{"id":224,"date":"2015-05-11T19:21:06","date_gmt":"2015-05-11T19:21:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/clarksvilletnrealestateforsale.com\/?p=224"},"modified":"2015-05-11T19:21:42","modified_gmt":"2015-05-11T19:21:42","slug":"a-brief-history-of-opening-our-homes-to-total-strangers-aka-the-open-house","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/clarksvilletnrealestateforsale.com\/?p=224","title":{"rendered":"A Brief History of Opening Our Homes to Total Strangers (aka the Open House)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Brief History of Opening Our Homes to Total Strangers (aka the Open House)<\/h1>\n
Real Estate News<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n
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Apr 21, 2015<\/span><\/p>\n

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By:\u00a0Rachel Stults<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

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It\u2019s April, and that means homeowners across the country are throwing open their doors for strangers to enter\u00a0their homes, test the water pressure of their showers, and judge the quality of the magazines displayed artfully on their coffee tables. Yes, it\u2019s open house season.<\/p>\n

Why April? Well, as the spring and summer home-buying season begins, our\u00a0society enters into this weekend ritual in which\u00a0we scour the latest home listings<\/a> and set aside our Saturdays and Sundays for open houses\u2014all in the hope of finding that dream home we can close on\u00a0and move into before summer\u2019s end.<\/p>\n

It would seem strange, were it not part of what feels like an age-old tradition.<\/p>\n

That got us thinking\u2014how did weekend open houses become a\u00a0standard in American real estate? Was there ever a time when they didn\u2019t exist?\u00a0Whose idea was it\u00a0anyway?<\/p>\n

A\u00a0\u2018Wild West era\u2019 for real estate<\/h2>\n

It turns out, the open house is a tradition that started over a century ago.<\/p>\n

Until late 1919,\u00a0there were no license laws anywhere in the country, so basically anyone could declare himself\u00a0a real estate broker.\u00a0That meant\u00a0when a home was for sale, anybody could pop a sign on a\u00a0property\u00a0to advertise the home.<\/p>\n

Potential buyers had their pick of whom to contact about the house. People who were really trying to make an honest living out of real estate had a hard time distinguishing themselves from \u201ccurbstoners\u201d\u2014dishonest brokers who were out to make a quick buck,\u00a0said Frederik Heller<\/strong>, manager of the library and archives at the National Association of Realtors\u00ae. (The NAR was founded in 1908\u00a0to raise the professional and ethical standards of the real estate industry.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe early 1900s were a sort of Wild West era for real estate brokerage,\u201d Heller said.\u00a0\u201cSometimes there were dozens of yard signs of brokers trying to sell the same listing. You\u00a0(the buyer) would just pick the agents you knew\u2014or throw a dart at\u00a0the signs.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Real estate professionals, of course, were encouraged by their local associations to ask permission to place a \u201cfor sale\u201d placard on a property\u2014they\u2019d get to know the owner that way and earn their trust.<\/p>\n

So how did we get from a property littered with signs to the modern-day open house?<\/p>\n

It all came down to\u00a0the institution of\u00a0\u201cexclusive contracts,\u201d under which a single broker would be assigned to sell a property.\u00a0It\u2019s not clear exactly where the concept of exclusive listing contracts originated, but they first took hold in major cities where local real estate associations were established. The cities included Chicago, Baltimore, San Jose, St. Louis, and even Toledo, OH (which developed a model for exclusive contracts\u00a0that soon was copied in other cities.)<\/p>\n

So instead of homes being\u00a0sold by anyone who happened to find the right buyer with the right offer, real estate brokers now had\u00a0access to the property and its owners\u2013\u2013and could invite the public in to tour the home.<\/p>\n

Enter the open house.<\/p>\n