Do open houses really work? (agent, commission, sales, property)

[beckycat]

What are opinions on an open house when you first put the house on the market? Does it make it easier to show it to everyone at one time? This is all considering that there is a low inventory of homes at this time.

[Heidi60]

Use a sell it yourself company and save a lot of money and headaches. As you said, there is low inventory of homes so all you need is a real estate lawyer to be sure you didn't miss anything. Absolutly no reason to pay a sales commission and lose your hard earned equity with so many buyers wanting to pay cash!

Open houses are only for sales people to troll for buyers for any property, not necessarily yours. Also, read other threads on CD showing the results of hidden cameras in open houses. Theft and snooping is a problem when you turn over your home to someone else.

[mkarch]

Sometimes they do sell houses, but that isn't usually the point.

If you're worried about people snooping, just buy yourself a gold blazer and rent a Mercedes for the day and go undercover as a real estate agent.

[accufitgolf]

Quite a few lookie lous do ride around Sun and Sat afternoons looking at houses for sale to get a feel for the area.

I think that if there are enough signs leading one to the specific house from nearby busy roads, an Open House could work. If simply a sign in the yard, unless the house is on a major road is useless.

My realtor used to put out 3-4 signs leading people in to the neighborhood.

[davebarnes]

The buyer of our house first saw our house via an open house.
We had 26 open houses and 63 showings during the 7 month selling process. Remind me never to repeat that experience again.

[raveabouttoast]

^ That sounds terrible.

I had an open house and sold my 2 days later.

When I was looking to buy, there was an open house at one place that had to have about 60 people in it. That was sold a day or two after the open house too.

So, they can work. All you need is the right person to see it.

[jghorton]

According to some Realtors, the odds are against finding the right buyer, for a specific house on a particular day when an Open House is being held. However, the odds are pretty good of finding a potential buyer for a house somewhere --- and if they come-in without a Realtor of their own, the listing agent will probably have 'just the perfect house for them ... in his back pocket.'

[titaniummd]

I think they're a waste of time for the seller, in my experience. Especially, in a slow market.

For a buyer's point of view, they're not helpful, either. I never felt compelled to buy a house that had a showing, like this.

[LegalDiva]

We go to open houses every weekend and if there is a house we like, we would not hesitate to make an offer. When we list our house, we also plan to hold an open house. The more traffic we get, the more chances of finding a buyer!

[Ultrarunner]

I did a Saturday and Sunday open house from 1 to 5 and put it in the paper...

I'm not a Realtor and the weekend open house sold my house back in 2003.