Why do we have open houses?

Open Houses. Only in America. It says a lot about our country. In many nations hosting an Open House for complete strangers would get you committed to the provincial asylum. Not here. It's a right of passage in the national goal of home ownership for all. The trust of our citizenry is on full display every Sunday in a home near you. Yes, we actively discourage talking to strangers in America. We install cameras outside our homes to keep an eye on strangers. And we also promote gun ownership to protect you from strangers. But in a nation founded on the principle of equality of all, hypocrisy is a national pastime.

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Some aspects of American life remain unquestioned, and therefore are ingrained in our culture. These are simply facts of life in these United States. Lack of Public Restrooms. Exorbitant hospital charges. Tipping amounts in restaurants. The Electoral College. And, Open Houses.

Each of the above have a party with a vested interest in establishing the status quo, and another portion of the public that supports it. Restaurant owners prefer it because they can pay their employees less. Wait staff prefer it because they can often make more than they might with a straight hourly wage. Public Restrooms: government doesn't want to pay and certain locals don't want undersirables cleaning themselves there. Steep Hospital Charges: Insurers & the Insured. The Electoral College: The main political parties & their respective constituents when they've gamed the 'count'. What is the dynamic for Open Houses? And why should anybody care about it?

Realtors are the vested interest. Their misled sellers and anybody who is free this Sunday from 10-12 are the portion of the public. Open Houses have a large percentage of people that aren't quite ready to buy, or who are getting started but haven't chosen an agent yet, or the curious neighbor. Since members of the public, including the subset of sellers, assume an open house is needed to market a home, nobody questions it. Nobody questions why strangers with no representative, no proof of financing, no way of vouching for their ability to purchase said property should be allowed to wander a home unsupervised with access to your secret stashes: the sublime dark chocolate handcrafted Dutch wafers even your spouse isn't allowed to eat, that pile of tax free cash, and even the genital manipulators.

How are people supposed to see a home if there isn't an Open House, and a large discarded carnival banner hanging over the front door? Luckily, society has evolved to allow appointments. And technology allows that to happen in a few simple finger taps. The miracle of scheduling even allows the more astute agents, and yes, there are excellent agents as well, to have an entire block of showings, similar to an open house, but only with pre-qualified buyers.

Open Houses allow the listing agent to meet more potential buyers and give the seller the illusion that so many people want to buy their house. Open Houses perfectly illustrate the facade of the stereotypical agent – Putting on a smiling face, perfumed by the luscious wafting of Tollhouse cookies, with an intense focus on securing the next client rather than concern about the current one. If your agent promotes an Open House, you now have a good idea of their priorities.