One of the “free samples” of a Realtor’s services we provide to Sellers is the CMA — the Comparative Home Analysis — sometimes referred to as the Competitive Home Analysis.  No matter what you call it, the Realtor takes some time to do some research into what a particular home might sell for given current market conditions, location and condition of the home.  Lots of factors come into play during the research, not the least of which, is the Realtors personal experience both with the area and in the profession, generally.  An experienced Realtor will be pretty close, if not dead on, when determining a recommendation for a selling price.

All that said, Realtors are not appraisers.

I take that back.  Some Realtors are appraisers.  They may have been appraisers that decided to help people buy and sell houses or they may have just decided on a change in career.  Sometimes, Realtors decide to go through the process to get licensed as appraisers, too.  However, the vast majority of Realtors are not appraisers. So, even though an experienced Realtor will, through their own research and experience, recommend pricing to a home seller, it is the appraiser that will determine the valuation for the house for the mortgage company the buyer is using.

The Buyer’s Perspective

Everyone knows that home sellers want to sell their homes for the highest possible price (we’re not talking bank owned foreclosures or short sales). We also know that home buyers want to purchase their home for the lowest possible price.Thus, an experienced Realtor working for the buyer will perform a CMA independently so they can advise the home buyer about strategies to structure an attractive offer.  Again, the CMA prepared by a Realtor working as a buyer’s agent should be pretty darn close to true market value.  What the home buyer offers is a different story.

Regardless of what the home seller and home buyer may agree upon, if the home buyer needs to obtain financing, the mortgage company, bank, or credit union will not (repeat: will not) provide a mortgage to the home buyer for more than the market value of the house as determined by a professional, licensed appraiser.

Many times the appraised value of the home comes in very near the contract price (the price agreed upon by the home seller and home buyer).  Sometimes, it comes in higher.  Some examples include:

• estate sales — the heirs just want to sell the house and be done with it
• divorces — there may be pressure for one of the parties in the divorce or the courts to sell the property
• job relocation — a home owner may not want a vacant property or the mortgage on home they aren’t living in
• illness — a home owner may need to move into a long term health care facility assisted care facility and need to sell the home to pay for it

One particularly sad reason homes may appraise for more than the contract price is that the home seller has over priced the home initially in the hopes of obtaining a price higher than the market will bear.  The house sits on the market for an extended period of time.  At some point, the home seller really either needs to sell the house or has just tired of the constant interruptions to their life by potential home buyers.  The home seller will then either lower their asking price substantially to attract a home buyer or they will accept a “low ball” offer just to be able to move on.

Mr. Market Calls The Shots

The sad truth about home pricing is that neither the home seller, the home buyer, the Realtor nor the appraiser control the price of the home.  The market does. Many economists call this the “invisible hand” — market forces that are not fully understood create the environment for fair value. As much as a home seller wants to sell their home for a high price  and as much as a home buyer wants to purchase the same home for a low price, it is the market that determines the price.

That’s why we saw such wild fluctuations in home prices over the last ten years. Home prices went wildly up because, oddly, the market was supporting the price appreciation (due to exotic mortgage products, mostly).  Now, market value has fallen because  a large number of home buyers can no longer pay their mortgages making huge numbers of homes in distressed condition available for sale at bargain basement prices. Simultaneously, credit has become extremely difficult to obtain reducing the potential home buyer pool even more.

The market has spoken.

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There are several ways real estate can be titled depending on the circumstances and who is involved in owning the real estate. Most residential real estate is titled so that it passes cleanly to one person such as a surviving spouse or partner or, perhaps, a relative.  Sometimes, though, the real estate is bequeathed in a will or Trust to several people — usually close relatives — as a way of providing for loved ones when there really isn’t a lot of cash or other assets to divide up.

This is where Tenants in Common comes in. This form of home ownership allows different people to have various percentages of ownership interests in the property.  It doesn’t have to be 50/50 (in the case or two people), the ownership interest can be divided all kinds of ways.

Even The Happiest Family Can Come To Blows

I was recently speaking with an old acquaintance who had taken care of his mother and and aunt in their last days. It took a lot out of him and he spent a good deal of time, energy and money.  Surprisingly, when my acquaintance’s mother died she left him  1/2 ownership interest in the house and three other family members 1/6 each.  Now, there are four people who own this house and really only one who has lived there for any length of time.

