The 9 people you'll meet at an open house
You scrubbed the floors, staged the furniture and unloaded a bottle of Febreze around your place. It's Sunday afternoon, and this being a real estate-obsessed town, you can count on a character or two meandering through your front door. Below, we profile the 9 people who just seem to show up at every open house:
1. The grizzled veterans: You know those friends you have? The ones who've been renting forever and looking to buy for an eternity? You know you can find them every single Sunday looking for their dream home, but likely not putting down any deposits.
2. The voyeurs: Almost every New Yorker is guilty of indulging in real estate porn—a flip through the Sunday New York Times here, an hour or two on Streeteasy there. Some accept invitations to parties based purely on the address at which they're held. But the true obsessives are on the open house circuit to satisfy their urges. Prepare for everything you own to be gawked at.
3. The should-we-stay-or-should-we-go family: These are the people with nine toes on a bridge or tunnel, throwing one last Hail Mary pass at finding an acceptable city abode before heading out to the 'burbs. (Spoiler: the 'burbs will win.)
4. The baseboards-before-bling couple: They are not engaged ("yet," she says), but they are committed to buying an apartment together. All of their family members and most of their friends think this is a monumentally stupid idea.
5. The newly minted bachelor: Kicked out of Park Avenue digs after a prolonged divorce battle? Looking for a sick pad post-settlement? You'll see them single, smiling or sulking, and possibly flirting with a hot broker or two.
6. The nosy neighbors: "We've always wondered how their renovation came out, but they never invited us over to look! Hopefully the new people will be a little more friendly."
7. The post-college princess and her parents: She wants to rent downtown with her sorority sisters but Daddy and Mommy think a one-bedroom in Yorkville is best. See also: the post-college prince. Same vibe, different taste in decor.
8. The empty-nesters: They said they'd be back, and here they are. After the baby grows up and gets hitched, Manhattan beckons.
9. The perfect buyer: There is a lid for every pot, after all. Some are harder to fit than others, but they are out there and, fingers crossed, they'll be out shopping and will fall in love with your place.
Related:
Peek in the seller's closets, nix the bathroom stop, and more ways to ace the open house
Pulling off a bidding war: your 8-step guide
17 tips for casing the joint, from an open house junkie
