‘Drive-by’ open house traps neighbors in their home during a pandemic; who can they contact to change this?

Q: We noticed several Open House signs on the intersection leading up to the house for sale next door. As a result, people are parking in front of our home and the one for sale. So groups of people had been congregating on the sidewalk with their smartphones for hours on end. We could not leave the house. We understand that these people are “drive-by” folks who then make an appointment with the seller’s agents on the fly. It appears to be a violation of at least the spirit of our county’s health department guidelines. We are sheltering at home due to our age and pre-existing conditions. Where do we file a complaint about these seller’s agents?

A: The California Association of Realtors’ real estate attorneys warn against this “drive-by” open house practice. They advise that neighbors or other agents can log complaints with the California Department of Real Estate, the county health department, the police department, or nextdoor neighbors such as yourself might file a lawsuit. Licensees who ignore COVID-19 best practices put in place since March do so at their own risk. (In more ways than one.) Many homes have video recorders that have caught agents and their homebuyers violating the county or state rules and guidelines. Agents and homebuyers are on video inside homes taking off their face masks, sitting on couches, having too many people in the house at one time, and so forth. These cameras are easily missed or hidden, such as the so-called nanny cam.

Call your local Multiple Listing Service and Realtor association to report the Open House signs, the result, and the heavy foot traffic. Those organizations will contact the seller’s agents and their broker or sales manager, too. If that does not end the practice, you have the other three organizations listed above that will surely put an end to “drive-by open houses” that are not allowed to be open. Questions? Realtor Pat Kapowich is a career-long consumer protection advocate and Certified Real Estate Brokerage Manager. 408-245-7700, Pat@ Siliconvalleybroker. com DRE# 00979413 Siliconvalleybroker. com Youtube.com/ Patkapowich