It turns out that my acquaintance — the son — would like to buy the other family members’ interest in the house and own it entirely so he can live there. It turns out the other family members are not so keen to go along with this plan.  They want to sell it on the open market and try to grab as much money out of the sale of the house as possible.  Everyone disagrees on what the house is worth.  Although an appraisal has been performed there is still no agreement. To make matters worse, my acquaintance has sunk some of his personal funds into some home improvement projects like painting and some other updating after his mother passed away.  Obviously, if he has to sell the house and his 50% interest than he wants to recoup the money he spent fixing the place up.

Can There Be A Resolution?

Unfortunately, this will probably end up in court. Family member against family member bickering and fighting over money and real estate.  What was once a family that, at a minimum, got along and, under the best of circumstances, really enjoyed each other and felt a bond, is now fractured and will probably never be repaired.

The other aspect of this is that now that there are tenants in common, each of the four people who have an ownership interest in the real estate could, theoretically,  a) sell their portion of the ownership interest to someone else or b) bequeath their ownership interest in the real estate to anyone they choose.  As you can tell, it can get very complicated and very messy.  My guess is that the lawyers are the only ones who really win in a case like this which is a shame.  It was probably the intention of the original owner (the mother, in this case) to be generous to her family.

Everyone says there will never be a problem because, after all, they’re all family.  However, when it comes to money and real estate, blood is not as thick as you’d think.

What do you think?  Is it a good idea to leave real estate to more than one person in your Will or Trust? Leave a comment in the COMMENT section.  I’d love to hear!

I’ve been taught from Day 1 in real estate that it is really best to meet a potential client, for the first time, in the office.  The concept is that we can talk about the needs and desires of the potential home buyer or home seller in a comfortable environment and get a feel for whether we would be a good fit for one another. Another good reason is to establish the  client’s ability to realize their dreams.

This is true of home buyers as well as home sellers.

For the buyer, it is important to know a lot about where they want to live, what type of home they would prefer, what is really important to the home buyer about what will, most likely, be the biggest commitment of time, energy and money they will ever make. It also gives the Realtor (that would be me) an opportunity to talk about the person’s financial ability to make a home purchase.  It doesn’t do anyone any good to look in Bethesda, MD when they may not be able to afford College Park, MD (and to the people in the MD Suburbs of DC — you know the difference).

Meeting for the First Time at the House

I recently broke my own rule.  I met a potential client at a house they had found on the Internet.  I had spoken to this potential home buyer a few days earlier and tried to set up an “in office” appointment.  No.  He just wanted some listings e-mailed to him.  OK, I thought.  Easy enough.  A few days later he called and asked to see a house that was decidedly not on the list. Hmmm.

I went to meet the guy and his wife and they had picked out this nice foreclosed home in Columbia, MD.  Cheap.  As is.  OK part of town.  I didn’t have anything else on the calendar so I made the appointment.  The place was trashed (like quite a few foreclosed homes). Holes in the wall.  Destroyed appliances. Destroyed carpet.  On and on.  They looked at it and looked at me and said (and this is a quote) “This isn’t what we expected.”

Well, I could have saved them the time they took to look at the place if I had talked with them at some length first.  I could have also found out that they aren’t really ready to buy for about four months and that they really don’t have a set place on where they want to live.  They are also guessing at the price range for the house they are looking for.  They haven’t talked to a mortgage professional and they really have no clue about the costs of buying a house.

A Good Reminder for Me

So we talked a bit and I referred them to a mortgage professional to get an idea if they are a) financially qualified to buy a house and b) what price range they can purchase in.  You see, I’m not into the tour guide thing. I’m not interested in “just looking around”.  I know that sometimes it takes a lot longer than people think.  There’s lots of good reasons to lay the ground work for making a home purchase far in advance of the actual purchase.  I am happy to help guide anyone through the process from beginning to end whether it takes a few months or many months.  The respect needs to go in both directions.

That’s why this experience was a good reminder to me that it’s important to sit down with a potential client to see if we will be a good fit.  I want to know about my client’s needs and desires.  If we talk and get on the same page it can be a beautiful thing.  If not, it’s a drain on both of us.

