I’ve been feeling a little frustrated lately with work, esp after reviewing my stats and seeing that I have hosted open houses for like 20+ different properties, and I currently have zero active buyers. Over Labor Day weekend, I had hosted a $1.2M condo in hoyty-toyty Menlo Park. MP is a different area than my usual: it’s about 15 min north of Mountain View, in the even more expensive county of San Mateo. Anyway, as usual, I doorknocked the area beforehand. I hit up maybe 40 properties, including a townhouse neighborhood. It wasn’t gated or anything. Just open rows. So here’s my typical drill: I always ring the doorbell. When people answer, I introduce myself, say I’m hosting an open house in their neighborhood, and I invite them to come see the renovations and stop by for popsicles and cold drinks. Then I hand them a door hanger that has my business card and a postcard-sized flyer of my open house. Easy, right?

About five people opened their doors. They ranged from very friendly to curt. Whatever. NBD seeing as I have faced rejection a billion times by now. For the remaining houses, I just left the door hanger on the doorknob.

So I had my open house, the listing agent– an old pro in the KW Palo Alto office– LOVED me, btw. She said she’s been in the business 30+ years, and she can tell a good agent when she sees one. I mean, when I met her the day before, I was prepared and I asked a lot of questions… I suppose from my intro email too she got the sense I was organized and responsible. I dunno. Anyway, it’s always a boost to get positive feedback from seasoned realtors…

The open house was pretty low traffic though. Maybe bc there was a heat wave (temps of 105F) and the unit didn’t have AC. Still, I met maybe 15 people. Unfortunately, I didn’t convert any. By conversion, I mean, no appointments were set to discuss collaboration. Long story short, at the end of the day, I was exhausted. Then I got a voicemail on my phone:

Hi, my name is ______. I am a resident and key holder at the _____ Villas where you had dropped off some open house invitations. I would ask, on behalf of myself and the other residences, that you refrain from dropping off any unsolicited notices of open houses from now on. Thank you in advance for your agreement.

I mean, sure. I get it. People don’t like extra papers, but WHO ON EARTH would call???? It really takes a certain person, am I right? Whatever. He was polite enough, but still. If you’re not interested, just chuck the paper! Sheesh!

After I returned from Seattle, I emailed a bunch of people in my database– people who came through my open houses. Basically, I just said we met when they stopped by my open house. How is the home search going? Then I invite them to meet at my office so we can discuss developing a homebuying strategy. One person replies: “I am not interested to work with you.”

In a way, I appreciate 1) a response 2) radical honesty. The reply actually made me laugh, bc of course, I’m not going to click with every person I meet, right? Oh well. That’s a glimpse into my new life. You really do meet all kinds of people and get all kinds of reactions.

Sadly, 3-4 people replied saying they had purchased a home already. It’s a powerful reminder for me that serious buyers are hitting those open houses. I just need to work on getting them as clients. Onward, yo!