Open homes are a necessary staple of a real estate agent’s weekend, but they are not always smooth sailing.
That depends on whether the people who attend abide by a myriad of unwritten rules, and while most do, some do not.
Issues raised by agents range from safety concerns, particularly for female agents, to preventing theft, to how to deal with people filming inside people’s homes, to rambunctious children jumping on beds, to people refusing to hand over their name and phone number.
The great shoes-on-or-off debate emerged as a persistent topic, as did whether attendees should use the toilet (not unless it’s an emergency, and please ask the agent first, or at least tell them).
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From fish flung from the fishbowl, to a big turd left in a toilet, to DIY meth testing, to a naked vendor, to a horny Great Dane – agents have encountered it all. While most stressed New Zealanders are on the whole polite and well-behaved at open homes, there are plenty of occasions of inappropriate behaviour.
Tom Rawson, a Ray White owner from Manukau, tells OneRoof his agents come across tricky situations all the time.
“People that won’t take their shoes off, people that will be filming as they come through, people that think it’s a building inspection and they are opening drawers and rattling wardrobes and opening things they shouldn’t open.”
Private viewings used to be the norm in New Zealand but open homes became prevalent in the 1980s and 1990s. Initially, they were lengthy affairs, but now they are usually kept to half-hour slots with agents racing from one to another when the market is busy.
Michael Boulgaris, an upmarket Remuera agent, has been in the industry for 38 years and says that when he first started, open homes were three hours long.
That’s a considerable amount of time for a young, and possibly hung over, agent to stay awake, he says, recalling one of his first open homes in a semi-rural property in Papatoetoe, where he started his career.
Boulgaris Realty owner Michael Boulgaris: “I woke up a couple of hours later, and everyone had pinned notes with sticky labels to my T-shirt.” Photo / Supplied
“I remember one winter the owners had left the fire on for me and made me a pot of tea and biscuits. This is how open homes used to be back in the old days.
“Well, of course, I fell asleep. I woke up a couple of hours later, and everyone had pinned notes with sticky labels to my t-shirt while I was asleep with their name and phone number.”
He moved to Harcourts in Remuera in 1993 and remembers “the Remuera housewives” in sought-after streets like Victoria Avenue and Arney Road competing with each other as to who could make him the nicest packed lunch or scones, “because I was young and impressionable at 23 so it caused a few wars – it really caused a few wars.”
Luxury agent David Rainbow, from Bayleys, says while nobody likes a bunch of strangers traipsing through their house, an open home is a chance to entice people and to find out if they have an interest in the property. For owners, it’s better to get bulk people through in half an hour than for all those people to come through separately, and anyone keen can organise another viewing.
Below are some of the curly questions that have cropped up along with the rise in open homes:
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Shoes on or off? Mostly off, though agents varied a bit on this. Boulgaris says today’s market is a multicultural one and many buyers will take their shoes off even if told they can keep them on. With elderly or disabled people, he says, “please leave your shoes on”.
Kiwis don’t always take their shoes off and if they look dirty, the agent will tell them the owner has requested shoes off. In the luxury market, he would never ask a client with clean shoes to take them off: “You’ve got to treat people that are VIP as VIP.”
Rainbow says he wears shoes as the agent and is always dressed in business attire so people know he is the one in control of the house: “I just make sure people appreciate that it’s a privilege to come through a house. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a $500,000 home or a $5m home.”
Shoes on or shoes off at open homes? Some homeowners are more relaxed than others. Photo / Getty Images
Joe Nidd, of Nidd Realty in Dunedin, says that contrary to what Aucklanders might think, Dunedin is not covered in snow and has fewer wet weather days than Auckland, so wet feet or snow-covered feet through the house are not a major issue. His company’s protocol is shoes off, unless there’s a good reason to keep them on. It’s only polite, he says, but he concedes that where Auckland might have a lot of bare feet, “we have a lot of hand-knitted woollen socks”.
In Cooks Beach, on the Coromandel, it’s a different story. Merv Gardiner, of Richardsons, says they don’t do many open homes in winter, but in summer they are very busy, and people are on holiday, so are relaxed and happy to scuff off their jandals and wipe sandy feet before they go inside.