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Everyone has read the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.  After doing a little breaking and entering, Goldilocks proceeds to try out the bears’ porridge (”too hot, too cold, juuuust right!”) and then gets a little sleepy and tries out the bears’ beds (”too hard, too soft, juuuust right!”)

That’s kinda like the way it is when home buyers place offers on houses they want to buy…or think they want to buy.

Too Low

This is becoming more and more common. Unfortunately, it is also becoming the least successful strategy for purchasing a home.

The idea here is that you find a home you like.  Sure, it needs some fixing up but it’s in generally good shape and the neighborhood is nice, the commute to work is tolerable and it might even be close enough to your favorite school and METRO. Now, you make the offer.  Everyone has told you it’s a buyer’s market — the media, your neighbors, your co-workers, even your Realtor. A buyer’s market means you get to name your price, right? You can go low, low, low and the home seller (or bank) will say, “Sure.”

Not exactly.

Even if the home seller has equity in their home and there is no danger of mortgage distress they may still have a mortgage to pay off.  If you go too low it may mean the home seller will need to approach the bank to see if they can do a short sale.  In other words, sell the house for less than what they owe the mortgage company.  The chance of that happening are between slim and none. Even if the home seller has paid off their mortgage, it doesn’t mean they’re willing to sell for pennies. I’ve worked with many a home seller that told me that “They weren’t going to ‘give it away’!” and they don’t. They take the house off the market and sit back and wait for the market to become more favorable.

End result: they don’t sell, the potential home buyer loses out on an otherwise fine home. Everyone loses.

If a bank is involved it becomes even more complicated because the bean counters at the bank just don’t care if the house sells today, tomorrow or sometime next year.  There are thousands of these types of homes on the market and this one is, well, just one.  It may be the one for the potential home buyer but, for the bank, it’s just another short sale or REO property that needs to slowly wind its way through the pipeline.

Too High

The “too high” offer is the one thing that strikes fear into the heart of every potential home buyer.  What happens if the home buyer places an offer on a house and the home seller says, “Sure” without blinking an eye. Doesn’t that mean that the home buyer offered too much?  Maybe they could have gotten it for less, gotten more closing help, points, whatever.

Maybe.

There’s an old saying about not looking a gift horse in the mouth.  Sometimes a home buyer hits the right amount the first time.  Maybe the house has been on the market forever and this particular offer is the third or fourth or fifth one and the home seller finally got the message that they are going to get what they wanted. Maybe the bank has a secret formula that tells them what price to sell it at under what conditions (financing contingencies, inspection contingencies, etc.).  Who knows?  There will always be a feeling of having paid too much if the home seller — whether it’s a real person or a bank — agrees too quickly.

My philosophy is this: if you like the house, the neighborhood and every other aspect about your decision to pick this house, you’re OK.  This is not some stock market pick.  This is a place you will live for the next few years…or longer.

Just Right

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was some magic formula or some special feeling you would get if you placed an offer on a house that wasn’t too low or too high?  My take is that this feeling comes at the settlement table when you get the keys.  Earlier than that the whole purchase process is filled with doubt and second guessing.

I can guarantee that “just right” is a different number for the home buyer than it is for the home seller.  Even if the home buyer offers full list price with no contingencies (a perfect arrangement for the home seller), the home seller may feel they listed the home for too little.  If the home buyer gets every concession and pricing request (a perfect arrangement for the home buyer), the home buyer will probably think they could have gotten more.

Getting the “just right” price is a balancing act that requires some experience and knowledge of the market. Even so, there may be a little guess work involved since it is impossible to determine exactly what the home seller is willing to sell their house for — not one penny less.  That’s where a good Realtor can come in handy (see upper right corner for contact info!). A good Realtor can get you the listing history of the particular house your looking at as well as the information about other homes in the neighborhood.

Working with an experienced Realtor to strike the right balance is important.  Give me a ring at 240-417-9100 or shoot me an e-mail.

Most of the time, when a home goes on the market, there is a yard sign.  It doesn’t matter if a Realtor is representing the Seller or if the house is For Sale By Owner.  There is almost always a yard sign. Why?

There are a some of good reasons to have a yard sign:

1. It provides a little advertising for the listing agent and
2. It provides a marker for people who are trying to find the house (mostly other Realtors) who want to view the home and
3. It lets people in the neighborhood or people who want to live in the neighborhood that the house is for sale.

