Open House In Real Estate: Should You Or Should You Not Go For It?

Planning to sell your home? What sales tactic you wish to follow??? Do you wish to consider the old age tradition of conducting an open house or would you like to opt for some other marketing strategy your real estate agent has planned for you?

Open house is a hot topic in real estate industry. It is highly debatable since it has both advantages and disadvantages both for the real estate professionals as well as house owners. Some sellers might have a keen interest in having an open house since it would help sell their homes whereas the others might feel it’s a waste of time. Similarly, while some real estate agents might be of the view that these open houses are important and helpful in cracking a deal there are others who might just not pay any heed to it and some others who might conduct them periodically. Some agents, who have never made a sale through this, might brainwash your mind against it, whereas there may be few others who might advocate it as a crucial way to find prospective home buyers.

No doubt conducting an open house might increase the exposure of your place, but many people are skeptical as to whether it actually increases the overall chances of a successful sale happening. The increased exposure might prove beneficial for your home but there are many other factors that need to be considered before conducting an open house.

So, whatever decision you take, all the possible positive and negative outcomes should be analyzed thoughtfully and one should be well aware of the expected outcomes.

The Cons of having an Open House

1.    Risk of theft: Once you plan to hold an open house, it is advisable to remove all the expensive and precious items before the event. An open house might give an open invitation to make the theft and might just increase the possibility. There might be people who walk into your home just to get an idea of the space, of the valuables they can take and how they can later get in on their own and burglarize the place. So it is important to discuss with your real estate agent and take all the precautionary steps before conducting the event as later on no realtor will take the onus for the missing things. People walk into the houses for sale but later on steal things whether the house is unoccupied or even occupied at times.

2.     Security issues: Another major drawback of having an open house is that the chances of break-ins and theft increase especially in case of vacant homes. Open houses give an opportunity to the criminals to carefully explore the home, look for security weaknesses and other access points and plan out the crime to be done later on. Since anyone can come inside, there can be some strangers wandering in your home for vicious reasons and might be under zero or no supervision at all. So before holding such an event, one should always keep the security issues on priority.

3.    Unqualified buyers: Another flaw of holding open house is the possibility of unqualified prospects attending the same. One would never like those people walking around your home who cannot afford to buy it and it is very difficult to screen the open house attendees on the basis of their purchasing power. At times many people just stop to check in how beautiful your house is or how well you have decorated your home or just to get some innovative ideas to design their own houses. 

4.    No personal attention: At times, many good opportunities can be missed in case things get too busy or place gets too crowded. Many prospective buyers miss the chance of speaking to the real estate agents or seller and might return on a later date to really check whether the things are in place.

Positives of holding an Open House

1.    Helps in attracting first time buyers or buyers who need help in the home Buying Process:  Buying your own home is the biggest and the most important decision and investment of a person’s life and it often needs guidance, some sorts of tips and help in the entire process especially for people who don’t know from where to start. In case of an open house, any prospective home buyer can stop on seeing such an event happening and get all sorts of important information from the host. More number of buyers, of course, qualified ones, is always good for the seller.

2.    Additional exposure: It is of paramount importance for the seller that his home should get maximum exposure through a strong marketing system in order to get sold with ease and comfort. Open houses can lead to additional exposure of the house and any sort of marketing strategy followed to promote the open house will always be beneficial for the same.

3.    Buyers are not under any pressure: Open houses are normally very laid back events that allow the visitors to tour the home casually. They give them an option to take their own time in analyzing the house as per their requirements and make a choice without putting any extra pressure on them by the realtor or seller. However, there are some agents who don’t miss the chance of hard selling their client’s home.

4.    Beneficial for the realtor: Holding an open house is not only advantageous for the seller and buyer but even for the real estate agent. Many potential buyers who attend the event develop a good rapport with the agent who in turn gets an opportunity to convert this buyer into one of his buyers.

Thus, having an open house is overall beneficial as the seller can get enough time to vacate his home and clean, primp and stage it accordingly. Scheduling the event‘s day and time in advance will also help the buyers to spare time from their busy schedule and visit the house on the set date.