Do Open Houses Work?
Quite often when being interview by a seller, we are asked….“What about open houses??? Do you do them??” Our answer to most people is…While we are willing to do open houses they are not as effective as most people think.
Statistic show that 1 out of every 100 people that come thru an open house actually buy the house that is being held open. Even with internet advertising and newspaper adds, most people find open houses by following the signs in the neighborhood. Sometimes it is nosy neighbors or people just looking for decorating ideas.
Therefore, when walking into an open house, the public knows nothing about the house. They don’t know the price, taxes or amenities therefore creating a lot of unnecessary traffic thru ones home.
This is usually a great opportunity for a REALTOR to find some buyers to work with. Most people that visit open house and are really considering moving are not loyal to a REALTOR, giving the agent that is holding the open house an opportunity to provide their services to that buyer.
On the other hand, because statistics show that 1 out of every 100 people that come thru an open house actually buy the house that is being open, you do have a remote chance of selling your home through a open house.
If you have 6 people come through an open house on a given weekend, you will have to have about 17 open houses to get 100 people thru. That is 17 weekends that you, the seller, have to be gone for 3 to 4 hours so that your agent can host the open house. Since most people work and use their weekends to catch up on household chores, hosting so many open houses becomes very inconvenient to the seller.
Now the questions is…Is the person who is going to buy your house the 1st person thru, the 50th person thru or the 96th person thru?
When looking to hire a real estate agent to market and sell your home, you want someone who knows what it takes to get the results. The results are just not there with open houses. Hire a REALTOR with an aggressive marketing plan that is going to get you ALL the exposure that you can possibly get. The more people that know about your home, the more likely you are to sell quicker and for a good price.
Let’s face it….if the results were that great, there would be no room on the street corners with all the open house signs.
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I’m Dan Forbes and I want to be your Realtor and resource for all your Bradenton Real Estate needs. Visit me at BradentonRealEstate.com
