Are you thinking of selling your home this summer? Open houses should be a big part of your agent's marketing plan in the DC metro area. Each area of the country is different, but in the DC area, open houses do work and they can help you sell your home!
Many sellers are turn up their noses at an open house, but I think you encourage your agent to do them on a regular basis. "Why should you have open houses?" you might ask. You want an open house in rder to expose your home to as many people as possible.
Many buyers are out there on Sunday afternoons looking for a home without their Realtor. They don't want to "bother"their agent or their agent is busy with an open house of their own. It is a chance for buyers to see a number of homes in quick order without having to schedule appointments and coordinate showings. It is an opportunity for a buyer to sample several different neighborhoods.
An open house is a place for your agent to show off your home. Your goal is to get potential buyers to imagine their life in your home and to walk out of the open house knowing they need that home. You want to have your property ready for prime time each Sunday that it is open.
There are a lot of great reasons to have an open house. In addition, there are several reasons not to have an open house. For example,
Open houses are not great for the Realtor holding the house open in most instances. Everyone thinks that the agent is holding the house open to pick up buyers but that works only rarely. In Maryland, agents are prohibited by law from talking to a buyer about other houses. The agent holding the house open is there for one purpose - to sell the house on behalf of the seller. If the buyer doesn't like the open house, the agent can't suggest three other houses that might be better and offer to show them.
Most buyers looking at open houses already are represented by a buyer agent so they don't need to interview other agents. The agent holding th property open is not likely to meet buyers through an open house. The real buyers - the ones you want coming to your open house - are the ones who already have a buyer agent because they are the ones who are truly committed to buying a home, but that doesn't mean future business for the agent holding the house open.
When you are interviewing agents to list your home, be sure to ask their opinion on open houses and why they hold that opinion. It will tell you a lot about whether their interests are aligned with yours.
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