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I will often get realtors drop their flyer/notice at our door without knocking regarding locally listed houses and recently sold houses in the the area. Occasionally I have been in the front yard when one particular realtor would stop by and we would chat a bit about the market and houses for sale--seeing him a few times and chatting actually would make me want to go with him as a realtor if we needed one. I did have one knock on the door recently from a realtor, asking about anyone selling in our neighborhood... I would say only slightly a bother to me, as long as the knocking is a rare occurrence.
Now I will say I got extremely annoyed receiving one realtor's flyer in the mail....first time I have ever been angry about receiving an ad in the mail. I have been receiving his ad weekly now for the last 3 months. By the 6th weekly flyer I sent an angry email to stop spamming our neighborhood with his ads and to take me off his mailing list. After saying he would remove my address, I have still received one weekly (albeit a different looking ad) for the past month... It goes straight into recycling. It just looks terribly desperate on the part of the realtor.
Interesting input.
When I am working in a neighborhood, I am quite open about chatting with folks who are in their yard. It seems quite natural.
I don't put it in the same frame as knocking on the door, though. Not at all. When they are out in the yard, I am fairly certain that I will not awaken a sleeping fussy infant, or a night shift worker/daytime sleeper.
I print and send out cards by the hundreds.
With no addresses on them. USPS Every Door Direct Mail, "EDDM," mail service rules require that I provide one for every mailbox on a particular route. 600 houses = 600 cards, and I cannot exclude any specific address.
If the irksome agent is using a service that prints and mails cards to addresses, not EDDM, he should be able to get you off the list. And, if he knows what he is doing at all, he shouldn't promise to get you off a list and then not be able or willing to follow through.
I don't understand why so many posters who say they don't want solicitors knocking on their door keep answering the door to these people The solution is quite simple: Don't answer the door.
I'd save his info so I never hired him or his agency in the future. I don't like anything door to door. I've had a hard time getting people to leave. I can tell you 100 times I'm not buying and I'm not interested and they refuse to leave. I've had to let them know that I would be calling the police if they refuse to leave. They are trespassing. The threat of the police made them have another appointment awfully quick. I wonder how many of them are scammers targeting certain types of people.
Look, if I want to buy what you're selling, I'll find who has it. When I need a hair cut, I don't wait for someone to show up at my door with scissors. When I need Windex, I don't wait for some someone to spray some junk on my windows and then lick it because it's "green" - true story....then she wanted to come in for a glass of water....hell no!
Door to door sales is one of the worst marketing tools in today's world. It's not the 1920's anymore - these firms, if they are genuine, should know the low sales rate associated with door to door marketing. These days they shouldn't even get pass the door for security reasons. Anyone coming to ring the bell at your home could say they are anyone. There have been many instances of criminals posing as utility workers ringing the bell and saying that they were there to check something out. Never let anyone inside your house without calling the utility or whatever company they claim they work for and checking to see if they were scheduled to check on your house (and don't use the phone number the "utility" worker gives you; look up the number in your phone directory or look on your bill for the official company phone number). Unfortunately, a lot of older people have fallen for this ruse because they are just more trusting and they let them in, usually there are two of them, and while one peppers the elderly person with questions, the other one is going into rooms and taking valuables.
I don't understand why so many posters who say they don't want solicitors knocking on their door keep answering the door to these people The solution is quite simple: Don't answer the door.
I answer the door.
It may be a neighbor with an emergency, etc.
I prefer not to be solicited by door to door salespeople, but wouldn't penalize a neighbor with an emergency because of that preference.
Interesting input.
When I am working in a neighborhood, I am quite open about chatting with folks who are in their yard. It seems quite natural.
I don't put it in the same frame as knocking on the door, though. Not at all. When they are out in the yard, I am fairly certain that I will not awaken a sleeping fussy infant, or a night shift worker/daytime sleeper.
I print and send out cards by the hundreds.
With no addresses on them. USPS Every Door Direct Mail, "EDDM," mail service rules require that I provide one for every mailbox on a particular route. 600 houses = 600 cards, and I cannot exclude any specific address.
