Open Houses are one of those things that people associate with real estate, but most people don’t put much thought into it more than that.
Open Houses’ importance varies by area. In smaller areas, open houses can be extremely helpful.
Whereas in gated communities or bigger areas, not much importance is put into an open house.
Why?
Well, buyers that are serious, usually will have a REALTOR® and will be preapproved. So many times, when a REALTOR® hosts an open house, they get nosey neighbors, or people that are bored who want to go real estate shopping for the day, as something fun to do. Rarely do you get serious buyers that are ready to buy THAT house.
So why do REALTORS® put up with doing open houses?
They want to make the seller happy, and do whatever the seller wants them to do, rather than showing the seller more productive ways to sell their home.
They do it to get buyers… for other properties. As I mentioned earlier, serious buyers have a REALTOR® and are being shown around by that REALTOR®. So the buyers that wander into an open house, usually are just starting the process of buying a home. And many times, they can’t afford that home. The REALTOR® can then offer to help them find other homes that meet their needs.
What good can come from an open house? Sometimes the feedback from an open house is helpful, because if you keep hearing the same complaint from everyone that walks through the door, it probably is something that should be addresses.