How many ppl at a "successful" open house (negotiating, agent)

[cis_love]

so i had an open house for my condo today. i called my agent to ask how it went and he said it was very successful. i asked how many people came. i was kind of surprised when he said about 30. i've always been to open houses during very hot markets and it's always about a hundred at least in attendance.
am i expecting too much? it is in a hot area (1000 views on redfin in 24 hours).

[rrah]

Given the numbers you mentioned, I wouldn't call it successful if only 30 people showed up after 1000 views on Redfin. Depends on you market though. Is your market one of those red hot markets or is it more average?

How are you defining a "hot area?"

[cis_love]

that area is hot meaning condos like mine are sold within 1-2 weeks of being on the market.

[Lovehound]

I don't attribute a lot of importance to open houses. IMO they are more for Realtors to develop potential clients than to sell the specific house. It would be interesting to have statistics on how many successful sales come out of buyers dropping into an open house.

When I'm selling I go along with whatever my Realtor wants. I don't see a great benefit for myself, but I'm happy to scratch her back if she scratches mine. Good luck to her if she can find some buyers as clients. My houses are nice and if they are looking for a house like mine I'm willing to bet they'll really like mine. I keep my rentals in really top shape and I'm willing to go up against other sellers with confidence that my house is better.

So my advice to the OP is to not put much credence in open house attendance figures. Instead, have your Realtor report the number of showings occurring outside of open houses, other Realtors showing your house to potential buyers. Just picking a number out of the air, a dozen showings/week would sound good to me.

You really know you are there when you start getting offers, even if they start out as lowball offers. Stand your ground and if your house is priced right you will eventually find some offers near your asking price. In a good market you might be under contract in 4-6 weeks. In a hot market it might be as little as a week or 10 days. In a really hot market get ready for a bidding war!

[davebarnes]

Just one.
Your buyer.

[emotiioo]

Views on redfin don't amount to much IMHO. We were so popular with one of our listings we were featured in a national article about best housing listings in different geographic locations. All this means is that looky loos show up and take in your decorating for their own future listings. You could have a very popular open house that doesn't accomplish anything but show your neighbors​ where you cleverly placed your sofa. Don't sweat it.

[Lovehound]

The first thing you need to know about Redfin, Trulia, Realtor.com, Zillow, is that when you are selling a house just forget them. They have nothing useful to you, their statistics mean nothing (except possibly Zillow general market statistics but not specific houses).

By all means have your Realtor ensure that your house gets listed on them; you never know when some Internet person will spot your house on one of the free sites and get somebody to show them your house for sale. Just get your house on the sites but don't even bother looking at your listing. Views on a free site are low value views, 99% are just the idle curious.

The free sites can be good if you are in the market as an aid to exploring areas and houses without actually going there and looking at the properties in person. You can get a general idea of the houses that are available, their prices, but when you get serious as a buyer it's time to get a real estate agent in the area of your choice, describe what you want (which the free site may have helped you narrow down) and then get some real MLS listings, get professional showings of the properties that interest you from the MLS, not from free sites.

The free sites are only for those who haven't made up their mind yet. In fishing we call this "chumming" where we toss bait in the water to attract more fish into our fishing hole. These sites are also entertaining to look up your own house and amuse yourself what your current Zestimate is. That's harmless, but it's entertainment not real figures.

If you are selling, get your traffic figures from your Realtor and don't waste your time with open house traffic. Probably over half of that open house traffic came from neighbors who are checking out your house with a mind to compare it to theirs to find out maybe what their own house is worth. Myself, I attend every open house in my own neighborhood when I see the signs. If it's the same model as my house I track it until escrow closes and see what the selling price. Of course I was included in the open house traffic count--but what good did I do the seller by attending their open house? That is why I say that open house traffic is a practically useless figure, as useless as Zillow visits.

I condone open houses when I'm selling, there is a small chance it may bring in a buyer, there is a small chance a Realtor may bring their client to see your house, but I see open houses more as an opportunity for your Realtor to meet people and perhaps pick up new clients. And I don't begrudge her that. I like my Realtor; when we sell a house we work as a team. If she wants to open house me, why not? I lose nothing and maybe I'll help my Realtor. She'll appreciate that and do a better job for me because I'm a cooperative and open minded client.

The only traffic figures that count are the ones that come out of the Supra lock box, traffic from other Realtors showing your house to potential buyers. Get this statistic from your Realtor. This the important statistic and in fact the only meaningful statistic until you start getting offers.

[Jkgourmet]

To the seller, the definition of a successful open house is a reasonable offer.

To a realtor, the definition of a successful open house is finding a new client who is looking to buy a house. Getting a reasonable offer as a result of an open house is the proverbial brass ring.

I'm not saying against open houses, or disparaging realtors for holding them. But as a selling tool, they are low return and primarily done to make the client happy.

[Zippyman]

I wouldn't judge success based on how many people come through a home. It's not a popularity contest, it's a sales transaction.

With lots of professional pics, less people will tour the home & I think that's a victory. People see the home exactly how it is, warts and all & self-disqualify or already know they want it before they get there. Less time wasted & you already *know* anyone who looks in person is going to see the same things they saw in the pics and liked.

You only want one buyer, not five - if it's priced so low that five people want it right now, you probably left money on the table. After hearing of "bidding wars" in my area, I dug into the statistics here & wasn't particularly impressed - homes involved in "wars" only ended up a couple thousand over asking at best & at least a few fell out of contract shortly after the "battle" was over.. Buyers think you're lying about the other bidders & get cold feet after "winning"..

So they didn't always even close at the "war" pricing. IMHO, in a truly hot market, it's better to jack the price $5k or $10k & back off that pricing in a week or two if serious buyers don't materialize. Buyers don't seem to be that "generous" in bidding wars.

[Lovehound]

Good pictures are important. My Realtor provided that and paid the professional photographer out of her commission. After I saw the pictures I realized they were great! Much better than the pictures I had been using when the house was a rental.

What I seek is a properly priced house, not a wall flower (high DOM) and not a bidding war. I'd like to see a slow but steady of stream offers to work with, and see if I can negotiate one of them up into a selling price that I'll be happy with.

I think the best sales positioning strategy is to determine your bottom price that you think you could consider accepting, then pad it up to a reasonable degree to build in some negotiating room. The buyer will feel good that they dickered you down from the listing price, and you will probably get more than your worst case minimum you set.