Open houses are traditionally used by agents to show their clients (vendors) that they are doing something to sell their property and to promote themselves. At Shedden Real Estate, we keep it as an option for the client, but do not insist that we hold them and explain the risks to the client. For the agent open houses are a source of enquiry as the majority (70%) have no intention of buying the property yet it gives them names and numbers of people that live nearby or are interested in property. Personally, I don’t like open houses; as I would prefer to spend half an hour with a buyer, one-on-one, that is genuinely interested in the property than 6 or people that have no intention of purchasing. Let’s look at the drawbacks of open houses:-
Vendors
Strangers who have no intention to buy looking at your home
If there is a potential purchaser in the home and a loud mouth neighbour makes a disbarraging comment about it, you can potential lose the buyer
“overexposing” to the market
If there are only a couple of people in the open it is harder to sell on its exclusivity or that it is sort after
Contents insurance does not cover you for open houses
Buyers
You can’t hold the agents attention 100%
You can’t really have a private conversation if there are people floating around
You are limited to a set time for a set amount of time
Advantages
Yes we have sold homes to buyers that may not have seen the property if it weren’t for the open house sign on a nearby street
We may get someone who was passing by that may not have otherwise noticed it
Buyers feel anonymous and less pressured “to buy something they don’t want” at an open house
You can schedule your day around one time a week
If you want genuine buyers that are in a position to purchase your property, not large numbers of people coming through your home, DON’T have an open house. If you would like to know about open houses and selling your home you can reach me through the following channels
Email: info@shedden.com.au
Phone: +61 2 49261566
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sheddenrealestate
Twitter: @tironmanning