If you are trying to sell your home and contemplating doing
an open house, or having your Realtor do one for you, you should know that,
statistically speaking, open houses do very little to sell homes!
The National Association of Realtors put out a statistic
that less than 2% of homes actually sell as a result of an open house.
Serious buyers contact either the list agent, or their own agent to set up a
scheduled appointment to view the house. Perhaps years ago before the age
of technology (i.e., the internet), open houses may have proved more beneficial
in the marketing and selling process. However, today 92% of buyers start
their search online (again, a statistic from NAR), so having a good presence on
the world wide web is the best form of marketing for your home.
Getting your home ready for an open house and then vacating
for a 3-4 hour period on a weekend day, will not net much in the way of
bringing about a qualified, ready to purchase, buyer. Many agents who
have not stepped into the age of technology still sing the praises of open
houses. Sometimes, if they are fortunate, they may actually be able to
meet someone who may someday turn into a buyer as sometimes people will visit
open houses if they may be thinking about selling and purchasing at some point
in the future. People believe that they can get “ideas” on how they
should present their home when they put it on the market. Most often,
these people who visit open houses live in the neighborhood and they are trying
to get an idea of what other homes look like in their area such that they see
what their competition is like when the time comes for them to sell.
While holding an open house will not hurt your chances of
selling your home, it does very little to help. Seasoned agents who are
tech savvy understand this and don’t typcially hold open houses.
Sometimes if a seller insists on doing an open house, we’ll ask a newer agent
if they would like to sit the open house for us. We’d rather spend our
weekend days working with qualified buyers than sitting at an open house
waiting for the long shot of a qualified buyer walking through the door. There
are Three Things that Sell a Home. For more information on selling your home,
see our 43 Sellers Tips for preparing your home to sell.