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Refusal to hand over contact details. This is a bugbear for most agents. It’s not compulsory to hand over names and phone numbers, but neither do agents have to let you in. Attendees appear to fear being harassed by agents long after open homes finish, and while agents do use contact information to get feedback later, getting people’s details is also a matter of security for the owners. Agents all said they have to protect their clients, who are entitled to know who is going through their house.
Boulgaris tells people: “I promise not to stalk you, I promise not to put you on a newsletter, I promise not to share your details, but for security reasons I need your name and phone number.”
On the odd occasion he suspects someone has given him an incorrect number, he will ring the number while standing in front of them.
While most agents use tablets or phones to take down details, Rainbow likes to use pen and paper. He will make a note of a distinguishing feature, such as a hat or colourful coat, to help him remember the visitor by name, which always impresses.
Bayleys agent David Rainbow: “I make sure people appreciate that it’s a privilege to come through a house. It doesn’t matter whether it’s a $500,000 home or a $5m home.” Photo / Fiona Goodall
There are always anomalies – one person who gave Rainbow a fake name and phone number ended up buying the house at auction, but for most who refuse, he tells them that, while they legally don’t have to tell him, equally, legally he doesn’t have to let them in.
Nidd says his agents respect people’s privacy, but at the same time the owner has invited people to view their home, so a minimum prerequisite is that they know who is coming into it.
“We have to treat that whole exercise with a huge amount of respect because it’s a lot to ask an owner to allow members of the public to freely walk around their home.”
Christine Mullooly, of Key Realty in Rotorua, says if people won’t sign in, she takes a photo of them. “Touch wood I haven’t had an issue, but I’m quite intuitive, so if I feel something from someone, I’ll pretty much follow them around the house. I don’t care if they think I’m being rude, my instinct says, ‘Hey, these guys are not good’.”
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Opening cupboards and drawers. A no-no, but people do it. Some agents say looking in a kitchen cupboard is different to opening someone’s bedroom drawer, which is an outright breach of privacy.
Rainbow says if he sees someone opening all the cupboards, he tells them he can arrange a private viewing later, but he does not want them opening cupboards during an open home – and the same goes for pulling out a bottle of wine in the wine cellar to examine, which some also do.
Rawson says sometimes people will crawl under the house to have a look, but it’s “weird” to rifle through a wardrobe.
“You don’t need to do that at the open home. If you’re doing a building inspection later on and you’re generally interested in the property and you want to make sure your clothes can all fit in that wardrobe, then cool.” Sometimes a wardrobe might reveal the motivation for the sale – if it’s half empty it might indicate a relationship breakup, or that a single person lives there, which might then be a security concern.
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Undesirables. Often agents report getting a sixth sense about someone, and Rainbow says he can often tell if someone looks a bit shady. One time, a man in a Swanndri with long hair and a beard refused to give his name, to which Rainbow said, “I’m sorry, you’re not going to come in.” The man complained and stormed off but turned out to be a “high-flyer” who had expected Rainbow to know who he was.
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Theft. Few agents had stories of actual theft, but all were alert to the possibility. They tell vendors to remove valuables before the open home, be that monetary or sentimental. Rainbow says potential theft concerns him because his owners are wealthy and have a lot of lovely stuff.
A few years ago when the market was booming, scores of people were coming to open homes, which made it harder to maintain vigilance, but with the market softening, there are more properties on the market but fewer people coming through. Some of Rainbow’s owners ask for handbags to be left at the front door.
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Photos and film. Everyone has a cell phone, but is it okay to take video or photos inside someone’s home? Rawson says owners may have left their personal belongings on display, and in his view taking a photo is not on. “It’s not a breach of the Privacy Act or anything, there’s no rule around it, but it’s ethically wrong.” People taking photos and filming is also a concern for owners worried about strangers scoping out their house.
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Owners’ cameras. The flip side of attendees with phone cameras is vendors with security cameras, which they can, and do, monitor. Cameras can be small and discreet these days and might be capturing every move, or word. Boulgaris says there is no obligation for a vendor to declare they are watching from afar, but he is sure they are watching. “When a buyer asks me a curly question, I say, ‘Probably Big Brother is all around’, and, ‘Perhaps we should hold this conversation for when I walk out of the house’.”
