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The Value of an Open House: a much debated topic....

By
Real Estate Agent with Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties 01238708

The Value of an Open House: a much debated topic and often a polarized debate by both camps…

www.endrebarath.com

Background Information: There are the pro Open House supporters and then there are the ones who battle them and fail to see the value of one. Some take their positions in a civilized manner, other take a more hostile and arrogant positions against it. (but that is the subject of another post)

I have read many anti-Open House post in the past eight plus years, that I have been on this platform, needless to say, by well-respected community members and others who have left this platform and moved on to other platforms. Being an outspoken person that I am, I have taken an opposing view….

Recently, I read a Post by one of our friends here on Active Rain, this in turn motivated me to write one more polarizing Pro-Open House Post.

Hosting open houses has always been more a benefit to the agent hosting the open, than the sellers of a home. It's an opportunity to try and win over the buyers not yet represented by an agent.  Well, in the day and age of Zillow, the longer a buyer can go without an agent, the more they feel they don't need you.  So I ask you, are open houses really helping this issue?  

Now to my point of disagreement: The above statement has an inherently faulty premise as well as a faulty logic. The fundamental principal many may call it Real Estate 101 is: to generate listings.

If a Realtor has a good inventory of listings, that Realtor will be successful no matter if there are different platforms competing for buyers, or they are selling buyer leads. Listings are the life line of Realtors. It is not about capturing buyers.

That is the strength of the Realtor, getting listings, providing personal and quality client service, by communication and interaction with the sellers. Most importantly selling their property. IF they do that their value is proven and recognized by all.

One of the biggest disadvantage of the Internet Platforms over Realtors, is their inability to properly evaluate a home’s accurate value. One might say part of the reason is, because algorithms are not good enough, you need to see the neighborhood, what the homes nearby are like, what the neighborhood feel is. Are there inherent in correctable faults where the house is located? Unruly neighbor living out of his garage and throwing loud parties as an example. Or two loud barking dogs that are being kept in the back yard or front yard instead of a Good Electronic Security System. The military calls it booths on the ground, sorry but living in the cloud (internet platform that is) you cannot properly determine real values of properties for not only Homes, Condominiums but vacant land as well.

Open Houses are something these platforms tried via Virtual ways, but it does not accomplish the goal to eliminate a Realtor, if properly done it actually enhances the value of the Realtor.

Quite frankly Open Houses allow the Realtor to be on the Stage to be viewed by sellers as well as buyers. They can be observed as to how good they really are vs. the Internet Persona they project. Here anonymously sellers and even buyers can interview that Realtor.

In turn they can choose the Realtor holding the open house as their agent of choice and not choose the Realtor who is paying for a particular Zip Code to capture a buyer. It can also discourage them from using the one that is being force fed by Zillow and other similar platforms i.e.: the one being designated as the preferred Realtor.

www.endrebarath.com

I must concede Open Houses help the Listing Agent in many ways which is not a bad thing:

  1.        The Open House exposes the Agent’s name to the local potential sellers.  Many times when I held an Open House on my listings, I ended up having nearby home sellers stop in. They liked my style and I received the benefit of another listing just the way I handled myself.
  2.        The Open House helps the agent to win over the buyer. In my case this scenario materialized less often i.e.:  picking up a buyer. Probably, because my focus was on exposing the house to all buyers vs. trying to capture a buyer for a future purchase. I always hand out quality house marketing materials to all who enter my Open House. One of the benefit I receive from it on occasions is that they pass my information on to other sellers and buyers. Yes, I admit I even received Relocation Buyers from Open Houses. The real goal is to sell the house quickly for the most amount of money, that is what a seller wants. Period!

 

  Last weekend I went to an Open House in Culver City, CA. just as the listing agent was closing up her Open House. I spoke to her, she told me, she had over 100 people coming through in three hours. For argument’s sake, let’s presume only to forty or fifty potential buyers looked at the house. Giving the benefit that the rest were not in the price range or were just nosy neighbors.  She clearly was working for her sellers. How long would it have taken for her to get 40-50 people by appointment only to see the house? I followed up with her midweek, it turned out she received seven offers by Monday and they were all from the Open House. She ended up selling above asking price the home. This could not have been done to orchestrate that many buyers to go through the house in probably four or five days and the sense of urgency to write an offer would have been missed as well.

In my observation we do not need to be “apologizing to sellers” that we are picking up future sellers and a few potential buyers. They understand that is a byproduct of an Open House, the reality is all they care is for us to sell their home for the top dollar in the fastest time period. BTW it is easier on them if they do not have to have their home showroom ready every day vs. an Open House or two. Any way I look forward to your comments.

 

If you are considering buying or selling a home, a luxury home, luxury investment real estate, luxury vacation homes, or luxury beach properties in Southern California, Los Angeles, Century City, Westwood, West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Marina Del Rey, Venice or Malibu, feel free to contact me at 310.486.1002(m) or homes@endrebarath.com or visit one of my websites  at  http://www.endrebarath.com.  I am a pet friendly realtor and I contribute a portion of my commission to local animal rescue organizations

Comments (125)

Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Patricia Feager  there used to be a very arrogant but very successful Realtor here on AR he moved on... thankfully .... totally anti Open House  I wish he would read all the comments and then he could see  that there is another point of view:)) Thank you for your support and kind words, Endre

Mar 23, 2016 03:48 PM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Olga Simoncelli  thank you for adding to the conversation, Endre

Mar 23, 2016 03:50 PM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Doris Freeman  sorry to hear it, I suspect you are in a buyers market vs. a seller's market, Endre

