The Often-Ignored Truth About Open Houses
In today’s message, I’ll address one of the biggest home seller myths in the industry and bring the truth to light on how open houses should (and shouldn’t) be used.
Often to the detriment of sellers, listing agents will place the open house front and center when it comes to their marketing strategy. Unfortunately, though, the results just aren’t there: In their studies, The National Association of Realtors has revealed that a mere 4% of home sales originate from an open house.
Despite the numbers indicating very modest success, neither the agents nor the public has backed away from this practice and it remains a popular means of real estate marketing today.
Now, I don’t blame the consumer, because agents often tout the open house as an effective tool, but rather than just letting your agent heavily depend on an open house to sell your home, it’s important to press them to lay out a data-driven strategy that will systematically lead to the sale of your home.
"In their studies, The National Association of Realtors has revealed that a mere 4% of home sales originate from an open house."
This isn’t to say that the open house shouldn’t be a facet of the sale, but when you’re interviewing your potential agent, get to the root of what they’re going to do to take control of the process and ensure that the buyer’s experience is congruent with what you want the buyer to be experiencing. That will determine who has the power and leverage of the negotiation.
Maybe you’ve noticed that my team and I do, in fact, conduct open houses. The reason behind this is that the open house is part and parcel of the staging element for our larger process. To that end, we spend the weeks leading up to our clients’ open houses pointing targeted traffic in the direction of the upcoming open house.
These real buyers, who we sought to reach ahead of time, will then commingle with the open house visitors. In this way, it changes the perception of competition for the home.
We invite you to stop by our office anytime to have a conversation with us regarding any real estate-related needs you have. I look forward to speaking with you!
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