Is an open house a waste of time?
"Is my Realtor just lazy or is he telling me the truth? Is an open house a waste of time?" As a real estate broker, I sometimes hear this question, or something similar, from sellers. A lot of people have heard at some point along the way that doing an open house is a waste of time. But is it true?
Well, lets look at all the major reasons that a real estate agent would hold an open house...
- To potentially find a buyer for the home
- To expose the home to the market and increase local awareness of the listing
- To appease the seller / gain the listing / justify their commission
- To meet new potential clients
Obviasly some are more beneficial for the agent and some reasons are more beneficial for the seller. It really depends on which benefit you focus on.
An agent who does not want to hold the listing open, will often focus on the last bullet point and point out to a seller that it's really only used as a fishing hole for the Realtor to find buyers for other properties and explain that it is a waste of time. I tend to disagree yet agree. What I mean by that is I feel it is a case by case basis. I've held many open houses on everything from inexpensive apartment style condos, to single family homes, to million dollar estates and I can tell you that it really truely depends on the home.
Let's say that your listing is a run down townhouse that is burried deep in a shady neighborhood. This would be a horrible listing to hold open for several reasons. Firstly, million dollar homes breed million dollar shoppers and dumpy homes in bad neighborhoods bring in a whole different breed of people. Certainly most agents are not looking to market to low end buyers who have bad credit that are looking for a dump. This listing is also a bad one to hold as an open house because of the safety issue. If its in a bad neighborhood, it may make that agent feel uncomfortable or unsafe being alone in the home with strangers walking through. Most importantly, if the home is not right near a major road, you'll be much less likely to get traffic to it. People won't drive way out of their way to follow a bunch of signs and find the house.
I have literally had homes that I have held open houses at 3 or 4 times and had a grand total of ZERO visitors, while I have had others that get 10+ guests every time I even think about slaping an open house sign out front.
So how do you know if your listing is a good listing for an open house or a waste of time? Well, you simply have to evaluate the home based on these criteria...
- Is the home in an AMAZING location? This is the #1 most important thing. If they have to turn more than once or twice off of a major street then it's not a good location for an open house. Close to major intersections is a plus. Excellent locations to put A-Board signs is a must!
- Does the home have superb street appeal? Getting them to drive by is one thing, but getting them to come inside is another. Does the home look interesting and inviting? If you have a problem with people just driving up and taking the flyers then leaving, try removing the flyers during the open house.
- Is the home INSANELY clean and spotless? Agents are embarassed to hold open homes that have dirty carpets, clothes all over, dishes in the sink, and junk all around. The house should be furnished and cleaned for SHOWING CONDITION! This may not be your ideal living condition, but it is what will show off the home the best.
A lot of people think that price is important here but I completely disagree. The price of the unit has absolutely nothing to do with an effective open house. An effective open house was well advertised, had good signage, was in a amazing location, had good street appeal, and was in superb showing condition. That's it. That's all you need! If you have all that, then your open house shouldn't be a waste of time.
"That's all fine and dandy Jeff but is MY house a waste of time or a good idea?" If your house fits all those criteria, then sure I would go ahead and do the open house. It's still good exposure and reguardless of the statistics that show only a 2%-4% success rate, it's still 2%-4% better chance of selling than if you did nothing at all right?
That said, if your house does not meet all those requirements, don't be surprised if your agent suggests forgoing the open house. Nobody likes wasting a sunday afternoon in a house that's not going to bring any buyers.
So is it a waste of time to do an open house? No, not always. I've been very successful at them in the past and I'm actually quite an advocate of them. But in at least half of the cases, it very well could be a waste of time. Evaluate your home and your situation and if you're not sure, just try one and see if you get much activity. And if you have a home that is perfect for an open house but your agent refuses to do one...get a new agent.
Comments(5)