Open Houses don’t sell houses!
Just one thing we can do to assist to get your home SOLD is hosting an Open House. Most times though Open Houses don’t sell houses! There we said it.
But is that really true?
Well Let’s talk about how we approach to having an Open House. Expect that an Open House won’t sell your home. But some homes are sold through an Open House. An Open House is our opportunity to meet potential Buyers and start the home buying process with them. It might sell another home we have, and an open house we have elsewhere may just sell yours. There are no guarantees.
Let’s talk about the types of buyers that visit an Open House and how we look at them:
- Nosy neighbors – they just want to see what your home looks like – we like the nosy neighbor they might
- know someone who might be interested in your home
- they could be thinking of selling and checking us out
- Bored Shoppers – looking to do something on a Sunday Afternoon, especially if it is raining
- Current Sellers – listed with another agent. We encourage you to check out the competition, so we expect that a percentage of our visitors are doing just that
- Recent Home Buyers – checking out the market to reassure themselves that they got a good deal
- Folks looking for decorating ideas – you never know, they might walk in and fall in love and decide to sell what they have and buy your home
- Buyers ready to purchase a home! We can compare them to fruit, and like fruit they come in varying stages:
- Green — they are ready to move, but something is holding them back, perhaps they have to sell an area home first
- Semi-ripe — Qualified Buyer who is ready to purchase when they find the right WNY home
- Ripe — These buyers are qualified, ready and must buy for one reason or another
Understand that we will take cues from the potential WNY Buyers that are visiting your home at our Open House. These buyers could be moving up, downsizing, they could be relocating, just wanting to move across town or they could be investors. Each have a different level of readiness to buy a home. If your home is not what they are looking for we are going to try and help them finding the perfect home. We will be pitching your home at our other Open Houses if appropriate to the buyer.
Now that you understand that Open Houses are just one aspect of getting your home SOLD. Interested in selling your WNY area home? Call us today at (716) 743-5297 to discuss how we can put a SOLD sign in your yard! Would you like to know what your home is worth in today’s Market? Fill out our form below.
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Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.
Chris Moran
Colleen open houses are one of the least effective forms of marketing for the all the reasons you indicate. Nationally the statistics speak volumes…less than 1% of all homes are sold through an open house. Most of the time Realtors do them for their own interests and not because they actually believe they are going to sell the home they are holding open. I also think there are many Realtors that do them because they don’t know how to tell and seller that they are not effective and they want to do something where they can “show” effort.
I like to refer to public open houses as a waste of a Sunday. There are so many other things that are more productive use on ones time.
The way I see it is a 1% chance is still a 1% chance to sell a home that may or may not sell through other means. As a home owner, I’d be expecting an agent to do EVERYTHING possible to sell my home – even if it means wasting their Sunday afternoon. I’d be more likely to hire an agent willing to try whatever it takes, than an agent that feels my homes 1% chance to sell isn’t worth their effort.
Pat,
I agree that some times it is important to do Open Houses. I also try and manager Seller expectations with regards to an Open House. The stats are you about selling a home at an Open House. Now I have sold other homes to people that I have meet at an Open House.
I really liked reading your blog. Awesome posts! Love your market reports!
Open houses are a great way to find buyers for Realtors, and for those that are looking for ideas for their own homes.
Very nicely said. Many thanks for your post!