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 For Today's Buyers 
& Sellers.

Do Open Houses Work?

 Sellers | 4 minute read
According to the National Association of REALTORS®, only approximately 1% of homes sell as a result of an OPEN HOUSE - which, to be honest, is always interesting to me because ... how in the world would you accurately measure that? 

Whatever the case, if we took that statistic and we were to evaluate whether an Open House is actually effective and ‘works’ to sell the house, the short answer would have to be - no.
Having said that, if an Open House was completely useless, agents would have long stopped doing them. 

what’s the purpose of an Open House?

Personally, I like to kick off a new listing with an Open House because it does two things: 

With the right marketing, it gets massive attention and creates momentum and excitement around the new listing.

Secondly, if it’s a really desirable home, price range and/or location, and it’s safe to say that we can expect a lot of showings within the first few days, it does make things a bit easier for the sellers because instead of having to accommodate 15-20 showings on a weekend, each, typically booking at least a 30-minute time slot, with a scheduled Open House, most of those prospective buyers will typically choose to preview the home during the Open House and then if they are seriously interested, come back with their agent for a more in-depth look.

The 'Nosy Neighbours' Myth

I think the are two reasons home sellers hesitate to have an Open House. Reason number one is that they typically don’t want ‘their neighbours snooping through their home’, and reason number two would be safety concerns - both are, of course, totally understandable. 

When I am selling a home, I think nosy neighbours are a goldmine. If you think about it, an average person knows approximately 500 people, whether that’s friends, relatives, people from church, sports clubs, work, school, social media connections, etc. 

And while most sellers tend to focus on the more negative aspect of having neighbours come through the Open House, I believe that, at the end of the day, neighbours want to have good neighbours -and will tell people they know about your home to get them.

So, before an open house, I like to go door to door around the neighbourhood and hand out some feature sheets and extend a special invitation to the neighbours because ... who knows? They might know someone that wants to move to the neighbourhood, and if we frame it the right way, we just might open some doors we didn’t even know existed, right?

After all, you always get what you focus on and, personally, I like to focus on positives, and that just seems to be working a whole lot better for me and my clients.

The second reason sellers are hesitant about Open Houses is safety and that, quite frankly, is a matter of proper professional representation and skill in mitigating risk. Lets be honest, having your home on the market and open to the public is never 100% risk free, but Realtors® have professional practices that protect our sellers and ourselves. It is my duty to make sure you can feel safe and at peace, knowing everything is well taken care of and your interests and your property are represented professionally and carefully. 

So the long story is that an open house is a great way to get a range of potential buyers through your home, and when done properly, the answer is yes, open houses work!

I hope this article helps you to look at the topic from a different perspective, and whenever you are ready to move, I’d be happy to dive deeper if you have any questions and help you make the moving process a truly positive and worry-free experience!


© 2022 - Current by Loralee Burns, 460 Realty, 102 - 626 1st Ave, Ladysmith, BC. All Rights Reserved. All information provided is deemed to be reliable but cannot be guaranteed. It is represented subject to errors, omissions, changes, or withdrawal without notice. MLS® property information is provided under copyright© by the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board and Victoria Real Estate Board. Not intended to solicit properties currently listed for sale.