Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 17:51:04 GMT -5
Oddly, this is all turning out to be a lot less daunting than I'd been picturing. We got half the house packed up in just a few hours this weekend. Only stopped because we ran out of boxes. We're doing big cleaning chores here and there, so once we've packed everything a week from Friday, it actually shouldn't take long to clean the house for the final walk through.
Question: Don't landlords typically wait until their place is unoccupied before doing an open house?
We got a call that they wanted to show the house on Saturday, which was fine. We spent the morning packing, then several hours cleaning and staging the house the way we'd want our own house staged. It looked GREAT. The only sign that we were moving was the boxes stacked neatly against one wall.
The prospective tenants never showed, which was frustrating, then our landlord asked if they could hold an open house next weekend. That's going to be right when we're in the middle of packing the next 40% of our stuff, which will make it much harder to stage the house as nicely as we did this weekend, and we're worried about how our cat will react to a bunch of random strangers without us around.
On top of that, WE WILL BE GONE FIVE DAYS FROM THAT POINT. The house will be completely empty and totally clean by Friday evening, then they can do all the showings and open houses they want. So I asked them to wait until then for the open house and they said they'd "think about it."
Just wondering if it's normal for people to hold open houses in occupied premises? I've seen staged open houses, but never occupied open houses.
We want to be as accommodating as possible for our landlords, and we are fine with short showings here and there (even without 24 hours notice), but holding an open house five days before we're out of there when there are going to be boxes everywhere and our stressed out kitty will be running around doesn't sound like a good idea for anyone.
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Jan 19, 2015 18:08:52 GMT -5
I would turn them down. The absolute last thing that you need while you're packing is to deal with people traipsing through your house at the last minute. Not only that, does this mean with people in and out of the house all day that you'd have to kennel your cat?
When I moved, things fell so perfectly into place for me that it kind of had me looking for the monkey wrench. The biggest one, if you could call it that, was that I had made arrangements that my sister would come down from MN and help me cull stuff. When she left, she would take several old pieces of family furniture that I had that she wanted for her daughter's room. She bailed on me, so I needed to make arrangements to have a trailer hitch put onto my car at the last minute and make a reservation for a small U-Haul trailer to haul the furniture to her place (we were going to be using MN as one of our stopping places anyway). She did pay me back to have the trailer hitch put on my car, and for the trailer rental though.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 18:17:15 GMT -5
Yes! Exactly! I keep waiting for things to fall apart horribly because so far everything has been almost easy. I'm not even stressed about us finding jobs, although I guess I could latch onto that if I need something to worry about right now I honestly wouldn't mind an open house at all under normal circumstances. We are very, very neat and clean. I was proud of how we had the place looking for the showing on Saturday, but only because we had just finished packing a bunch of stuff. That was the only thing that made it tricky- otherwise it looked pretty normal for our place, especially if we are having company. But I just don't see it happening next weekend, because we're definitely going to have more boxes on the floors. Again, short showings are okay (although hopefully they'll also slow down on those next weekend) but 1-2 hours is kind of pushing it, in my opinion. I'm not real clear on why they'd WANT to show the house with boxes against the wall when they could just wait five days and have the place empty as well as spotless.
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justme
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Post by justme on Jan 19, 2015 18:17:43 GMT -5
I've never heard of an open house for a rental. I also personally wouldn't worry about staging it.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 18:27:33 GMT -5
I've never heard of an open house for a rental. I also personally wouldn't worry about staging it. Well, they're definitely entitled to show the house while we're still there. The only rule around that (as far as I know) is that they have to give us 24 hours notice. So with that being the case, it's kind of a matter of pride for me to have the place looking nice. If there's going to be strangers in my bedroom, I don't want them to see a messy unmade bed and dirty glasses on the bedside table, you know? But I don't like the idea of being out of my place for up to two hours and having random people walking around, potentially upsetting my cat. I think that's the biggest issue for me because there's really nowhere else we can take her, even for a short time.