Big Brother is watching: Security cameras inside and outside homes are a new hurdle for agents to overcome. Photo / Getty Images
Rainbow says some owners have cameras everywhere. When he was talking to one set of owners about a particular attendee, they asked, “Is that the person with the brown bag? I said, ‘What do you mean?’ and they said, ‘We’ve got cameras, and we’ve watched everybody who has come through the place’.”
He thinks attendees should be made aware they may be being recorded, and he will tell them if he knows there are cameras, but says genuinely interested people are not put off. “I think if they were thinking of coming to raid the place, they would at least be aware of not to do it.”
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Children. Ah, children. There’s nothing to stop people taking their kids to open homes – but for goodness sake keep an eye on them, say agents.
“I had a young boy once running around like a lunatic,” says Boulgaris. “He would have been four or five, and he was out of control, and the mother wasn’t controlling him, and then he ran to the fishbowl, pulled the fish out of the fishbowl and threw them on the floor. When his mother wasn’t looking, I went and stood on his foot, and I squeezed his foot so hard he screamed in pain, and he knew he was in trouble and then I walked away, and he was too petrified to tell his mother what had happened.” Boulgaris returned the fish, unharmed, to the fishbowl.
He, like others, has encountered children jumping up and down on beds like they’re on a trampoline, and says parents should control such children better.
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Can I use the loo? From an outright “no” to only in emergencies, most agents say attendees using the toilet is just bad form. Adults should be able to control themselves but sometimes needs must, and if that happens, ask the agent first. Often, it’s children who need to go.
Boulgaris says if a five-year-old says, “Mummy, I want to do wees and I’m going to pee my pants”, the child is either going to pee on the carpet or the agent can let them use the toilet. “You’ve got to be kind, don’t you.”
Is it OK to use the toilet at an open home? Saying no could lead to bigger disasters. Photo / Supplied
It’s a no from Rawson, however. He is still horrified from the time someone used the toilet without asking and did not flush, leaving a “big shit” in the toilet. That, he says, is gross, especially when trying to present someone’s home at its best with other potential buyers present.
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Naked vendors. Sometimes it’s not just attendees who are problematic. Some vendors are, er, unusual.
Mullooly says she has only fired a couple of vendors in her time, including one who had warned her he was sometimes naked in his wheelchair, and who also asked her if he could draw her naked. When she had a building inspection planned for the property and the owner was indeed “starkers”, she walked out.
Sometimes vendors are in a hurry to get their house tidy and get out the door before the open home, and agents are often picking up items and putting them out of sight. Rawson had an owner who had mowed the lawns, run inside and had dropped his pants in the middle of the wardrobe floor along with his wallet, then Rawson copped a bit of good-humoured shtick from the owner for putting them out of the way in the undies drawer.
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Agent safety. Most agents spoken to had not had to call the police but had systems in place in case of trouble. Rawson says he has a big spread of agents across Auckland who have a team chat where they can call upon each other if they need help. It is important to have contingency plans, though such situations are rare. He has provided self-defence classes for his property managers and also for female agents, “and we talk about having a plan if something went wrong, like, where to park the car. You don’t want to get blocked in and stuff like that because the car is obviously a bit of a safe space if you can make it back to that.”
After the abduction and murder of Christchurch agent Yanfei Bao, who went missing in 2023 during a private viewing, Rawson’s agency looked at beefing up safety for agents, but he says safety has always been relevant.
Ray White Manukau co-owner Tom Rawson says agent safety is a priority. He has provided self-defence classes for his property managers and for female agents. Photo / Supplied
Mullooly says some years ago she dealt in commercial property in Auckland which often involved empty buildings, recalling being in one such empty building with a male client and thinking, “no one knows I’m here”. She now has an app on her phone which can track her, and she will usually tell her husband she is going to “this appointment, to this house, to this property”.
Sometimes, her radar goes on alert when people arrive at the very end of an open home and then linger. She will tell them she is due to meet someone at the house, or she will go and stand at the front door. Mullooly has done self-defence and reckons she has moves that would kick in if necessary, but like others says such instances were rare.
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Arguments. Agents didn’t report fights breaking out, but they often overhear conversations, like people pointing out perceived flaws, or a partner whispering to their other half not to get too enthusiastic in front of the agent. But agents say they get pretty good at reading body language, so hiding the enthusiasm might be futile. Boulgaris remembers hearing a wife saying, “I love it so much” and being told to calm down by her husband – they bought the house.
