When I first got into real estate over 20 years ago, I used to do open houses to (a) get clients and (b) sell them a house (not necessarily that house). It was as simple as that. In those days, when a potential buyer came through that door, I owned them. If they wanted to buy that house, they HAD to use me as their agent. Those were the rules. That's not the case today.
Since the advent of Buyer Agency Agreements, that has all changed. I now ask visitors to my open houses if they are under contract to an agent. Most are. Funnily enough, they often can't remember their agent's name but they're still represented. In other words, it's more difficult to find clients using the open house approach than it was in years past. So, why do we continue to do them?
A few weeks ago, I received a call from a client telling me he had by chance come across an open house and decided to buy it. It wasn't something he planned. He happened upon it quite by chance but it addressed an immediate need he had in his life and so he wanted to make an offer. That's why we hold open houses. Selling a house is all about getting as many customers into the house as possible and open houses are a very efficient way of doing that.
Comments(1)