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justme
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Post by justme on Jan 19, 2015 18:30:18 GMT -5
I've never heard of an open house for a rental. I also personally wouldn't worry about staging it. Well, they're definitely entitled to show the house while we're still there. The only rule around that (as far as I know) is that they have to give us 24 hours notice. So with that being the case, it's kind of a matter of pride for me to have the place looking nice. If there's going to be strangers in my bedroom, I don't want them to see a messy unmade bed and dirty glasses on the bedside table, you know? But I don't like the idea of being out of my place for up to two hours and having random people walking around, potentially upsetting my cat. I think that's the biggest issue for me because there's really nowhere else we can take her, even for a short time. Ah, in my mind staging is like they do on the home shows where you rearrange anything not just making everything neat and clean lol. I get doing showings for those that ask, it just seems odd to have a place for rent open for a block of time for random people to come through.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Jan 19, 2015 18:30:24 GMT -5
Oddly, this is all turning out to be a lot less daunting than I'd been picturing. We got half the house packed up in just a few hours this weekend. Only stopped because we ran out of boxes. We're doing big cleaning chores here and there, so once we've packed everything a week from Friday, it actually shouldn't take long to clean the house for the final walk through. Question: Don't landlords typically wait until their place is unoccupied before doing an open house? We got a call that they wanted to show the house on Saturday, which was fine. We spent the morning packing, then several hours cleaning and staging the house the way we'd want our own house staged. It looked GREAT. The only sign that we were moving was the boxes stacked neatly against one wall. The prospective tenants never showed, which was frustrating, then our landlord asked if they could hold an open house next weekend. That's going to be right when we're in the middle of packing the next 40% of our stuff, which will make it much harder to stage the house as nicely as we did this weekend, and we're worried about how our cat will react to a bunch of random strangers without us around. On top of that, WE WILL BE GONE FIVE DAYS FROM THAT POINT. The house will be completely empty and totally clean by Friday evening, then they can do all the showings and open houses they want. So I asked them to wait until then for the open house and they said they'd "think about it." Just wondering if it's normal for people to hold open houses in occupied premises? I've seen staged open houses, but never occupied open houses. We want to be as accommodating as possible for our landlords, and we are fine with short showings here and there (even without 24 hours notice), but holding an open house five days before we're out of there when there are going to be boxes everywhere and our stressed out kitty will be running around doesn't sound like a good idea for anyone. Firebird,
Legally in CA you are obligated to allow the showing the place with 24 hours notice within normal business hours. You are not obligated to have an open house. Some tenants will agree to them to limit constant showings; i.e. You may have an open house from 1-4 on Sat or Sunday but that is the only window of time to show during the weekend.
Your landlord can cool his/her jets and wait until you're out to do an open house.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 18:31:27 GMT -5
Your landlord can cool his/her jets and wait until you're out to do an open house. Thanks, Bonny!
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Post by The Walk of the Penguin Mich on Jan 19, 2015 18:36:59 GMT -5
So during this hypothetical showing, would they expect you to be gone from your home? Exactly when do they think you'll be packing, if not during the weekend?
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Works4me
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Post by Works4me on Jan 19, 2015 18:38:41 GMT -5
I'd inform them that all of you will be there packing as it is your last weekend before the move and express my concern that it would not be a conducive environment for prospective renters and also potentially dangerous. Can you maybe offer Friday evening to them instead? If not, then I would indeed give them a firm no, especially after they flaked put this week.
Regarding an an open house for rentals, it can be easier for the LL. Rather then showing the place several times individually, they can tell all callers to be there at the same time. This can create a feeling if competition amongst the prospective tenants which could be beneficial for said LL's.
Good luck and try to quit worrying! I too have a hard time coping when things just go right in life, but I also have come to believe that is what happens when we are on the path that we are meant for. YMMV.
ETA - Bonny nailed it!
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 18:47:28 GMT -5
Regarding an an open house for rentals, it can be easier for the LL. Rather then showing the place several times individually, they can tell all callers to be there at the same time. This can create a feeling if competition amongst the prospective tenants which could be beneficial for said LL's.
Yeah, it absolutely makes sense to do an open house instead of individual showings. Especially since the market for rentals around here is surprisingly competitive and the landlords live in the next town. But with that in mind, it seems even MORE important to make sure the house is as empty and clean as possible, with every closet and storage area accessible for viewing.
Hopefully they won't make a big deal about waiting for five days. They owe us thousands of dollars and I don't want to argue, potentially muddying what has been a great landlord-tenant relationship now when we're in the home stretch.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Jan 19, 2015 18:58:05 GMT -5
So during this hypothetical showing, would they expect you to be gone from your home? Exactly when do they think you'll be packing, if not during the weekend? Legally Firebird has the right to be there during the showing. That said if they give her 24 hours notice and she can't make it she can't keep them from showing the unit.
