Ah, the Open House Merry-Go-Round. 

Do I do them?  Do I don't?  Do I do them?  Do I don't?  And round and round the debate goes.  And the ride never seems to stop.  "Yes, they're great."  "No.  They don't sell houses."  "Yes, I pick up buyers."  "No. They are waste of my time."

No doubt, you fall on one side of the argument or the other.  It seems like I read more blogs here at Active Rain that fall more on the, "No, I don't do them" side of the argument, than I do supporting open houses. 

For me, I do open houses and here's why.  My sellers want me to do them.  They usually don't care that open houses usually don't sell houses.  What they want is every opportunity for a buyer to see the house, be in the house and consider the house.  The small chance that someone will walk through the door at an open house, love the home and buy it is important to most sellers. 

And it does happen.  I have actually sold several houses to people who walk into the open house.  Sometimes they're with their agent and sometimes they have no agent. But even if it didn't happen.  Even if I never sold a single house from an open house, I'd still hold houses open and here's why.

1.  Open houses are good customer service!

2.  Not every Realtor will hold open houses.

3.  I can get an incredible amount of work done during an open house, including blogging.

4.  Open houses keeps me sharp.  I have to be ready to engage the buying public.

5.  Open houses keep me in the house, which keeps the house fresh in my mind.

6.  Open houses help keep me in touch with sellers, which sellers love.

One last reason I do open houses is because, if I were a seller, I would want open houses done on my home and I wouldn't want my Realtor arguing with me about whether or not they are effective.  I hired you, I want this service, now do your job.  It kind of falls under that, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto" thing.

Picture courtesy of Flickr Creative commons:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/janekm/685367561/