Open House - Good idea or waste of time?

None of the agents in our office hold open houses. I asked about this when I started and the common denominator was that homes rarely sell at an open house.

I'm wondering if the reason homes rarely sell at an open house is because the agents don't market them properly. What do you think?

Originally Posted by Thomas I'm wondering if the reason homes rarely sell at an open house is because the agents don't market them properly. What do you think?

I think you're probably right. Balloons and signs can only take you so far. I don't think the average real estate agent does much to draw a crowd to open houses.

Originally Posted by Thomas I'm wondering if the reason homes rarely sell at an open house is because the agents don't market them properly. What do you think?

If all you are going to do is slap a cheap ad in the newspaper, send out a few invitations, and put open house signs on street corners then you might as well skip it.

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.

IMO an Open House is most convenient for those buyers who are already out and about.

Originally Posted by WobblyBox If all you are going to do is slap a cheap ad in the newspaper, send out a few invitations, and put open house signs on street corners then you might as well skip it.

What other ways do you recommend?

I think they are basically a way for Realtors to pick up new clients more than sell the house that is open...

When I put my house on the market, one of my questions for my realtor was about open house. He told me when you see an open house, it's usually because of 1 or 2 things...
1.... The seller asked the realtor to do it,
or
2.... The house was on the market for a while, and the realtor needed to prove to the seller that they were doing SOMETHING proactively so that when the listing period comes up, they can have reason to keep the listing.

He told me that open houses simply don't sell houses. The best thing that might come out of it, is the realtor might meet some new potential buyers, however he said he'd get the same results by doing floor time (Staying in the office, waiting for the phone to ring, or someone walking in).

Frankly, I was surprised, but he's the expert.

Now having said all that... I NEVER would have looked at, let alone purchased the house I moved into a few months ago!!!

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.

Also, I believe it would be very difficult to track all the results of an open house through indirect means such as word-of-mouth from people who walked through but didn't buy, or even just mentioned seeing the signage for the open house.

I have always loved going to Open Houses. We've never seriously considered buying one though. We've lived in our home for nearly 40 years and will probably never move.

I think a lot of people go to Open Houses to see what's new these days and simply for the fun of it. We often get ideas for remodeling or redecorating when we go to these.