While she doesn't want to get into a p*ssing contest with her LL because she'll want a reference for her next move, I would insist on some reasonable accommodation because of the cat. The LL does not want to be responsible for the cat escaping (assuming this is an indoor only cat).
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Jan 19, 2015 19:01:55 GMT -5
Regarding an an open house for rentals, it can be easier for the LL. Rather then showing the place several times individually, they can tell all callers to be there at the same time. This can create a feeling if competition amongst the prospective tenants which could be beneficial for said LL's.
Yeah, it absolutely makes sense to do an open house instead of individual showings. Especially since the market for rentals around here is surprisingly tight and the landlords live in the next town. But with that in mind, it seems even MORE important to make sure the house is as empty and clean as possible, with every closet and storage area accessible for viewing. Hopefully they won't make a big deal about waiting for five days. They owe us thousands of dollars and I don't want to argue, potentially muddying what has been a great landlord-tenant relationship now when we're in the home stretch. Firebird,
I hate to say this but your LL is trying to line up a tenant to move in back to back with your departure. S/he is trying to get someone in by the 1st of the month. Hence the push to do the open house.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 19:06:06 GMT -5
Legally Firebird has the right to be there during the showing. That said if they give her 24 hours notice and she can't make it she can't keep them from showing the unit.
I didn't know we were allowed to be there. If we can be there, we can make sure the cat doesn't get out (she is very strictly indoor only) and I don't think she'll freak as long as we're there. She is actually really calm around strangers normally; the only reason I'm concerned about her at this very moment is because she's a little stressed from watching us pack everything we own.
The reference shouldn't be a problem because we've already signed a lease for the new place and the keys are on their way to us as we speak, but I definitely don't want them mad at us during the walk through. If they wanted to be vindictive, they could potentially take tiny things that are well within the realm of "normal wear and tear," i.e. paint chips, and take money out of our deposit to fix them. We worked very hard for the past three years to keep this place in great condition for them and be good tenants in hopes of avoiding that exact situation (not that we wouldn't have done it anyway, but you know what I mean).
I've been absolutely burned before by private landlords and while I don't *think* that's going to happen here (or I wouldn't have been willing to rent from them in the first place) it's always in the back of my mind and I won't truly relax until we have that deposit check in our hand. So my goal is to cooperate, within reason. That's why I asked if the open house with tenants still living there was a normal thing.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 19:08:13 GMT -5
I hate to say this but your LL is trying to line up a tenant to move in back to back with your departure. S/he is trying to get someone in by the 1st of the month. Hence the push to do the open house.
I think that's unrealistic given the updates they said they wanted to do first, but why do you hate to say it? That would be GREAT, as far as I'm concerned. I WANT them to have a new tenant That way they'll have the money to return our deposit in a timely manner. I was actually pretty disappointed when their showings flaked yesterday.
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Formerly SK
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Post by Formerly SK on Jan 19, 2015 19:18:50 GMT -5
If it were me, I'd let them have the open house. That said, I wouldn't change any of my plans for them. If they want to have an open house while you are packing and the place is a mess, oh well. If the rental market is as tight as you say it is, probably prospective renters are looking at bigger things like layout/updates instead of clean baseboards.
I'm happy things are going so smoothly for you!
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 19:24:44 GMT -5
If we can be there and they don't care about the house not looking as good as it did yesterday for the no-shows, yeah, I guess they can do it.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 19:49:26 GMT -5
Okay, ONE thing about this whole process is mildly stressful: I'm fairly certain my kid is possessed by a demon. She's in her room right now screaming her lungs out because we wouldn't give her a cookie. I mean SCREAMING. Like someone is torturing her. Has been for the last ten minutes. DH and I are kind of at a loss here. We've never seen her act this way. It started less than three weeks ago.
I would say it's the stress from packing, but DH and I aren't really stressed right now, so I don't think that's it. And also, she was acting this way before I left for four days to find our apartment. (But not while I was gone, according to DH.)
I really am not sure what to do here. We're trying to be gentle and calm, yet firm. Very consistent with time outs, loss of privileges, etc. Nothing is working. She fell apart less than five minutes after they got home. She's still screaming over the stupid cookie. Any suggestions?
