The Truth About Open Houses

Home sellers: why are you pinning high expectations to open houses?  Is this your idea or your agent’s?  It is a mistake to think open houses are an important marketing strategy for your home to sell.  Open houses are not so important.  They haven’t been for years, since about 2006 in my opinion.

The real function of open houses is for agents to pick-up buyers.  The majority of buyers walking through your house on Sunday afternoon are in the early stages of their home search.  This makes for an excellent way for agents to meet buyers who are often unrepresented.  The buyers usually expect this, as they are shopping around for a buyer agent, and for general neighborhood and market information.

The buyers coming to your house are shopping, but not for a home…not yet.  When they enter the stage of readiness to buy, they’ll book a private showing.

Why have open houses lost their purpose as a main showcase for your home?  First, let’s blame (or thank) the internet.  With all the media available, buyers are able to learn a lot more about houses online.  They don’t need to see fifty houses to learn what the market has to offer.  Instead, they can view videos, pictures, floor plans and neighborhood information anytime, on a handy device, from anywhere.

Second, with the slow market of the past few years, buyers are less fearful of losing a home.  If they can’t get to a home on Sunday, they’ll come see it on Monday or Thursday.  There is more inventory and homes stay on market longer.  What’s the rush?

But open houses are not a total waste of time for you.  You should have your agent (or team member) host an open house occasionally.  Open houses are a great way learn about the market.  Agents share information about about open house traffic to gauge what is going on locally.  In open houses we also hear honest feedback direct from buyers, which can be very helpful.

So don’t nix the open houses completely.  Adjust your expectations instead, and ensure that the open houses are not your listing agent’s marketing tool of choice.

>