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Hi. My realtor would like to have one but in my opinion serious buyers will make an appt. When I have bought and been serious to buy I made an appt to see a house. I only go to open houses to look but not really ready to buy-just testing the waters-just my opinion as a seller. I would appreciate more views from the professionals on this forum. We are in NY. Thanks-
Very few homes are sold by OH. Here there have been dishonest people going to OH's and stealing stuff, even hurting the agent. It doesn't happen a lot but it does happen.
You have a lot of unknown / unqualified people wandering around your house unescorted (they split up).
It is a chance for your agent to meet buyers to build their business.
But there is about a 2% chance you might sell your home. It's a risk but it does pull people into the house to see.
People who are in "Buy" mode DO go to open houses.
But, the odds are that if 10 people come to your open house, none of them are your buyer.
2% is about right, although there can be regional differences.
I am very comfortable holding vacant homes open, but not very comfortable holding occupied homes open, for the security reasons Rakin mentions.
If you let your agent open your home, remove all valuables, which you should already have done anyway.
And don't allow sales materials for any other property into your house.
The reason for an open house is to sell the subject property, and all activities carried out on the property should be focused on that goal.
Generally speaking, the exposure afforded by an Open House can't hurt your chances of getting sold. Having said this, the liklihood it will get sold as a result of an open house is somewhere between slim and none, in my neck of the woods.
I found one buyer for a listing at an open house, that they would have seen the next week with their agent about 5 years ago. I don't do them anymore unless a seller insists, I find that the attendees either already have agents or are so far away from buying or nosy neighbors that I'd rather show homes to buyers who are pre-approved and have an agency contract during those hours.
We bought our house a few months ago because we saw it at an open house. In my area, there are tons of houses for sale. It was easier to knock out 4-5 in a Sunday afternoon and have our realtor make appointments for another 2-3 after work during the week (rather than trying to see 8 houses after work). Not many sellers were thrilled with vacating their house on weekend afternoons (which is when we were free to go out).
I don't think we ever would have asked our realtor to go look at it. It was slightly out of our price range, and we wouldn't have wanted to "waste" our realtor's time, so we went and peaked on our own, fell in love, and put in an offer that evening. So did 4 other people that same day, so the open house worked for them.
My agent flat out told me it was to build her business by finding "lookers" without an agent. They will buy eventually. Also, she thought that people might have friends who were seriously looking and they might tell them about it.
I did have one friend who sold her house to someone who saw it during an open house on the last day of the listing, but that is quite unusual.
It's the 'shotgun' approach, or the 'rifle' approach.
Open houses cast a broad net to an unknown audience. Mostly neighbors, nosely folks, or people who have nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon. My realtor will not do them unless the seller insists.
The rifle approach targets those buyers who are qualified, don't have a house to sell, and are ready to buy. You see a LOT less traffic, but you know you are dealing with people who are in fact buyers.
To each their own. The latter is more work, but probably generates better results than the shotgun approach.
I've never found a buyer for a listing during an open house. The number of attendees has dropped to almost nothing in my area. I don't do them anymore.
It isn't just "valuables" they steal. A local agent had the silverware stolen off a table (the seller had set the table with nice plates and silverware) during an open house. The group split up and she was upstairs chatting with part of the group while the other part was stealing things downstairs. Anything they can sell at a pawn shop is up for grabs.
Thank you for all of your replies-I am feeling uncomfortable about it so we are not going to do it.
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