We are talking about open houses.  Many sellers think that an open house is a must when they have their property listed.  In fact, some sellers feel that this should be done on a weekly basis to give them a heads up in procuring a buyer.  Actually, in this current market, there are numerous reasons for not doing an open house.

First of all, if your agent is agreeable and wants to hold your house open for public viewing for a few hours typically on a weekend afternoon, he/she can certainly do so with your permission.  Some agents like to hold open houses because it helps them meet more buyers, who they try to convert into clients.  They don’t necessarily have to buy the house that is being held open, the agent can sell them something else.

However, there are some caveats that I think all sellers should be aware of in this day and age. Unfortunately, not all people out looking at properties are serious buyers or even probable buyers.  Some people are out to see what a property might have to offer (in the way of goods to steal) so they can come back and break in at a later time when no one is home.  Also, there are some unscrupulous individuals who will do harm to agents that they can get alone in a property, whether just at a showing or at an open house. It just might not be worth the risk to hold a sellers house open in today’s market.

There are so many other ways to market property today, especially if the agent has a great presence on the internet, via a good website, office listings, etc.   Serious buyers today often start their property search on the internet (well over 90%).  Good agents will have many, many pictures of their listings along with slide shows/virtual tours, etc.  Before most buyers go into a property today, they have viewed it on the internet and pretty much know what that property looks like on the inside.  It is more like a second showing for these buyers.  The only time they are really surprised is if the pictures make the property look much better than it actually looks in person (something our team photographer is good at).

The internet almost makes open houses a thing of the past as a sellers property is actually open 24/7 when they list with an agent that has a terrific web presence (like we do).