Does an Open House sell your home?

If you are a homeowner who is considering selling your home, you have probably began to interview several agents to list your home. Many of these agents have most likely given you many marketing tactics that they will use to get your house sold. One of the big ones they usually offer, is to hold weekly open houses to get potential buyers interested in your home. But is this really helpful in the sale of the home? Or does it just help the agent get clients?

With the help of technology and the internet, open houses are becoming obsolete. A lot of buyers have the ability to search for homes online, from the comfort of their home or office. Buyers want to save as much time as they can when looking for a home, and walking into a home from signs, just doesn’t prove to be as effective as the other means that are available this day and age. Maybe back 10 years ago, open houses were the way to go, but now they are becoming a thing of the past. Most of the time when an agent holds the open house on your behalf, they are doing it simply to pick up buyers or prospective clients. Usually what they get is all the neighbors coming through your home just to be nosey and alleviate their curiosity on the way you live. Most of the time, you get no traffic in the home. A lot of other agents come through the open house to see what type of inventory is out there, and possibly even for their clients. An agent is rarely ever successful in picking up a buyer at an open house. Most consider open houses to be a waste of time.

Most sellers these days are in a hurry to sell, and do not have time for looky lous to come ask them a million and one questions about your home. Some sellers though, really press this on their agents, leaving the agent no other choice but client satisfaction. Back when the market was hot, open houses were 50 percent effective in the sale of 2 out of 4 homes being sold by a buyer who came to the open house.

An open house generally benefits the agent more than the seller. Agents will hold them in hopes of picking up clients, or to simply get their name out there for referrals and such. Some agents will just feel they are a waste of time off the bat. They have to put out signs around the neighborhood, and a lot of times just sit, in a complete strangers home, and hope that some serious buyer comes in and writes an offer, most of the time that does not happen, causing the agent to become discouraged.

You and your agent can work together, to see if an open house would be effective in the sale of your home. Some agents may agree it would help to sale your home quicker. If it is newer and a hot item on the market. Your Real Estate Professional can use their best judgment to help you decide what works best for you. The agent has your best interest at heart.