You’ve put your home up for sale, you’ve prepped it for weeks to make it look as beautiful as possible for your big Open House event… and the only people who come and see it are your neighbors, who’ve been waiting to find out just what the inside of your home looks like. While Open Houses have traditionally been a valuable selling tool, have they lost their effectiveness among today’s more digitally focused home buyers? Here’s the article from U.S. News.
Despite all the changes technology has made in how houses are bought and sold, one standard feature of the process remains: the Sunday open house.
Shortly after a house goes on the market, the listing agent will set aside a Sunday afternoon to welcome prospective buyers (plus nosy neighbors) to see the house at its best.
But has the open house gone the way of the landline and outlived its usefulness? It depends whom you ask. Some agents believe modern life has rendered open houses unnecessary, while others believe they are more important than ever.
“It’s very, very important you have open houses, especially the first few weeks when [the home is] on the market,” says Steven Aaron, head of the Steven Aaron Realtor Group at Keller Williams Beverly Hills. “It makes it convenient for the buyers to come and see the house without an appointment.”
Craig McClelland, COO of Better Homes and Gardens Real Estate Metro Brokers in Atlanta, agrees about the importance of open houses.
“I think it’s a great way to expose the house to people who are driving around,” McClelland says. “People want that instant gratification. … People want to see it now.”
But some agents say that, far from finding open houses convenient, today’s buyers want to see homes on their own schedule. Kevin Kudrna, a team leader and broker for Redfin in Colorado Springs, Colorado, says he tells his sellers that the chance of selling a home to someone who attends an open house is so small that it’s not worth the trouble.
“In 2015, an open house isn’t what it used to be,” Kudrna says. More than 90 percent of buyers start their searches online, according to the 2014 National Association of Realtors’ Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, and the photos and videos let them rule out many homes without having to visit. “When the Internet started to bring all the listings online, people didn’t have as much of a need to go into the houses.”
Kudrna does admit there is an advantage to open houses. “When someone is looking into the neighborhood, it’s right there in front of them,” he says. But, he adds, “There are so few [open houses] it doesn’t provide much opportunity.”
Kudrna deals with a lot of buyers who are relocating and searching from afar. For those clients, he does personal tours via FaceTime or Skype. Even for local buyers, the photos and virtual tours provided with many listings may take the place of Sunday drives through neighborhoods, he believes.
