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Do Open Houses Work?
By Matt Unangst, 23 Jan 00:47
• Serious buyers usually have other sources of information
• Help agents to meet other potential sellers
• Potential liability to homeowner
• Broker’s opens = social networking
Open houses were at one time the primary way for home buyers to gather information on a potential purchase. Today, increasing availability of information on homes, both from the internet and from real estate agents, has rendered the open house nearly obsolete as a method to help sell a home. An experienced agent has said, “Houses we hold open a lot and houses we do not hold open at all and how fast or at what prices they ultimately sell for.” Despite this fact, a number of agents continue to insist on open houses.
The benefits of an open house accrue primarily to the broker. An open house brings in people from around the neighborhood, many of them potential sellers. If they later decide to sell their own home, the broker they have met at the open house is likely to be the first person they call.
Many agents do not like to just hold a house open because they do not want other agents to be at the house while they are showing it. Agents also do not want their own “ready, willing, and able” buyers to have contact with the listing agent for a home. Agents who have buyers actively seeking a house will often take their clients to see a home even if it is not being held open.
Broker’s opens are a different kind of open house, one open only to other agents. They operate more as a social networking tool for agents than as a means of helping to sell the house.
The biggest problem with holding an open house is the potential liability it poses for the home owner. Thefts can easily occur with large numbers of strangers wandering through the house.
Open houses provide concrete benefits to the broker, allowing him or her to develop his or her client base and/or social network, but provide little or no benefit to the seller.
SEE ALSO: Showing Your Home
QUOTES: “Houses we hold open a lot and houses we do not hold open at all and how fast or at what prices they ultimately sell for,” says an experienced real estate agent.
Tags: open house