The Home Buyer Drive-By

I get a lot of calls (in fact, I got one today – the day after Thanksgiving) from people who are just driving around the neighborhood and looking for homes that might be for sale.  This is a good thing for a couple of reasons:

1. For the Seller, it’s good because it might attract a possible buyer and
2. For the Listing Agent, it’s good because it might attract a potential client.

Typically, the phone call is short and sweet.  The potential home buyer wants to know the price and the general make-up of the house – how many bedrooms and baths, does it have a basement, etc. A lot of times the buyer is actually working with another Realtor and just doing a little legwork of their own.  Many times the buyer is rally looking for a home in another price range and once they know the price of whatever house they call about the conversation quickly ends.

Not For Everybody

Believe it or not, I do work with the occasional client that does not want to have a yard sign in front of their house until the house is under contract.  Typically, the Seller doesn’t want the neighbors to know they are selling the house. Although, the home will still be marketed all over the Internet and people will be coming in and out of the house.  So it’s unlikely the neighbors won’t catch on.  Still, there are people who just don’t like yard signs.

That’s OK.

It’s completely up to the Seller how they want their home to be presented and with or without a yard sign the house will sell…if the price is right and the condition of the home is good. The yard sign will not sell the house.  It may help get the word out that the house is for sale.  As I mentioned, there are people who drive around and call the number on the sign (and that number usually gets my voice at the end of it!).

I usually like to recommend a yard sign.  In this market, every little bit helps!

It’s a crazy market out there!

The Maryland Contract of Sale and all of the appropriate addenda for various inspections and jurisdictions, etc. can run to 40+ pages.  Even though most of it is boilerplate put together by lawyers, there are still a lot of blanks to fill in with terms and conditions.

Instead of going to the trouble of filling out this humongous “offer” a lot of Realtors have resorted to a Letter of Intent.  These Letters say right on them that they are not offers to purchase and not enforceable.

So why use them?

They’re an easy way to ‘test the waters” to see if the Seller is even remotely interested in entertaining what is almost always a low ball offer. It’s a way to start a negotiation prior to going to all the trouble writing this 40+ page offer and having people cross out stuff, write new stuff, fax back and forth, etc. until the documents become illegible.

The challenge is that they are almost always way, way too low.  The Seller gets insulted. They either laugh or scream.  Most Buyers’ Agents know this.  Most Listing Agents know this, too.  However, It’s our job as Realtors to represent the interest of our clients faithfully according to their [the clients'] wishes.  As I often tell my clients and other Realtors, “It’s not my house.”

So we throw these low balls back and forth to each other wishing and fantasizing that maybe one day we’ll get a phone call saying, “The Seller agrees.  Write the formal offer.”

Everyone knows this is a very favorable buyer’s market.  Prices are down, Sellers are willing to offer concessions, lots of “short sales” and bank-owned foreclosures. All in all, a good time to buy a home.

It’s not like going out and picking up a pizza, thought.  You have to have a plan and your ducks have to be in a row.

What’s Important When Buying a Home in The MD Suburbs of DC

Before you head out into the market, there are a few things to consider:

• do you qualify for a mortgage and, if so, how much of a mortgage
• do you have cash to make the required down payment and/or closing costs
• do you know where you want to live
• what type of home do you want

I can’t tell you how many times people will tell me “Oh.  I’ll live just about anywhere.” or “I want a four bedroom single family home under $200,000.” Sometimes people ask to look only at foreclosures and “short sales” thinking they’re going to get a “deal” only to realize that the kitchen has been stripped bare, the carpet is trashed, there are holes in the wall, there is water in the basement or a host of other issues that you will need to address after they buy the home and move in (see “Paying to Fix Up The Fixer-Upper”).

A Plan

Planning is good because it really helps you, as a home buyer, clarify your goals.  When you see the house you want, it’ll sing to you.  It also helps cut down endless amounts of time running around from one place to the next. After awhile the homes all tend to blur together. “Did I like the one with green paint in the bedroom?” ” What was the address for the one with the really nice kitchen?”

The Internet is a wonderful thing.  It allows you to look around from the comfort of your own home (or at the office!).  A lot of homes will have virtual tours, a lot will have public disclosures about being a “short sale” or needing “third party approval” or being “bank-owned”.  You can tell which ones have the number of bedrooms and baths you want, if they have a basement or a fireplace and on and on.

