What is the Purpose of an Open House?
An open house is when your home is listed for sale and your agent or an agent of their Firm will select a day and time to have visitors come and view the home. This is typically on a Saturday or Sunday and usually for a few hours mid afternoon. The purpose is obviously to bring in potential buyers. Most open houses are advertised online and through word of mouth, though the internet is by far the best way to bring in buyers.
Do They Work?
In short, my answer would be no, not typically. There are a few reasons for this, but the main reason is prior to the internet and BIG real estate sites, the public would see an open house advertised in the newspaper. There was no way you could see the listing unless you made an appointment to view it through a real estate agent. So, the obvious choice was to print advertise the open house in hopes to bring in foot traffic. These days, all you have to do is click the app you use for house hunting and enter an address and VIOLA! There it is. All of the pictures, descriptions, school information, and demographics right at the palm of your hand. In over 20 years of selling real estate I have held a lot of open houses. Typically, I would get two or three people to come by and take a look. Some listings in a hot area would get a lot more people coming through. However, I have only had one listing get an offer from an open house and the buyers didn’t even come by. The agent was doing a preview for their buyer and they brought the buyer back later that afternoon after the open house. They likely would have scheduled a showing anyway, but the agent told me she was “just in the neighborhood. “So Stu, you gave your opinion on if they work or not, but why do you have them? Who comes to them?” Well, I will tell you.
Who Comes to Open Houses?
I’ll tell you who comes to open houses. Mostly neighbors that want to see what the house looks like inside. They have lived beside them for years and was never invited over for hot dogs and they really want to see how there neighbor has been living. Aside from neighbors, you also get unmotivated buyers or not really buyers at all….just people. These are typically buyers/people that are “thinking” of moving someday and they just want to see what you get for the money or they might of liked a few of the listing pictures they saw online and want to see what it looks like in person. In this day and age of virtual tours and mapping technologies you get enough information to know if you like the house or not; a motivated buyer would have their buyer’s agent schedule a showing so they could see the house in private. The biggest thing though, you are inviting the general public into your home. These are people that have not been pre-approved for a loan and have not (in most cases) spoken to an agent to verify they are qualified and a legitimate buyer. If they have spoken with an agent and deemed legit, the agent most likely feels comfortable showing them house.
Why Have Them Then?
Good question again! Marketing. For us. Just go to any open house and the first question the hosting agent will ask is “are you working with an agent”? Open houses are a way to get names and email addresses to solicit business. If you attend an open house you are a potential client to the hosting agent. What you will find as well is that if the house is listed with a bigger Firm and “popular agent”, there will be a ‘new to real estate agent’ hosting the open house in their place to try to develop their database.
Don’t get me wrong; if my client (seller) demands to have an open house I will do it. Sometimes it may help and you may find a potential buyer. But, in my experience you are better off having a listing agent promote your home online and on social media.
