Open House - Good idea or waste of time?

Originally Posted by Ricardo I'm surprised to hear that so many people don't value open houses. I would have thought it was worthwhile for the agent, if only to have a high profile in the market.

This is a potential but you have to take into account ROI. You have to ask yourself if it is worth sitting on an open house for however many hours or is there a more effective way to achieve the same or better outcome.

Originally Posted by Derek From a buyers perspective, I see no value in an open house. When I was shopping and I saw a house that I was interested in looking at, I would call my realtor and they would set up a time for me to go through it. To me, that is more convenient.

Another buyer's view may just be one of my personal quirks but I'll tell it anyhow. When I was looking for a home two years ago, I was looking for my dream home. (Every house has the potential to be *someone's* dream home, right?) I was so thrilled when I found it that I was upset to see another realtor bringing someone through the house the first day *we* looked at it.

I guess what I'm saying is that if there'd been an open house with many people looking over, I realize that I may not have even gotten the house and that's a sad thought. If I'd be a realtor, I think I'd much rather match up people with their dream homes one by one instead of throwing such a wide net.

OPEN HOUSES:

Just look at all the mission statements Realtors make on their website, many, in fact all of them trot out pages of we are the best eager-beavers in the business [anyone care to adopt this phrase as their trademark, ask at checkout for a payment slip] so Open Houses surely are a means of showing buyers in a positive way your sales commitment to them. Your delivering.

Once a year a number of home builders take part in the Parade of Homes. It's a huge event and the public tours all of these wonderful houses. I feel certain that it has to bring business to the builders and probably the realtors too.