Sellers- Experiences with Open Houses on Long Island? (hardwood floors, apartment)
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When you were selling your house, did you find that having open houses was a useful selling tool? Or was it a waste of time, with most lookers not serious buyers? My gut tells me that it's a waste of time for the seller, but I'd like to hear about your experiences (I have actually heard that agents love doing open houses, but not because it's a necessary tool to selling the house- they like doing them to drum up new business not related to the actual house they're trying to sell- I actually had an agent confide in me that this is why she loves doing open houses so much). Any input you could give me would be very helpful- thank you!
We sold our house on an open house - we actually had 3 people with competing bids and they had all come to an open house. We got a huge amount of traffic but I do think about 1/3 of the people were neighbors and other looky-loos.
If your house is in top condition and priced competitively it can generate a buzz like we had with multiple offers. Otherwise, it's probably not worth it.
My house had a lot of interest last Dec as a result of an open house and then 2 couples made appointments to return and then both made offers.
My reasons for liking the open house were purely selfish. It is very disruptive to have to open your home up at all hours to have people come when it works for them but that is what you have to do. For example, my dinner hour was between 5:00 and 6 p.m., I had it put in the listing (brokers notes) that the house would not be shown during that hour unless it was a second showing.
I did not want to be present for the showings so had it not gone as fast as it did that meant vacating with my dog while people are shown the house. It is stressful enough to go through selling a house so I tried to limit the stress as best as I could.
My home actually was scheduled to do an open house on the Sunday before Hurricane Sandy hit. The warnings were up so the broker cancelled the open figuring no one would show. Then we had no power for two weeks and no one was looking or showing homes. Our first open was Dec 8th and they came back during the week to look again.
I only go to open houses that I am interested in. I don't waste others time and don't have time to waste on houses just to be nosy. I bought my last house after going to its open house. That said, I work with a guy whose wife drags him to every open house there is just to see what others have. They are not even interested in moving.
In general I think it's a tool for agents to get more business. We went to a few this spring, the first thing the agent asked was what type of home we were interested in and our budget. We asked her to just show us the house we were standing in, her open house! If I was the seller I'd be pissed That said, we bought our current house by first visiting it at an open house....
yes they can be a waste of time but when you're trying to sell the bottom line is you want as many eyeballs as you can looking at the property. Why limit your universe of potential buyers?
I sold my manhattan apartment via open house FSBO.
As a buyer, I looked at 95% of all houses via OH. If I saw a house I really liked online or spec out by a R/E agent, I would make an appointment. It is a real pain to schedule appointments. For many weeks, I would knock down about 6 OH on a sunday. After looking at many houses, I started to learn a lot about what I was looking for
I bought my last 2 houses from OH. All new listings have OH and if they are desirable are sold fairly quick. Houses you need to make an appt for tend to be homes that have been on the market for a while and are not as desirable.
As a buyer I like busy open houses. That way I can look at the important stuff (roof, mechanicals, etc) instead of dealing with the agent on duty yapping and pointing out the obvious (hardwood floors, stainless appliances, etc).
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