Last month I was featured in the Bergen Record. This is a great article on open houses and why there are so many of them in the area. Check it out and let me know what you think!
Everywhere you look, there's an open house Sunday, March 16, 2008
Last updated: Sunday March 16, 2008, EDT 9:06 AM BY MARY AMOROSO SPECIAL TO THE RECORD
The 30-something couple had just walked through the door of the open house in Allendale when real estate agent Carol Gates cried out, "You've been here before."
"We came through a couple of months ago," said the man.
"We came for the cookies," said the woman.
A plate of cookies, homemade by the homeowner in his prize Garland range, sat on the kitchen counter. Gates schedules an open house every other weekend at this $1.3 million home, hoping that with enough foot traffic, someone will find this to be the home of his or her dreams.
Everywhere you drive on Sunday, it seems, there are open houses. The New Jersey Multiple Listing Service, whose real estate listings cover Bergen, Passaic and Essex counties along with three towns in Hudson, clocked 1,100 open houses on the last two weekends of February, and 867 the first weekend in March.
Why so many? In part because we're getting into the spring home-selling season, and this year's milder weather encourages open-house visitors.
"We usually say the spring market starts after the Super Bowl," said Gates, a sales associate with Terrie O'Connor Realtors in Allendale.
In addition, there are simply more homes to show now compared to the height of the market a couple of years back, when homes were often snapped up in a matter of days or weeks.
"Things are staying on the market longer," said real estate agent Angele Ekert of Coldwell Banker in Ridgewood, who on a recent Sunday was enthusiastically showing visitors around her listing on North Maple Avenue in Ridgewood, a brand-new, three-story, five-bedroom, five-bath mansion now priced at $1.7 million that has been on the market for months.
Another major factor is that sellers in this slow market are demanding tangible evidence that agents are working for them.
"Some owners want open houses every weekend," said Sal Poliandro of Re/Max Properties in Ridgewood.
John Falcone, the president of RealSource, the professional association serving 3,500 Realtors in northeastern New Jersey, said, "A lot of times sellers think they're getting better exposure with open houses. A lot of times, sellers appreciate that the open house is there on a Sunday afternoon and it can bring in a greater number of buyers."
Open houses can be a great scouting tool for today's often commitment-phobic prospective buyers who are hesitant to bid on a home - or even link up with a buyer's agent - until they feel certain the market has bottomed out. Agents say some open house visitors go so far as to put a false name and phony phone number on the open-house sign-in sheet.
"You wonder what people are waiting for," said Sharon Kozinn of Coldwell Banker in Hillsdale. "If everyone who wanted to buy a house did so, there would be a lot less inventory. Now it's like they have too much choice. It's like a buffet: They don't know what to eat because they have so much choice."
And some prospective buyers think they could get a better deal if they buy directly from the listing agent they meet at the open house.
"Not necessarily," said Falcone. "But all commissions and prices are negotiable, and you might be able to do a little bit better, especially if the buyer has to sell a home as well."
Just about every real estate agent can tell you about a house that received purchase offers recently as a direct result of an open house.
And some agents believe they are an invaluable marketing tool.
"I do them every single Sunday from Jan. 30 until Thanksgiving," said Rita Lutzer of Re/Max Legend in Mahwah.
"I find that I sell 10 to 20 percent of my own listings at open houses."
But others say a lot of open-house visitors are there for the entertainment value of peeking inside other people's homes - especially those of their neighbors.
"Most people, they may be out looking but they're not anywhere near ready to buy," said Re/Max's Poliandro.
"Out of every 100 people who come to one house, maybe only about four are serious. The other 96 people are neighbors, people who are nosy, or it's a beautiful, sunny day and they're driving around Ridgewood."
Kathleen Falco of Re/Max Real Estate Enterprises in Franklin Lakes said a lot depends on the attitude and activity level of the agent at the open house. Some just sit, watch a game on television, and let folks wander through.
"You can really work the open houses," she said. "We're prepared. We can talk about the inventory [of homes available]. We'll have a conversation on what their needs are, what they're looking for. By the time they leave the open house, you know a little bit more about them and they know a little bit more about the market."
Last weekend, Falco and her team of agents staged an open house tour of nine of their listings at the Ramapo River Reserve community in Oakland. One home became the impromptu meet-and-greet sales center, and agents drove browsers around to the other homes.
"We're always brainstorming new ways to show the homes," Falco said.
Comments(1)