I have to laugh at this cartoon because it is just how I feel. You sit there for two hours praying for someone, anyone, to come in and ward off the boredom. When you list a house, the first thing people want to know is when you are doing an open house. I had one guy who actally wanted me to do one every single day! Since 1995 until today at least, I have NEVER sold a house as the result of an open house – at least not the house I had open. See that’s the key. We may not enjoy doing open houses but we do them for two reasons. 1) To make the homeowner happy and give them something visible that shows we are trying to sell their house, and 2) it gets us new clients. People that come to open houses fall into three categories. First category includes the nosey neighbor or the professional open houser – the person who goes to open houses every Sunday as a form of entertainment. Seriously. At least, the nosey neighbor, I can understand. Second is the person planning to sell their own home. They go to open houses to size up Realtors. So I have frequently gotten another listing by having an open house. Third are actual buyers. But the odds of your house being THE house are very small. But it is an excellent chance for a Realtor to pick up buyers to work with. So if your Realtor does not do open houses, don’t think they are not doing everything possible to sell your house. Perhaps they are so busy working to sell your house and all their other listings that they don’t have time for that bit of self promotion.
Kate Eileen Shannon 