Welcome to OPEN HOUSE! An Insider's Tour of the Secret World of Residential Real Estate for Agents, Sellers, and Buyers
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“Joey understands what it takes to navigate the complex world of real estate. She excels at helping her clients win in competitive situations. Joey’s outgoing character, wit and humor shine in this entertaining book. If you are an active buyer, seller or agent, OPEN HOUSE! will unveil the inside track to achieve your real estate goals.” --Bruce Glendinning, Senior Vice President & Regional Sales Manager, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Fox & Roach, Realtors
“OPEN HOUSE! takes an engrossing deep dive into the hidden world of residential real estate. Intelligent and engaging, it is the perfect guide for Realtors wanting to up their game and a must-read for people thinking of selling or buying a home.” --Steven Wittenberg, JD/MBA, Director of Legacy Planning at SEI Investments
“As a veteran real estate agent with literary gifts, Joey Sheehan is uniquely qualified to write an enjoyable book about an opaque industry people hanker to know more about. OPEN HOUSE! delivers because it combines a smart businesswoman’s memoir with an impish ride through her professional world—not from the outside looking in but from the inside looking out! Excellent.” --Robert M. DeMarinis, PhD, former Vice President, Clinical Research and Development, Pfizer Pharmaceuticals
OPEN HOUSE! was designed generally for everybody but specifically for three types of readers--sellers, buyers, and agents. The reason is that a typical residential real estate transaction involves a property owner wanting to sell, a home buyer wanting to buy, and (usually) two Realtors serving as professional guides and facilitators to make a sale happen. That is not as easy to accomplish as you might imagine, which is why Sheehan describes it as a minor miracle when the parties to a would-be transaction can work harmoniously enough together that, in due course, “a nice fat SOLD sign sprouts in another American front yard.”
The residential real estate business is tricky because it is not rational like other businesses. “The commodity being bought or sold is a home rather than a car or refrigerator,” Sheehan explains, “and everyone knows that a man’s home is his castle. People get touchy about their castles—you can trust me on this—in a way they don’t about anything else.” Sellers often believe their residences are worth more than the market will bear. Buyers can make unreasonable demands. The agents for both need to ably steer their clients through a potentially volatile process with integrity and professionalism. Sheehan’s insights and counsel help everyone to work together for the benefit of all.
The backbone of OPEN HOUSE! is Sheehan’s Twelve Laws of Real Estate. With her engaging writing style and flair for storytelling, Sheehan describes how these Laws, taken together, provide insight into how to be a successful agent, seller, or buyer—or not. Her stories, which draw on her vast store of experiences over several decades, are alternately funny, cautionary, or downright weird. Shepherding clients through life’s happiest and saddest transitions is not for everyone, but Sheehan loves the job. “That’s what I do,” she explains. “I help people find and purchase their forever house . . . and then eventually I sell it when they discover forever does not last indefinitely.”