I recently posted this comment to a Tacoma News Tribune blog post regarding the effectiveness of open houses.
Open houses are generally held to satisfy seller’s expectations. Many sellers have been “sold” on open houses by prospective listing agents during their marketing presentation.
Several years ago I read a National Association of Realtor(r) survey that stated one in 350-400 homes held open were sold as a result of the open house (sorry can’t find a reference to the survey). This survey didn’t include open houses held at new home plats. Obviously, their inclusion would highly skew the numbers in favor of open houses.
Agents hold open houses to acquire buyer clients, not to sell houses. Now days, some 80% of buyers already have an agent, so open houses are not as effective as they used to be (for agents looking for buyer clients).
Broker open houses generally only benefit the “lunch bunch”. Listing agents typically “bribe” other agents to come to their broker’s open house with meals, Starbuck coupons, lottery tickets, etc.. The same crowd makes the rounds weekly.
If an agent is working diligently for their buyer clients, why would they wait for the house to have a broker’s open before seeing it? I monitor the MLS often twice a day so my buyer clients will have the “first shot” at new listings. Wait for a broker’s open for me to see it? No way.
On the other hand, if you’re an agent working a particular area in general, broker open houses are not a bad way to keep abreast of the inventory while socializing with fellow agents.
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1 Office Tours and Broker's Open House Bribes // Aug 31, 2007 at 8:27 am
[...] yes, the office tour… I concur. It’s a poor excuse for marketing offered up to anxious sellers. It always bothered me that [...]
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