When I'm explaining to the owners of my listings why I don't feel Open Houses are a good use of my time or theirs, I point out that less and less people are visiting Open Houses - and when you eliminate the "looking for decorating ideas", "My house is being held open" and "I need to use the bathroom/cool off/rest" visitors, how many REAL buyers have come through? I feel a lot of this decline in buyer visits is due to the new consumer - who wants to see things when he wants, where he wants and how he wants. Why should I give up my Sunday afternoon, right in the middle of the day, when I can be boating, watching a football game, curling up with a book, shopping, etc? With so many sites with photos online and visual/virtual tours on line, I can look whenever I want, at my leisure and convenience, and if I find something I like, can schedule a showing at MY convenience. Open Houses have gone to the web. There are much better ways to spend my Sunday afternoons? When you add the value of your time, holding an Open House is very expensive.
Less Buyers Coming to Open Houses
8 comments • Sharon Simms St Pete FL - CRS CIPS CLHMS RSPS • October 18 2006 07:32AMComments
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I've had varying experience with open houses. However, what seems to work best for me is when I send out, not a Just Listed card to the neighborhood, but an invitation (same postcard, worded differently) to the open house. One time when I did this, for a vacant house (so no "looking for decorating ideas"), I had 75 people come through during a two hour open house. While none of them turned out to be the buyer of this particular house, several of them WERE buyers who were in the market and did not already have an agent, and I also got to meet folks in the neighborhood who might be selling their own home soon.
I'd explained to the buyers up front that this was likely how it would work, but they wanted the open house held, anyway, and I was glad to do it.
I've also had out of town buyers who did their open housing and research on the internet before they flew in to town to try to buy a house in a weekend comment, at the end of their visit, "I've learned that you can only do so much on the internet and that it can be very deceiving in terms of what the house really is." As more people realize this, I think the open house may regain some favor.
Sharon:
Open Houses are used by many a buyers' agent here in San Diego. There is a whole group of Realtors who only concentrate on Open Houses as a way to procure clients.
These Realtors will do open houses from any listing agent, regardless of company. Perhaps you could start a list up of Realtors who will hold houses open so you can appease your sellers.
I'm interested seeing the dramatic differences of opinion about Open Houses.
It happens to be one of our office's most important tools.
-James
Why, Teresa? If they don't work for you, by all means, don't do them, but if they work for others, why should those people give up a useful tool just because it doesn't work for you? It seems that this is, like so many things (MOST things, in fact) something that varies by region, by town, heck, even by agent. Sometimes even by house. I've had great successes and dismal failures (NO ONE showed up!), so I'm learning to analyze the house and the draw and use that to decide whether or not to do one (with the Sellers, of course).
But for those homes where it DOES work (for me - not to sell the house), I'm awfully glad I had that arrow in my quiver!