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Works4me
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Post by Works4me on Jan 19, 2015 19:51:28 GMT -5
A pair if ear plugs and big glass of mommy juice? ETA - sounds about right developmentally for her age - thinking 28 months? As as far as her not doing it while you were gone - duh! She probably had all her needs and desires met by her attentive father so it is really not a reflection on you nor him. Most likely, she is just at that age and hopefully will soon grow out of it.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 19:56:40 GMT -5
Got the mommy juice covered, anyway
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 20:01:16 GMT -5
I am actually kind of freaked by the idea of her screaming like this at the new place. Everyone here knows we are not abusive parents, but she's seriously screaming like someone is beating the shit out of her, plus she's flinging herself against the wall and floor.
I'm not 100% sure we can count on people who don't know us at all not calling the cops if they hear her doing what she's doing now.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Jan 19, 2015 20:08:45 GMT -5
Legally Firebird has the right to be there during the showing. That said if they give her 24 hours notice and she can't make it she can't keep them from showing the unit.
I didn't know we were allowed to be there. If we can be there, we can make sure the cat doesn't get out (she is very strictly indoor only) and I don't think she'll freak as long as we're there. She is actually really calm around strangers normally; the only reason I'm concerned about her at this very moment is because she's a little stressed from watching us pack everything we own. The reference shouldn't be a problem because we've already signed a lease for the new place and the keys are on their way to us as we speak, but I definitely don't want them mad at us during the walk through. If they wanted to be vindictive, they could potentially take tiny things that are well within the realm of "normal wear and tear," i.e. paint chips, and take money out of our deposit to fix them. We worked very hard for the past three years to keep this place in great condition for them and be good tenants in hopes of avoiding that exact situation (not that we wouldn't have done it anyway, but you know what I mean). I've been absolutely burned before by private landlords and while I don't *think* that's going to happen here (or I wouldn't have been willing to rent from them in the first place) it's always in the back of my mind and I won't truly relax until we have that deposit check in our hand. So my goal is to cooperate, within reason. That's why I asked if the open house with tenants still living there was a normal thing. I'm referring to the place you rent after this one. Most savvy LLs give a lot of weight to the LL before the current one since the current LL might be highly motivated to get the tenants out of their unit!
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justme
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Post by justme on Jan 19, 2015 20:09:11 GMT -5
You may not be stressed, but her seeing you guys pack up half the house probably has part to do with it. And don't kids understand more than they can talk?
Maybe give her the cookie next time until you're settled in the new place? Can you tell I'm not a parent? lol
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 20:10:15 GMT -5
Hahaha... very sneaky. I never knew that. I've always wondered why every application asks for all the places you've lived in the last five years.
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Bonny
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Post by Bonny on Jan 19, 2015 20:10:48 GMT -5
If we can be there and they don't care about the house not looking as good as it did yesterday for the no-shows, yeah, I guess they can do it. Don't. With that hot of a market they really can wait. You've got a terrified cat and a screaming toddler. You don't need them holding an open house.
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 20:13:09 GMT -5
Actually, we DID give her the cookie initially. We only took it away after she dropped it and refused to pick it up.
I guess watching us pack the house could be stressful, but we've barely touched her stuff so far and she actually seems fascinated by the packing process. I figured that she'd pick up on our feelings about the move and if we were fine, she'd be mostly fine. I know toddlers like their routine, though.
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justme
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Post by justme on Jan 19, 2015 20:19:46 GMT -5
Lol hell if I know. I spent over half an hour on thanksgiving and Christmas walking my 4 then 5 month old niece in circles cuz she'd start screaming as soon as I stopped.
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Works4me
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Post by Works4me on Jan 19, 2015 20:20:18 GMT -5
Sometimes it really is all about the cookie - especially at almost 2 1/2. Sending love, hugs and support!
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Firebird
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Post by Firebird on Jan 19, 2015 20:26:35 GMT -5
Thanks. I'm sure it will be fine. Needless to say, since I first posted that she's gone back to her usual sunny, nude self. DH is making her favorite meal. All is right in Who-ville.
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Works4me
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Post by Works4me on Jan 19, 2015 22:19:13 GMT -5
Don't you mean "nude-vile?" Cannot stop laughing at the idea of all of Nude-Who-Ville!
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