If the irksome agent is using a service that prints and mails cards to addresses, not EDDM, he should be able to get you off the list. And, if he knows what he is doing at all, he shouldn't promise to get you off a list and then not be able or willing to follow through.
Actually, you can exclude an address on EDD. On the form that you give to the Post Office, there's a section there for "DO NOT DELIVER" and you can list specific addresses (such as homes that are already listed, people who have been adamant about not being contacted, other real estate agents, etc.) You have to be a little organized to keep the list up to date, though, and there's no guarantee that the mail carrier will remember to exclude it.
I answer the door.
It may be a neighbor with an emergency, etc.
I prefer not to be solicited by door to door salespeople, but wouldn't penalize a neighbor with an emergency because of that preference.
Or it might be somebody casing the place for a burglary. Or I could be expecting a pizza or somebody I've never seen in person is coming by at my invitation.
Door to door sales is one of the worst marketing tools in today's world. It's not the 1920's anymore - these firms, if they are genuine, should know the low sales rate associated with door to door marketing. These days they shouldn't even get pass the door for security reasons. Anyone coming to ring the bell at your home could say they are anyone. There have been many instances of criminals posing as utility workers ringing the bell and saying that they were there to check something out. Never let anyone inside your house without calling the utility or whatever company they claim they work for and checking to see if they were scheduled to check on your house (and don't use the phone number the "utility" worker gives you; look up the number in your phone directory or look on your bill for the official company phone number). Unfortunately, a lot of older people have fallen for this ruse because they are just more trusting and they let them in, usually there are two of them, and while one peppers the elderly person with questions, the other one is going into rooms and taking valuables.
Good lord, we would never go INTO a house, nor expect to be invited in -- it only takes a moment to introduce yourself, state your business, hand the homeowner a flyer and then thank them for their time. It takes up too much time if you are trying to cover a certain number of houses. If they have any questions, then we chat, or make an appointment to contact them with the requested information. Given that, when we do walk a neighborhood, we have done our homework on the homes recently sold and currently on the market, because we invariably get questions about "that house on the corner", etc.
It's not the 1920's, for sure, and it certainly depends on the neighborhood. There are certain neighborhoods we would never do this in. But in others, it seems to be a marketing tool that provides results. A few hours canvassing, $60,000 in commissions over two months -- yeah, that's fairly cost effective.
I have agents coming into my neighborhood regularly. There are about half a dozen who come repeatedly. If one has a listing going nearby, or a recent sell, they want to make sure the neighbors know about it. If I'm not home, they leave notepads, flyers listing the action of other properties in the area, etc. They are all very nice. The RE market I'm in is hot, and there is a lack of inventory, so competition is fierce.
This marketing seems to work, judging by the number of signs with their name on it, especially when something sells for a high price. I don't mind. I want to know the valuation of property around me in the real world, not what Zillow predicts.
Door to door sales is one of the worst marketing tools in today's world. It's not the 1920's anymore - these firms, if they are genuine, should know the low sales rate associated with door to door marketing. These days they shouldn't even get pass the door for security reasons. Anyone coming to ring the bell at your home could say they are anyone. There have been many instances of criminals posing as utility workers ringing the bell and saying that they were there to check something out. Never let anyone inside your house without calling the utility or whatever company they claim they work for and checking to see if they were scheduled to check on your house (and don't use the phone number the "utility" worker gives you; look up the number in your phone directory or look on your bill for the official company phone number). Unfortunately, a lot of older people have fallen for this ruse because they are just more trusting and they let them in, usually there are two of them, and while one peppers the elderly person with questions, the other one is going into rooms and taking valuables.
Indeed. My ex-MIL got cased by someone who knocked on the door, pretended she was someone else, then came back hours later, when she and her husband weren't home. The burglars then made off with a lot of their home electronics. Last month in New Orleans, a woman opened her door to someone she thought was a door-to-door salesman. After she opened it, he shot her twice and almost killed her.
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The solution is quite simple: Don't answer the door.
Door to Door