That way you can get your plan together and when it’s time to talk to a mortgage officer and a Realtor, it’ll be tons easier for you to find and purchase the home you’d really, really like.

There are a lot of houses, town houses and condos in the MD Suburbs of DC that are “short sales” and require “third party approval”.  What’s that all about?

A Definition

A “short sale” is a property owned by a Seller who can no longer afford their mortgage payments and wants to sell their home.

Unfortunately, the Seller cannot sell their home for enough money to pay off their mortgage and the related costs of the sale (i.e, transfer and recordation fees due to the State and County, lien release fees, settlement costs and, of course, the fee for the Realtor). In other words, they are “short”.  Another way of saying this is that they are “upside down” in their house.  They owe more than it’s worth.

“Third Party Approval”

The “third party” in all these cases are the banks or mortgage companies that will have to take a loss when the house sells.  Sometimes the loss is substantial.  Sometimes the Seller is just trying to get out of a tight situation and could really afford to keep up the mortgage payments but just doesn’t want to, for any number of reasons.

Because these banks and mortgage companies are going to take a big hit on the sale of the house, they need to be involved and approve any offer.  This means they review the terms of the offer and they are also reviewing the financial status of the Seller to make sure he or she is not “gaming” the system.

Since there are so many of these “short sales” in the MD Suburbs of DC, the banks and mortgage companies are overwhelmed.  Add to that the fact that the people processing the files are strictly 9 to 5 employees who couldn’t care less if you got an approval today, tomorrow or sometime next month.  They’re just plowing through the files, one by one, and trying to work the best deal for the bank.

The bottom line is that the bank or mortgage company has to approve the offer or there will be no sale – no transfer of real estate from a Seller to a Buyer.  Nada. Nothing.  Goose egg.

So How Long Does This Take?

Since there is such a huge backlog of homes that are being processed as short sales and as foreclosures it is not uncommon for the bank to take anywhere from four to six months just to respond. Even after they respond they still need to scrutinize the Buyer to make sure the Buyer is qualified to purchase the home and the title company will still need to do a title search to make sure there are no other liens against the property like a tax lien or unpaid water bill.

So it can take quite a long time – 6 months or more – from the time a Buyer places the initial offer on a home and the time they go to settlement and take possession of the home and can move in.

Oh yeah.  They’re all “as is”, too.  No repairs. Nothing.  What you see is what you get.  And that changes as the months go by.

When I talk to Seller clients, I often hear a lot of reasons as to why my clients want to value their house at a certain price:

• Sellers need the money to move to their next house,
• Sellers have made numerous upgrades to the house,
• Sellers don’t want to “give their house away”.
• …and many more

While I try to present a good case for valuing the house and suggesting a price that I think a buyer will pay, it is really the decision of the owner of the house to set the price.

What Happens Next

The real challenge is that no matter what price might be agreed to between the Seller and the Buyer, the mortgage company will not provide a mortgage for any amount higher than the appraised value of the  house.

Here’s an example:  Let’s say the Seller decides to set the price of their home at $400,000.  The Realtor does a good job at marketing the house and a Buyer comes forward and offers, say, $374,900.  The Seller agrees and everyone is thinking it’s a done deal.  However, since the Buyer needs a mortgage to pay for the house and the mortgage company is not going to provide more financing than the house is worth, they will hire a licensed appraiser to determine the true value of the home.  If the appraiser reports back to the bank that the house is really only worth $350,000, that is the maximum the amount the bank will provide for a mortgage. Period. (We’re not even talking the requirements for a down payment or closing costs here.)

Possible Solutions

So the Seller and the Buyer need to come to an agreement that the Seller will:

1. Agree to accept the $350,000 appraised value,
2. Negotiate some middle ground with the Buyer or,
3. Take the home off the market.

There are some variations and other options but this is pretty much how it is.

The point I’m trying to make is that regardless of the agreed upon Sales Price or Contract Price, if the Appraised Value is less than the Seller will need to accept less, if he or she wants to sell their home.

Unfortunately, with the glut of “short sales” and foreclosures driving prices down it means that even Sellers who are not in trouble with their financing will need to adjust their pricing downward if they want to sell their home.

It’s not nice, fair or pretty.  It is reality and it doesn’t do any good to price a home high in the hopes a Buyer will pay it.  If the appraiser doesn’t think the house can be valued at the Sales Price the mortgage company will not provide the money.