Mar 23, 2016 04:01 PM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Eric Kodner  thank you for your positive comment, Endre

Mar 23, 2016 04:02 PM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Peter Mohylsky  please do not take this the wrong way, but it is not about "belief systems" rather it is about facts and results. As to your other point  just because you see posts deleted that is not a negative...please read through all the comments and you will see people do not all agree with my postion and their comments are there... on the other hand Spammers get deleted by Active Rain and only one post was deleted by them... me and a few other people have picked up 20 points for it:) Endre

Mar 23, 2016 04:07 PM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Mimi Foster  thank you for your comment and clarification to a newer members that I support  the  1st Amendment:) freedom of speech, I am also very opinionated hence I respect opposing views,Endre

Mar 23, 2016 04:10 PM
Kevin Morris
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Hodrick Realty - Danville, PA
Real Estate agent serving danville and surrounding

hello Andre, 

Love the post. I feel that open houses work in certain markets. Where i currently work the open houses generate very little interest. The other realtors in this immediate area tell me that the open houses are done for the seller and not as much for the Realtor. In a town 40 minutes away where we also have an office, open houses have a lot of people stop in. I think that there is a way to generate more interest here. 

My last open house was a bust and I did a lot of work to generate interest. It didnt help that it was a frigid day. 

Mar 23, 2016 10:32 PM
Shanna Day Team Leader (UT & AZ)
Keller Williams SLC (UT) and Keller Williams Realty EV (AZ) - Park City, UT
Keller Williams Realty

 I feel like in our current market, we need to do open houses to show our sellers we are doing everything we can to procure a buyer for "their" home.   We could go on for days of their effectiveness, but it does show good faith to our sellers firsthand that we are doing everything we can to market it.  

Mar 24, 2016 09:03 PM
Praful Thakkar
LAER Realty Partners - Andover, MA
Andover, MA: Andover Luxury Homes For Sale

Endre Barath, Jr. - perhaps second visit to your post - and I still like the fact that open houses do help listing agent promote their listing skills even more.

Mar 25, 2016 04:42 PM
Nancy Robinson Ranked #6 in MI
Century 21 Town and Country - Royal Oak, MI
#11 Century21 Realtor in the US, #16 in the World

It may be a market specific thing.... In my market open houses ARE a viable tool and  do generate potential buyers for the sellers and potential new customers for the  Realtors hosting them .   That has not always been the case but currently it is so.  

 

Mar 25, 2016 10:26 PM
Sybil Campbell
Fernandina Beach, FL
Referral Agent Amelia Island Florida

Hi Endre, I agree with your blog but an open house is only good if you get people to come through the house and in both areas where I have been licensed as a REALTOR, open houses were sometimes total "flops"!

Mar 26, 2016 03:16 AM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Margaret Kapranos  loved your comment summarizing how you went into this great profession, Endre

Mar 26, 2016 03:53 AM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Kevin Morris  I tend to agree with you that Geography, Preparation, Attitude and Timing are all important for a successful Open House, Endre

Mar 26, 2016 03:55 AM
Shanna Day Team Leader AZ & UT - Call 480-415-7616
Keller Williams Realty EV (AZ) & Keller Williams SLC (UT) - Mesa, AZ
Top 0.33 of 1% of 79,000 AZ Realtors

What an awesome story (true story)!   Love success on this level!   I would love to talk to that agent and find out how she got so many people thru - do you know how she did it Endre Barath, Jr. ?

Mar 26, 2016 07:34 AM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Shanna Day Mega Team Leader (AZ & UT)  thank you for both of your comments and to answer it: one it is a virtually no inventory market, second it was well priced for what it was, third she did all the things you need advertised on all the platforms including LA Times/paper and Internet and sent out invitations to the nearest 200 neighbors via an invite postcard delivered to each home...Endre

Mar 26, 2016 10:56 AM
Dagny Eason
Dagny's Real Estate - Wilton, CT
Fairfield County CT, CDPE Homes For Sale and Condo

OOOO   I DO AGREE!!!!     Well thought out and well written post !!    We also send out postcards when we have enough time...

Mar 26, 2016 10:44 PM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Will Allen  agreed and to highlight our value a well coordinated and executed Open House will showcase our skill set. Endre

Mar 27, 2016 10:48 AM
Endre Barath, Jr.
Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices California Properties - Beverly Hills, CA
Realtor - Los Angeles Home Sales 310.486.1002

Praful Thakkar  welcome back and I agree it does show the neighbors when one deals with a good, great or average Realtor. Endre

Mar 27, 2016 10:50 AM
Robert Vegas Bob Swetz
Las Vegas, NV

Back again Endre ...

WOW where did all these comments come from? You have been hitting home-runs at AR my friend which can really help your business with attention.

Apr 01, 2016 06:17 PM
Thomas J. Nelson, REALTOR ® e-Pro CRS RCS-D Vets
Big Block Realty 858.232.8722 - La Jolla, CA
CEO of Vision Drive Realty - Coastal San Diego

I used to do open houses, I do not anymore. I think they are great for agents trying to build a lead list, get established in a farm or become known "in person" to a neighborhood. I have not been successful selling a home from or picking up valid buyers from open houses. So, I figure my talents lie elsewhere. I do get most homes sold in 2 weeks from my massive Internet marketing and I build my databased from my referral network; to each their own. I do think the Internet has antiquated the need for open houses, as far as getting the property sold, but we still need to do them if we want to make fast & broad contact with a neighborhood or HOA community. I'm high-tone about my opinions, but I try to avoid being rude. FYI: you have a type-o: "The military calls it booths on the ground" should be boots.

Apr 10, 2016 04:21 AM