4 ms·

They should've but the tech part is relevant. Obvious bad actors that are snooping around in open houses are certainly an issue but can be remediated a lot eas

by munk-a 6y ago

They should've but the tech part is relevant. Obvious bad actors that are snooping around in open houses are certainly an issue but can be remediated a lot easier - you can kick those visitors out and bar folks with a history of snooping from entry - both of which work relatively well on the local level. I think tech is specifically relevant here since this is another clear example of scaling up beyond cultural norms using technology causing emergent security issues - the issues were present all along but there were some systems in place to limit how harmful they could be and technology has released us from those limits.

emodendroket 6y ago
Typically in an open house just anybody can walk in, can’t they? It’s not like they ask you for ID.
- munk-a 6y ago
  It isn't a public space so you can be barred from entry and, often, you'll be let into the house by a realtor. If that realtor recognizes you as abusing open houses they can just refuse you entry or take a more extreme measure.
  - monocasa 6y ago
    I'm not sure that I would trust a realtor to recognize war driving (war showing?).
    - krisoft 6y ago
      Realtors are there to sell houses. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them had a keen “nose” to figure out who is just “interested” and who means real business. After all it is in their best interest to not waste their time with lookie-loos. Obviously that doesn’t mean that one can’t pretend well enough once or twice, but not at a scale where this becomes a viable avenue to criminals.
      - emodendroket 6y ago
        Having bought a house, I sure would be surprised. And IME if they don't think you look like you're gonna buy the house, they just let you walk around but ignore you.
      - monocasa 6y ago
        From a house selling perspective it's probably in their best interest to simply ignore those people. Buyers with large pockets can come of as lackadaisical.
        emodendroket 6y ago
        It also seems like it's not worth a confrontation trying to stop people from coming in, from the agent's perspective.
        cortesoft 6y ago
        Yeah, very little gain, and a good chance to end up on social media branded as a racist or classist.
      - lupire 6y ago
        Your speculation is contradicted by thousands of open houses every weekend. Seriously, go visit one and see what it's like. It's not the CIA Headquarters, it's usually a minimums wage newbie agent squatting in a house advertising for clients.
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
- zaphod12 6y ago
  I've seen realtors ask for ID unless you're accompanied by another realtor (who would leave a card). Basically they want a record of people through the house in case something does happen. You could easily make a fake business card, of course... professional courtesy means a realtor seldom asks another for an id. But this would likely only work briefly in a given area once word got out.
  - emodendroket 6y ago
    I bought a house before and attended a number of open houses. I signed my name on a sheet but was not asked to present ID. In some cases (I guess where the realtor figured I wasn't going to buy? Not sure) they just let me walk around and paid no attention to me at all.
  - cortesoft 6y ago
    That isn't how an open house works (at least in my experience buying a house in Los Angeles in 2018). They advertise the hours, put up a bunch of balloons, and anyone can walk in. They ask you to sign a sheet so they can contact you, but I never saw them make anyone sign it or request an ID. I visited maybe 30-50 houses doing open houses, and a good half of those weren't with our realtor (or they arrived well after we did).
  - sib 6y ago
    I went to 50+ open houses in the 3 years pre-Covid (finally bought a place just before it started) and was never once asked for ID. They usually ask you to write down contact info on a sheet, which I do using intentionally impossible-to-read handwriting to avoid follow-up spam.
    - emodendroket 6y ago
      Three years? Now I’m afraid to ever sell my house.
      - fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago
        I bought my house in a raging micro bubble in the Bay Area and got the first one I made an offer on. Really just depends how much you care about getting a good deal. I did some math and figured it wasn’t worth the effort.
brundolf 6y ago
> scaling up beyond cultural norms This is a great way of framing a certain class of problems that I think people on HN tend to dismiss. "Technically we're doing the same thing as before!" Yes, but as we should all know from the engineering side of things, scale is still very relevant.

by munk-a 6y ago

emodendroket 6y ago

Typically in an open house just anybody can walk in, can’t they? It’s not like they ask you for ID.

munk-a 6y ago
It isn't a public space so you can be barred from entry and, often, you'll be let into the house by a realtor. If that realtor recognizes you as abusing open houses they can just refuse you entry or take a more extreme measure.
- monocasa 6y ago
  I'm not sure that I would trust a realtor to recognize war driving (war showing?).
  - krisoft 6y ago
    Realtors are there to sell houses. I wouldn’t be surprised if most of them had a keen “nose” to figure out who is just “interested” and who means real business. After all it is in their best interest to not waste their time with lookie-loos. Obviously that doesn’t mean that one can’t pretend well enough once or twice, but not at a scale where this becomes a viable avenue to criminals.
    - emodendroket 6y ago
      Having bought a house, I sure would be surprised. And IME if they don't think you look like you're gonna buy the house, they just let you walk around but ignore you.
    - monocasa 6y ago
      From a house selling perspective it's probably in their best interest to simply ignore those people. Buyers with large pockets can come of as lackadaisical.
      - emodendroket 6y ago
        It also seems like it's not worth a confrontation trying to stop people from coming in, from the agent's perspective.
        cortesoft 6y ago
        Yeah, very little gain, and a good chance to end up on social media branded as a racist or classist.
    - lupire 6y ago
      Your speculation is contradicted by thousands of open houses every weekend. Seriously, go visit one and see what it's like. It's not the CIA Headquarters, it's usually a minimums wage newbie agent squatting in a house advertising for clients.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
zaphod12 6y ago
I've seen realtors ask for ID unless you're accompanied by another realtor (who would leave a card). Basically they want a record of people through the house in case something does happen. You could easily make a fake business card, of course... professional courtesy means a realtor seldom asks another for an id. But this would likely only work briefly in a given area once word got out.
- emodendroket 6y ago
  I bought a house before and attended a number of open houses. I signed my name on a sheet but was not asked to present ID. In some cases (I guess where the realtor figured I wasn't going to buy? Not sure) they just let me walk around and paid no attention to me at all.
- cortesoft 6y ago
  That isn't how an open house works (at least in my experience buying a house in Los Angeles in 2018). They advertise the hours, put up a bunch of balloons, and anyone can walk in. They ask you to sign a sheet so they can contact you, but I never saw them make anyone sign it or request an ID. I visited maybe 30-50 houses doing open houses, and a good half of those weren't with our realtor (or they arrived well after we did).
- sib 6y ago
  I went to 50+ open houses in the 3 years pre-Covid (finally bought a place just before it started) and was never once asked for ID. They usually ask you to write down contact info on a sheet, which I do using intentionally impossible-to-read handwriting to avoid follow-up spam.
  - emodendroket 6y ago
    Three years? Now I’m afraid to ever sell my house.
    - fshbbdssbbgdd 6y ago
      I bought my house in a raging micro bubble in the Bay Area and got the first one I made an offer on. Really just depends how much you care about getting a good deal. I did some math and figured it wasn’t worth the effort.

brundolf 6y ago

> scaling up beyond cultural norms This is a great way of framing a certain class of problems that I think people on HN tend to dismiss. "Technically we're doing the same thing as before!" Yes, but as we should all know from the engineering side of things, scale is still very relevant.