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Don’t touch things. This one is straightforward – don’t touch things. Agents can’t be everywhere at once and do their best, but sometimes the damage is done. Rawson recalls a teenager who attended an open home with his parents who was fixated on the owner’s Warriors’ memorabilia. That included an unopened limited edition Warriors’ can of Coke in an office. Rawson heard a “pssshh” but did not think much of it until the owner called him later because the can had been opened. “It would have been at the same time that I turned around and saw this kid coming out of the office and going ‘That’s odd’, but what do you do? It’s been and gone.”
It’s a reminder for people to secure their important items before open homes.
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Rubberneckers. Neighbours often turn up for a nosey at open homes, but in the posher suburbs rubberneckers can be an issue for agents. Rainbow says some people are looking for renovation ideas, but sometimes people are just wanting to see how the other half lives.
Opening up your home to crowds can be stressful. Photo / Getty Images
He has a few tricks up his sleeve to take advantage of such situations. When he sold Sir Edmund Hillary’s house a gold coin entry fee was charged with the proceeds donated to charity, and when selling a house in Herne Bay (which has been owned by the Sultan of Brunei and stayed in by rocker Rod Stewart) an entry fee raised a considerable amount of money which people paid to see a home they would otherwise never have had an opportunity to go in. During the open homes, parts of the house were roped off, like a visit to Buckingham Palace, because the house was dripping in wealth.
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DIY methamphetamine testing. Yes, this is a thing, but it’s not okay at an open home. Rawson says he sometimes catches people rubbing the walls. It turns out they have bought a DIY kit that is supposed to pick up whether a property has methamphetamine present but Rawson tells them: “You can’t just rock up and do a meth test on something, mate.
“They use the kit, rub the wall, put it into the tester, and it tells you if it’s got any traces of methamphetamine present and, obviously, you’ve got a nightmare if they go, oh, it’s got meth present.”
People who do this typically have a sense of entitlement, he says, and have usually been through many open homes trying the same thing. “It’s not often it’s the first time they’ve done it, and to not create a scene is what agents want to have happen. I just want to try and move them on without having a scene in front of the other customers.”
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Health and safety. If there are hazard signs up, it’s best to take note and keep out. Nidd says minors and an open watercourse at the back of a property, for example, do not go together and his agents insist children are kept under strict supervision.
“We literally have collapsible cones and hazard tape that we use to specifically highlight something which is a genuine hazard, because essentially we are responsible for people’s safety at that moment and there are times where there are things that are, say, unconsented or unsafe and that needs to be drawn to people’s attention.”
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Strategy for buyers. Nidd also recommends buyers try to find a time to view a property when it is not overwhelmingly busy. Turning up at the very beginning of the very first open home on launch day is probably the worst time because a popular property will have a line of people waiting to get in. “My recommendation would be to go to the second or third open home and turn up midway through. It’s likely you’re going to have a little bit more space to really see the place without too many other people being in the home with you.”
As far as turning up early to see how many other people you might be competing with turn up, he does not think there is much advantage in that. Some open homes in a popular suburb might have 40 people through and yet produce no offers, whereas another might only have five groups through and get four offers. How many people attend open homes is only one of many metrics in a successful campaign.
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Last but not least, pesky pets. Agents report it’s rare for anyone to bring their pet to an open home and generally not okay, unless it’s a service dog. It’s also rare for owners to leave their dogs at home. Boulgaris, these days, has a flat rule – don’t do that. This was after an open home attendee was left in tears due to an unfortunate incident involving a frisky Great Dane.
“The owner left their Great Dane in the house and said, ‘It’s friendly, don’t worry’. Well, the Great Dane jumped on the wife [attendee] from behind, threw her to the ground and started humping her.”
Pets can be a problem at open homes. “Well, the Great Dane jumped on the wife [attendee] from behind, threw her to the ground and started humping her.” Photo / Getty Images
He reckons the owner later said: “ ‘Oh, my dog’s never done that before’ ... well, of course, they all say that.
“It was one of the most embarrassing moments of anybody’s life. We were trying to pull the dog off her; the daughter was screaming. It was horrific, so my policy now is, if you have pets, lock them in the car or take them with you.”
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