According to Zillow, open houses could sell a house, but don't count on
them as the be-all and end-all of your property listing. Open houses
tend to interest the tire kickers, and people who just want to entertain
themselves for the day by roaming through someone else's home as if it
were a museum. Often, they are not qualified, don't even know what the
house is worth, or still have something to sell and are just trying to
get an idea of what kind of house they can get in the area. But that
won't help you.
In truth, many agents are using your house as
their office for the day. They can pick up both buyers and sellers that
stroll in and that's why many real estate companies are eager to do
them.
A quality virtual tour that is going to give the buyer
an accurate representation of what the house looks like on the inside is
better. Yes, they do significantly cut down on foot traffic for a
listing, but the ones that have gone through the virtual tour and are
still interested in it, are far more likely to be ready and qualified to make an
offer.
A sure sign that a house is not getting much movement is an open house.
Usually when all else fails, realtors will hold an open house to appease
the seller and make them feel that something is being done. But the
truth is, when a listing has sat for a bit and an open house is done,
it's a clue that the property is not getting any action. For buyer's
realtors, this is an edge in the negotiations and just something else to
think about.
“Open houses are typically overrated," says Brett Clifton, owner of highly rated Press Personal Real Estate Support Services
in Seattle. "Most sellers think holding open houses increases the
market exposure of their house. The reality, at least in the Seattle
market, is that 95 percent of buyers are using a broker. So they can get
in every home any day of the week at a time that’s convenient for them.
The majority of the prepared marketplace doesn’t need the open house.”
With less than 2% of homes selling from public houses nationwide, the
efforts of you and your Realtor may be better spent elsewhere. Yes you
read that correctly a mere 2 percent of all homes are due to a public
open house!
The biggest take home message about real estate open houses is this – It
is really silly to think that a ready willing and able buyer is going
pass up scheduling a showing with a Realtor on your property if they are
really interested in seeing it!
Happy Investing!
No comments:
Post a Comment