open house order so just move through the list and print out directions from your starting point to House 1, House 1 to House 2, and so on and so forth. Don't forget to print out directions back home!!
4) Be aware of what type of realtor is showing the house
Each open house experience will be different because of the realtor showing the house. They will all ask you to sign in when you get there and that's where the similarities end. Some realtors will hand you the house specs and send you on your way to explore on your own, some will walk with you through each room pointing things out, some will want to talk your ear off the minute you get in the door to see how far along in your house hunting search you are, and some will want to go on and on about themselves and how they can help you. Common sense tells us that any realtor but the first I mentioned will eat up your time like crazy! You'll be able to tell what "type" of realtor is showing the house after the first few minutes of arriving. The more open houses you attend the more familiar you'll become with them. My suggestion is if you tell them you are already working with an agent and just dropped by to see the house, 9 times out of 10 they'll leave you alone to look around. If it's a slow showing they may follow you around pointing out some things but even so you should be able to set the pace of the tour. With this being said you can always go back to the realtor after you look around and ask any questions you might have and pick their brain about the property if you so choose, but at least this way you were able to maximize your touring time.
5) Sign up for a Trulia account and save your searches
This one isn't so much a time saver the day of your open house but will help you in the planning stages. If you sign up for a free Trulia account you can save various searches and Trulia will email you when there are changes to your searches. We're currently looking at houses in two counties near us (for those of you familar with NJ we're looking in Middlesex and Monmouth counties) so I have a search saved with all our criteria (3+bedrooms, 2+ baths, single family homes only) for each county. This way Trulia alerts me when there are new listings or changes to current listings per county. I also have a separate search saved for the same criteria in the same locations but to alert me with Open Houses only. By doing this Trulia now emails me during the week with what open houses there are for the upcoming weekend. They also will email me if there are any changes to the times of the open house or of any cancellations. This is where I get most of my Open House info from and how I form my lists. Also letting you know of any cancellations is an awesome update to get. We've had houses on our list for the past two Sundays that had been canceled the morning of. Which means if you do not get your emails sent to your phone make sure you check your computer before you leave the house.
I hope this information helps you on your open house adventures! Happy hunting!
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