No Sale.

I’ve written about the Open House concept on a variety of blogs and I always say that I’m not a real big fan of Open Houses.  Of course, Sellers really like the idea of an Open House and I can understand why.  After all, the Open House is steeped in real estate tradition.

Back in the old days – before a widely used, computer based Multiple Listing Service, pre-Internet, pre-lockbox – one of the only ways to get your house shown to the largest number of potential Buyers was to have an Open House, usually on Sunday afternoon, and advertise like crazy hoping that someone who visited the house would want to buy it.

Nowadays, of course, there is a widely used, computer base Multiple Listing Service that can be accessed by virtually every Realtor within 100 miles of the house.  That Realtor can make the necessary arrangements with their Buyer client to see the house almost anytime.  Tuesday at 3:00pm.  Thursday at 6:00pm.  Saturday at 10:00am.  If the Seller can provide reasonable access to their home, it can be shown virtually anytime.

In addition, there are literally dozens of real estate specific sites that collect data (”data mining”) from the local MLS systems and provide it, for free, to anyone who has an Internet connection.  Here are just a few:

• Realtor.com
• Trulia
• Zillow
• RE/MAX.com
• Homesdatabase.com

There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of others.  In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, 84% of home buyers will search the Internet before calling a Realtor or visiting a house.

So, if an Open House really isn’t that effective, why are they still so popular and why do they still exist?

Tradition

Believe it or not, this is a case where because something has always been done, people want to continue to do it.  You’ve probably heard, “It’s always been done this way.” whether at work or at school or at some organization to which you belong.  That’s the deal with Open Houses: tradition.

The Neighbors

Yep. It’s great for the neighbors.  They’ve seen the sign in front of your house and they’ve been wondering for years what the inside is like.  What is your decorating sense like?  Have you done any improvements to the kitchen, bath, family room?

These are the folks you never invited over for coffee or a cookout and want to compare your house (and your house’s price) to their home just in case they might want to sell their own home.  Which brings me to…

Meeting Potential Sellers

There is a possibility that one of your neighbors has been thinking of selling their home.  Just thinking.  Now that they have a chance to visit another home in the neighborhood they jump at the chance.  Fortunately, for the Realtor hosting the Open House, that neighbor might be calling that Realtor when the time comes.  After all, the Realtor must be the neighborhood expert since he’s selling a house down the street.  If there is any connection whatsoever, the Realtor may have just picked up another client, which leads me to…

Meeting Potential Buyers

You may think that potential buyers that are visiting your home really want to buy your home.  If you get real lucky that might actually happen (about 1% of the time).  More likely will be someone floating in just to see what’s available in various price ranges in the neighborhood and, if there is a good connection between the Realtor and the potential Buyer, the Realtor might be getting a call to help the buyer find a house – a house that has a lockbox and can be shown anytime.

The Realtor

Sometimes an Open House attract a lot of people.  Sometimes it attract zero.  I always bring a book or a newspaper or some other reading in case it turns out to be zero.  I know other Realtors that bring their laptops to catch up on their blogging (no, this is not being written at an Open House) or check comps for other clients or catch up on e-mail.

It’s also fairly good exposure.  Yes, it gets my name out.  People call me and ask me about the house even if they never show up.  They usually have a follow up question about other houses that are less expensive or have more bedrooms or are in a different neighborhood.

The Home Owner/Seller

They make the home owner feel good.  The house gets all cleaned up (and if you use my services, professionally staged) and prettied up. It gets them out of the house for the afternoon.  Sometimes the Realtor can report a lot of “traffic” through the house and that will create the illusion that someone may be forthcoming with an offer. In the end, an Open House will have been conducted and real estate tradition will have been continued.

Don’t get me wrong.  I really don’t mind doing Open Houses.  Sometimes, I have great fun at them chatting up the neighbors and enjoying my Sunday afternoon.  However, I always let my Seller clients know that they shouldn’t get their expectations up too high.  An Open House is a long shot, at best, when trying to find a buyer for their home.  It’s not unknown for someone to come into a home and tell the Realtor sitting there, “I’d like to buy this house.” so I do them with a smile.  One day that magic buyer will come into one of my Open Houses and me, the Seller and the Buyer will all be happy campers.