How come you aren't doing more open houses?

...this was what I heard from the seller of a recent listing.  

I usually become very friendly with my clients because I communicate with them very closely.  Sometimes daily.  So when this particular seller asked me why I was only doing one open house per week, I was honest with them.  And this is how I responded...

The truth is that open houses have always been better for the agent than for you, the seller.

Prospective buyers will show up to your open house, but the likelihood of that particular house being "the one" for them, is slim to none. As soon as they tell me they aren't interested in your house, I'll try to retain them as buyer clients.

And the results?  Only a handful of my listings have sold as a result of an open house in the last 5 years...and that's out of hundreds of deals!  But I've picked up many more buyer clients and sold them other houses.  I also picked up quite a few listings as a result of doing open houses.  

In my opinion, open houses are an ineffective way to market a home and could even be a security threat.  Consider this...you are letting complete strangers (and nosy neighbors) into your home.  They haven't been pre qualified and we have no idea if they are prospective buyers, or thieves casing out your home.

I only schedule private showings for buyers who have been pre qualified.  Let's just stick with the broker's open house.  

And they listened to me.  As matter of fact, they told me to stop doing open houses!