Years ago, the “open house” concept worked pretty well, quite a few homes sold as a result of an open house.  Not anymore though…national statistics show that less than 3% of homes sold are due to an open house.

Ever notice that most of the open houses are done by rookies in the business?  The big hitters should be the ones doing them, right?  I mean, after all, they have the best track record of sales…why aren’t they doing the opens?

The simple answer…because they don’t work, it’s boring and the big hitters have big data bases to prospect in.  What’s that got to do with it?

Most every large brokerage will have a posting place where various realtors offer any agent who’d like to,  do an “open” for them.  They know they probably won’t sell the home they’re sitting in…for about two to three hours…but, they may get some contacts who are looking for other homes, in different price ranges.  The rookies need leads…hence the open house game.  Do any of the big hitters do their own?  Sure, but few and far between. (See the article above from other realtor sources.)

Now, here’s why most people don’t want to do an open house: they clean it all up, vac, scrub, put on soft music and maybe get some bread or a pie going in the oven.  Then, they have to dissappear for about three to four hours…not fun for the average family.  When they come back to the house, they find out that some of the visitors were neighbors and others were just curious and not even qualified for the price on the house.  (That is if anyone did show up?)  Add-on…someone used the toilet and something is missing.  Security is another valid issue, where a home seller is doing their own open house.  And, how do you feel about the realtors being there to get leads for other properties?

Once you’re on the MLS, prospective buyers are going to find you, especially if the broker that listed it has “broker reciprosity,” like we do, a system where their listings go into all other broker’s web sites.

The yard sign in front of your home, purportedly, will be responsible for 17% of the success you have…get the sign up…skip the “open house.”

If you feel you want to pursue every possibility to sell your home and want a realtor to do “opens,” find out what that realtor is going to do with any traffic that does come through…what are they going to say and do…and…make sure they give you a sign-in-log, with names and phone #’s,  so you can follow up.  Make sense?

If you care to hear more about the process, give me a call and I’ll tell you much more.

We’ll be back on 9/3/2008 with a “marketing your home” message.

Ed Klein