Why do some towns have lots of open houses, and other have none? (RE agent, agent)

[christina0001]

I am just curious. The town I am temporarily living in, has tons of open houses on Sundays, as does most of the neighboring towns as far as I have seen. But the town my husband and I are particularly interested in, which is appx. 30 minutes away, seems to have none. There are plenty of houses for sale in this town as well as the others. We have driven around two Sundays in a row, and not seen a single open house in this particular town. Doesn't that seem odd, or do you think we are just particularly unlucky in timing?

[CouponJack]

Originally Posted by christina0001

I am just curious. The town I am temporarily living in, has tons of open houses on Sundays, as does most of the neighboring towns as far as I have seen. But the town my husband and I are particularly interested in, which is appx. 30 minutes away, seems to have none. There are plenty of houses for sale in this town as well as the others. We have driven around two Sundays in a row, and not seen a single open house in this particular town. Doesn't that seem odd, or do you think we are just particularly unlucky in timing?

I'm not sure, but does it really matter?

What matters is that its seems like from your post that you have alot of choices.

Do you need to buy right away? Reason I ask is because inventory in most areas are still sky high w/no let up in sight.....If I was in the position, I would continue to rent and watch the prices drop....

Good luck.

[shellytc]

Different reasons. Maybe the owners don't want them because they don't usually sell the house the open is held at. Maybe the agents in that area don't find them particularly helpful in selling a house. Maybe the town is really, really strict about agent signs and pulls them (this does happen) when they see them, making it difficult. Maybe you ran into some bad luck.

Why not get an agent and plan to see homes on a Sunday that really, really interest you? Seems like you would get the opportunity to really see homes that meet your needs, instead of hit or miss?

shelly

[christina0001]

Well, our situation is this: we just relocated and are in a short term rental. My husband starts his new job 9/24; I am still seeking employment. Once we are both employed, we're going to get preapproved for a mortgage and then buy. We would like to buy soon because we're not too happy with our rental. Also we've been saving up for a long time and we are ready for our own place. But we don't want to waste a realtor's time; we will wait until we are settled in our jobs and approved for financing before we begin working with a professional. The town we really like is actually fairly small, and while we are open minded to whatever our future agent may suggest, we have narrowed our selection down to 8 houses based on space, price, neighborhood, etc. We'd love to see the insides, but I guess we will have to be patient for another few weeks or so.

Thanks for answering my question.

[SaraSatin]

My husband and I tried selling ourselves for a few weeks (to see if we could save money since our townhouse didn't appreciate much) and had 2 open house weekends. People showed up both Saturdays but nobody showed up either Sunday. Some areas just don't get people coming on Sundays so agents don't run open houses. You should take a look online or in the newspaper to see if there are open houses listed for Saturdays, it might just be that the people in that area don't really run them on Sundays.

If Sunday is your only day to look then you probably do need to get an agent so you can schedule viewings instead of going to open houses.

[WendyK]

A good agent will be patient and work with you for as long as it takes to find the right home. I have clients I'm working with now who won't be buying for 6 months to a year or more from now, but I still keep them informed of what's available. It would be a good way to get to know your agent very well over a longer period of time. If you've already decided on 8 houses that you really want to see inside, your agent (when you select one) can keep them "saved" and let you know if any get offers, price reductions, come off the market - whatever might happen until the time you're pre-approved and ready to buy. It's not too soon to find someone you feel comfortable working with and start looking at the houses you like.

[shellytc]

Christina, if you are truly motivated, you won't be wasting an agents time... in fact they may even have some helpful hints for your new job!! They usually stay clued into the business scene and may know who is hiring, etc.

Shelly

[christina0001]

Wow, I never saw it that way. I didn't think an agent would want to work with us if we were not approved yet. Well, if that is the case, maybe it is not too soon to start interviewing agents then. I have 2-3 I wanted to meet with and see who would be the best match for my husband and I...maybe that is something we can start on next week. It would feel good to have our agent picked out. And Lord knows we have nothing else to do right now. lol

[palmcoasting]

Look in the newspapers to see if there are open houses... some cities will not allow signs to be put out to advertise an open house so agents are left with only advertising in the newspaper.

[jimj]

From a sellers point of view, we never do "general public" open houses. We have done realtor open houses but found that a general open house mostly attracts nosy neighbors,people looking for decorating tips,people that are just bored and after all that they usually only benefit the realtor by generating new customers for them, not that it's a bad thing but that is not what I opened my house for.
We found this out after holding a couple of opens on a couple of different houses we owned and by the end of the day our realtor's explained usually that's what happens. Plus, now days you don't know who is coming to your open house or why. Could be a crook checking out your house to come back later, could be any number of people with nefarious intentions. At least if they have an agent hopefully they have passed the "smell" test.
Not worth the risk IMO.

Except for new construction I prefer not to go to open houses, I would rather have a set appointment where I know no one else but us and our agent will be there so I can speak my mind and not feel pushed and really look.