Home : Blogs : Ray Perry; Realtor, CRS, GRI, e-PRO : Ray's Ramblings

Open houses are a waste of time! Or are they?

This weekend our company had an open house extravaganza where we had over 120 open houses in a single weekend. http://activerain.com/blogsview/182828/1-Plus-Homes-To

I hosted 20 on Sunday with the help of other agents and the homeowners. We had a drawing for 5 $100 gift certificates for those who filled out the registration cards. We advertised it in the local paper, on the local radio stations, on the web sites, had a big banner on our office for the week and called all of our owners to get everyone involved. On the day of the event, we put up the signs, filled dozens of balloons, passed out cold water with our company logo, gave out maps of the open houses and the times they were open and I used up a tank of gas.

The results are still coming in. On many of the homes, no one showed up, some had a few couples, a lender and a home inspector passing out business cards. We noticed that five other companies had open houses in the same area, piggybacking on our marketing. On the face of it, it seemed a complete waste of time until I analyze the outcome. Personally, setting this up, I got five price reductions, two listings from people who wanted to be in on the program, and a buyer lead. Several of the agents who worked my listings got buyer leads and one got an appointment to do a CMA. I made contact with all my improved listings at least twice this week and now they know that I'm working hard to sell their property. I'm still haven't heard from the other agents from our company but I'm sure that even with a sparse attendance there were similar results.

So do open houses work? It didn't work to sell a house that day, we had no offers, but it did generate some business.

Ray Perry
I Sell Lake County

MailTo:Ray@RayPerry.com
http://rayperry.com/

Posted by Ray Perry; Realtor, CRS, GRI, e-PRO on 09/17/2007 11:56 PM

Comments (12)

lake county california real estate, open house, real estate

12 Comments on Open houses are a waste of time! Or are they?

SEP

2007

They've got to be good for something!

Open houses work in multiple ways: leads, buyers, helpful to sellers, ... Gotta have 'em!

Rob

I haven't done an open house in a long time but believe there are certain times an open house makes lots of sense. I think the circumstances you mention make it worth while to have an open house. I also believe open houses are great in high traffic areas. What better place to put a half dozen signs for marketing than a high traffic area. Also I like doing open houses in areas I am trying to farm. Again, what better place to put all my signs than in an area I am trying to market.

I have had great luck with open houses on short sale and pre-foreclosure homes also. They usually generate lots of looky loos from the neighborhood.

Statistics say, in general open houses don't work - to sell that particular house! Roughly 1 out of every 100 folks who walk through an open house will buy. Thats not to say an open house can't be used to gain more buyer clients, however...

Ray, I personally do not do open houses anymore. I have kept stats over the past 12 years and I received nothing from it. I never "sold" a home from the open house and I only gained 5 potential buyers and only one of them actually bought a home.

I believe in this day and age of technology, the buyer is much smarter and is just bypassing many steps to purchase a home.

Bridget: The sad thing is that open houses benefited the agent much much more than the seller. Sellers are under the misconception that if their house is held open then someone who is driving by will go through it and buy it. It does happen, not to me yet. I generated lots of action but no buyers. For that reason, they are good for something.

Rob Lang: The helpful to sellers is the least of the benefits. I only wish you were right.

Rob Jones: If they work for you, you should do them more often. We get them out of the way in one grand gesture.

Open houses are relics.... trying something new this weekend - the world's first Interactive Virtual Open House!

Come walk thru the property.... drive thru the neighborhood.... meet the listing agent - live... ask questions.... all from home in your bunny slippers while eating bon bons.....

No hassle for the sellers.... no hassle for buyers..... no hassle for the realtor.

We'll see how it works!

Kaushik: I believe those stats that they don't work. However we did get some action that we would not have if we did nothing.

Chuck: I believe you. In this day and age of technology, the virtual tour or video tours are replacing the traditional open house. I remember my folks saying that the movie industry was worried that television would replace movies. Open houses may come back with a better market.

Fred: We do visual tours on all of our improved properties, and some unimproved. Why should folks get out of their bunny slippers to go look at properties?

SEP

2007

It was great weather this year so there was no excuse for not getting out. The lack of attendance is just an indication of the lackluster market. We will get the full results on Thursday.

SEP

2007

I have gained some buyers in the past, and I will continue to have them, but the big benefit (for me anyway) is to show the sellers how dedicated you are to working for them.

SEP

2007

That is really what open houses are for is to generate leads. I've only sold one house with an open house, but I have had plenty of commission checks come from buyers and sellers that I have met at open houses!

The consensus is that even though there were few who attended, it was worthwhile because it did create activity. No real figures on the over 150 open houses, many were not attended but some were and as Dale mentioned, the sellers saw that we were trying.

Leave a response…

Name:

Email:
(optional)

Comment:

What does the graphic say?