Neighbors often love open houses. They’ll wander in, check out the kitchen and bathrooms—wow, that’s a lot of avocado green—and grab a cookie on their way out.
You might be thinking, That’s the answer: Open houses are a waste of time. Not so fast. Some people may be there to eat cookies and snoop around, but others know families interested in moving to that neighborhood.
It’s not for everyone
Not everyone likes the idea of people parading through their home on a Sunday afternoon. And it takes a lot of effort to execute an open house, from cleaning and staging to moving your family somewhere else for three hours.
But you never know
One of the biggest arguments in favor of holding an open house is that it increases the visibility of your home. Because you never know where your buyers will come from. They could attend the open house or be the clients of a REALTOR® who visits your open house.
You and your Texas REALTOR® need to come up with a comprehensive marketing plan specific to your situation, with or without open houses.
Open House helps the seller realize the agent is doing what they can to market the houase to anyone out there. It is true, anyone that comes thru may know someone else lookionmg for just that partyicular home.
Open Houses are and will continue to be a powerful tool for Realtors IF executed properly through advertising and marketing . Nothing can replace a smiling human greeting prospective buyers through browsing , or agents representing . Not all areas get great traffic and should be thoroughly researched PRIOR. I’ve received referrals , listings , and buyers from OH.
to me, they are a waste of time, effort, & energy. Serious buyers have an agent because it’s “free”- they will know your home is on the market when it hits MLS. I don’t have time to baby sit 1 house!
If you feel that you have all the business you need and want I agree, but complacency will catch up in the long run. Referrals, past satisfied buyers and sellers do not last forever.
Love open houses, previewing without having to set appointment and feel like we wasted someone’s evening.
Open houses are to make the seller feel you are doing everything you can to promote the listing; however, they are a waste of time, expensive and sometimes not safe. The area served by me is rural around a lake and the general public, never comes to them, even with signs on the main streets. It is a way for Realtors to socialize, eat, win a door prize and render an opinion on value for the seller to review. Never, in all my years of doing Real Estate, many of them, have I had a viewing agent come back to… Read more »
How much do you feel open houses cost an agent?
I do agree with you 100%
I agree with you even though I am not a realtor. I have bought and sold several homes in my lifestime and never never never have I sold a home because of an open house. I refuse to let my realtors do them. In rural Texas no one even attends them.
Nobody else knows that home like the listing agent, and nobody shows that home like the listing agent. I love open houses because it is the best way for me to present the home and all of the features that a buyer may not notice when touring with another agent who is not as familiar with the property. An open house is a soft welcome into a home where they can envision how they would live and entertain themselves and possibly meet other homeowners in the neighborhood.
Right now my husband and I are looking around for a new home. We love open houses we can look with feeling pressured or having to contact a realtor. But I do understand the other side from the seller view point it is a pain.
Open houses are a huge waste of time. Agents don’t have time to “sit on” 1 house. If that house is priced right,and in good condition, every buyer in that area already knows it’s out there, from the Internet, they have the photos and everything about it. If they want to see it, they’ll call their realtor because serious buyers are already hooked up with a realtor. Open Houses were necessary in the old days before the Internet, today it’s like people seeing a “garage sale sign. They just want to go in and look around, dirty up the house… Read more »
You are right!