Should I cancel?
What to do, what to do...
It happens every winter. We have an open house scheduled for Sunday afternoon. The signs are out and the promotion of this ongoing real estate tradition has been running for the past four days.
What do you do when you get a snow storm? Or an ice storm? Or both?
We Realtors often carry an unreasonable, yet understandable guilt about cancelling. After all, what if that couple from Caledon makes the treacherous drive down here to visit, only to find the homeowners watching a movie in their jam-jams? It's truly the fear of the unknown.
The buyer then calls the Realtor to express their rage that they drove all the way from [insert city name here], only to find the open house cancelled. The nerve!
Here is the flip side to that guilt-ridden decision.
Open houses are an offer of convenience to the public. There is a time window, with no appointment required, no obligations and no need to confirm. The door will be open for you to walk through, view, and vanish.
Even Realtor.ca has changed the name from "Open House" to "Viewing Opportunity", and that is exactly what it is. It is us, Realtors, saying to the general public, "Hey, c'mon in! The door is open!" Whether they're a buyer, a neighbour, or someone who is fascinated with looking at other people's stuff, there is virtually no barrier to entry.
And just as importantly, it is the sellers waking up on a perfectly good Sunday, only to get their house shined up and ready, while they head out for the afternoon to occupy their time, all so complete strangers can wander through their home-sweet-home.
Yet, here we are, debating whether to keep the open house as scheduled, as we follow some kind of honour code.
We wouldn't get upset if a restaurant closing up during a snowstorm. The concert in the evening has been rescheduled out of an abundance of caution. Fair enough. But to drive to someone else's house, only to find the open house cancelled? That may be going too far.
But here is the truth.
While it is ok to make the decision to still have the open house, it is also ok to cancel it. The roads are dangerous, and there is ice under all of that snow. The risk may not exceed the reward.
The home is available to view anytime during the week, or quite likely at the next open house on the following weekend. After all, if you are an interested buyer, are you really going to move on to another home simply because the open house was cancelled? If that is the cause for the buyer moving on, then I'd suggest that was not the buyer for that home.
Either way, enjoy the snow day.
:)