One of the questions I am often asked these days by sellers is, “If I put my house on the market, should I hold an open house?” This is a great question. The initial answer is that is evaluated on a case-by-case basis. 360 Real Estate avoids cookie cutter sales plans. With this in mind, let’s first take a look at the generally accepted advantages and disadvantages of holding an open house.
Advantages
- An open house can create some outstanding visibility and foot traffic to a new home listing which could, conceivably, shorten that home’s time on the market. This is especially true in a “buyer’s market” scenario when there are a lot of homes for sale and fewer potential purchasers.
- The ability for a lot of potential buyers to walk through your home at one time may lead to one of them falling in love with the property, neighborhood, and general location. The fact that open houses are generally held on weekends also gives potential buyers the time to walk through and explore your neighborhood, which can help them cement their decision about buying.
- The open house is a wonderful chance to “show off” your home. It is important that the home be staged to impress so that it compares favorably to other homes that visitors may be touring that day at other open houses. If your house stands out, this could lead to an impulse purchase.
Disadvantages
- Visitors to your open house may not be working with their own real estate agent which means that they very well may not be in the market to buy a home. You could end up getting more “looky-loos” than real potential buyers during your open house. These people tend to be curious or just killing time, which could be a waste of the time it takes to hold an open house.
- There is no proof that holding an open house increases the likelihood that a house will sell more quickly, or for more money. If this is in fact true, then it is probably not worth the inconvenience of having to leave your house for up to eight hours (if you still reside in your home).
- The fact is that no one likes to have strangers in their home, whether they are potential buyers or not. Some sellers want to have visitors only if they are escorted by their real estate agent and some just don’t like to have so much potential foot traffic which a successful open house will bring. 360 Real Estate is sensitive to these concerns and always honors the homeowner’s wishes in this regard.
Current Best Practices
Considering that the Treasure Valley is still one of the hottest seller’s markets in the country, the people we work with really have great options as to whether to hold an open house or not. As always, we tailor our sales plans for our clients on a case-by-case basis so there are scenarios where an open house might be recommended. 360 Real Estate looks forward to working with you, assessing your individual needs, and then providing you with our best professional opinion for your specific situation.