Why You Should Go to Open Houses on a Rainy Day

(Not for the casual browser, but absolutely for anyone who is actually ready.)

If it’s pouring outside and your first instinct is to stay in, make coffee, and put house hunting on hold, this is your gentle nudge to do the opposite.

Rainy days are not a reason to skip open houses. They are the best reason to go.

You can always book a private showing, of course. We do that all the time. But if you want to really understand a home, a block, and what you are signing up for, nothing gives you more information in less time than seeing it in the rain.

Here is why.

1. Water can be revealing

Especially in places like New Orleans and anywhere that actually deals with real weather.

We love beautiful light and blue skies. They make every house look good. Rain makes houses tell on themselves.

On a rainy day, you get to see how the home handles its biggest long-term enemy. Water.

This is what we look for when we walk a house with clients in the rain:

• Are the gutters working or spilling straight down into the foundation

• Are there gutters at all

• When a home is on piers, is water pooling underneath

• Is there a damp or musty smell inside

• Do you see bubbling or soft drywall, especially around older windows

• Is the sidewalk or driveway turning into a puddle when you step out of the car

• Is the street holding water or draining quickly

In New Orleans, this matters even more. We live in a city built to coexist with water. Pumps, drainage, grade, and street design all come into play on days like this.

A house can be totally dry inside and still be frustrating to live in if you are stepping into standing water every time you come home.

You will never see any of this on a perfect sunny day.

It is a little like a true friend. You do not really know them until you have seen them cranky. If you are going to commit to a house, you want to see it happy and cranky.

2. Houses do not get to be on their best behavior

And that is a good thing.

Every house looks great under ideal conditions. When the light hits just right, everything feels open and airy.

Rain takes that away.

It is a little like seeing your partner on a bad hair day. More real. More raw. The perfect MLS photo starts to melt, sometimes literally.

Rooms might feel gloomier. Or they might feel surprisingly calm. They might feel smaller. Or they might feel like exactly the kind of place you would want to curl up.

That is the point.

You get to interview the house on a down day.

What would it be like to have a cup of tea on the porch and watch a storm roll in? Does that feel peaceful or claustrophobic? Does the rain hitting the windows and the roof feel cozy or unsettling? Does the house feel heavy? Does it creak? Do the sounds feel romantic, or do they make you want to reach for a poncho?

And if you were stuck inside for a long rainy weekend, binging a new Harlan Coben series, would this be where you want the couch to be?

You can always come back on a sunny day later. That is the beauty of it. But this is where you learn what the house is really like when it is not dressed up for a date.

3. The rain clears the room

Rain does a great job of weeding out who actually shows up.

On sunny days, open houses can feel busy without being serious. Nosy neighbors. Tourists. Looky-loos. The listing agent’s friends stopping by to be supportive.

On rainy days, all of those people take a rain check.

What is left are the people who actually care.

That changes everything.

You are standing face-to-face with the listing agent, who may have hardly anyone else come through. That means you just got a long, unhurried window with the person representing the place. You get to ask real questions. You get to learn about the seller. You get to hear the story behind the walls.

If there are other buyers there, you can bet they are just as serious as you are. That tells you a lot more about real demand than any Zillow number ever could.

Conversations feel different, too. Once you get past the small talk about the literal weather, there is a reason to linger. People are grateful you showed up. There is less noise. You get to feel the place instead of just moving through it.

As an agent, this is when we are at our best. We are less distracted. We have time. We can actually talk. You get the quality part of quality time instead of us juggling a dozen people at once.

You also get a better sense of us, and by extension, the seller. Not because anyone is giving anything away, but because when the room is quieter, you can hear more.

If you do not live somewhere rainy

Lucky you.

But every place has its version of this.

The hot afternoon when everything feels harder.The gray week when nothing wants to line up.The moment when plans wobble, and you have to decide whether to stay in or lean in.

Rain just happens to be ours.

Why we love days like this

At Cool Murphy, this is where we get interested.

Not because we enjoy things being difficult, but because this is where opportunity shows up. When something does not go your way, we do not say, "Oh well." We say "now what?"Where is the opening? What just shifted that could actually help you?"

Rainy open houses are a small example of that mindset. The weather changes. The crowd changes. The house shows you more. Suddenly, there is information you would not have had on a perfect day.

That is not bad luck. That is leverage.

We also believe deeply in silver linings. Not the fake kind. The useful kind. We have a zero-drama policy and a default to optimism, which means even the unpretty moments are worth paying attention to. Sometimes those are the moments that make everything else easier later.

If you do not like being sold to and would rather feel informed, cared for, and a little more in control of what you are doing, that is how we work, too.

And if you ever want more of this way of looking at things, our newsletter is how you stay in the loop. That is where we send open house notes, event invites, and links to the new pieces we publish on our site one to two times a week. From quizzes that help you figure out if you are really ready to move, to straight talk about what to do after inspections, to the book we wrote on selling a house, with one for buyers coming soon.

We are an open book. Literally.

If you decide to work with us, we would love to have you. If you do not, we still hope you consider us one of the good ones.

Now go grab your keys. Rainy days are full of openings if you know how to look.

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Celebrated for her next-level creative approach to real estate, Elisa Cool Murphy is the author of Prepped to Sell: What Works Even When the Market Doesn't. She is an award-winning, top-performing real estate broker in New Orleans and the founder and owner of Cool Murphy Real Estate.

You can learn more about her here.

Contact Her -

email: cool@coolmurphy.com

Facebook: @homeinneworleans

IG: @coolmurphynola

YouTube: @coolmurphynola

phone: 504-321-3194