If you let them, they’ll come by car, on foot–sometimes even by boat, bus, motorcycle or bike.
They’re the swarming masses seeking to see the home you have for sale: a highly varied group ranging from professional real estate agents to snoopy neighbors with nothing better to do with their free time than visit open houses.
Should you allow open houses at your property? Yes, especially if you live in a neighborhood where the demand for homes exceeds the supply, real estate specialists say.
In hot neighborhoods, it’s much easier to let visitors come en masse than to have them make appointments one by one, inconveniencing you more often when they visit individually than by group, says Jolaine Merrill, a broker-associate for Coldwell Banker.
There are two main kinds of open houses.
The best-known is a public open house, which requires no invitation. Anyone can simply stride into your home during a specified time span–typically a Saturday or Sunday afternoon.
Less well-known are the so-called “brokers’ opens,” which are restricted to local real estate agents who work for various firms in your area. These are usually held around lunchtime on weekdays. In some regions, they’re such well-organized events that a bus is used to pick up agents from various firms and drive them from home to home.
In addition, there’s a third sort of event that involves showing your property to real estate agents. Known as a “caravan,” this typically involves a weekday visit by all the agents from one office to all the newly listed properties of their colleagues. (Occasionally, the word “caravan” is used to mean brokers’ open and vice versa.)
While technically not an open house, a caravan stop at your place could help sell the home the same way that a brokers’ open does–by giving many agents a glimpse in the hope that they’ll bring buyers through.
Here are three pointers on the art of showing your home to groups:
– Be sure at least one brokers’ open house is held at your place.
Homeowners don’t always grasp the value of an event held to introduce their home to real estate sales people. After all, it’s unlikely an agent will buy your property, correct?
That’s true. Still, agents are much more willing to show a place to their home-buying clients if they’ve previewed it first. They don’t want to embarrass themselves by showing an unsuitable property to a client. Hence the desire for pre-screening.
“It’s scary to walk in and show a house you haven’t seen,” says Bobbi Courselle, a Re/Max broker associate who formerly managed two independent real estate offices. Also, agents are loath to waste their clients’ time, Courselle stresses.
Suppose an agent named Stephanie has compiled a list of 30 homes in a client’s price range and preferred community, yet Stephanie has seen just six of those properties. Then suppose that for this Saturday afternoon–when her client has two hours to see property–Stephanie has time to show him just four homes. Chances are good that those four will be drawn from Stephanie’s preview list.
Of course, an agent can always set up an appointment to preview properties one at a time. But by holding a brokers’ open house, you greatly increase the odds of a home being previewed by agents representing buyers. Hence, you improve your chances of selling the home quickly, and for a healthy price. “Brokers’ opens are an outstanding way to market a property to the real estate industry,” Merrill says. “If an agent is not familiar with your home, it isn’t in his repertoire.”
– Make sure your agent offers food at a brokers’ open house.
“I always serve food, usually deli sandwiches,” Merrill says. “Food makes the other agents hang around a little longer, and the extra time helps them remember the house.”
A brokers’ open is akin to an informal business luncheon. Assuming your listing agent is a cordial host, the other agents should leave with a pleasant recollection of your forest-green townhouse on Pine Street and your agent, Tony. A remarkable number of agents recall a property best as “Tony’s new listing on Pine Street.”
Also, the longer agents linger at your townhouse, the longer they’re likely to remember some of its lesser-known features, which don’t fit in the ads for the property yet could still appeal to buyers if mentioned to them. These could include such items as sweater shelves built into a walk-in closet and a trash compactor in the kitchen.
– Accept public open houses for what they have to offer. Realty agents like to schedule public open houses because, frankly, they’re good bait to capture potential home-buying clients.
Merrill allows that the odds of you selling your home directly through an open house are 5 percent at best.
Yet if you take into account indirect sales, the number goes up to 10 percent, in Courselle’s opinion. These include sales to friends of neighbors who happen by or to home-buying clients other than those a particular buyer’s agent has in tow when taking his first batch of customers to an open house at your home. (After all, buyers’ agents are typically looking for more than one set of buyers during the same time period.)
It’s true that public open houses can be more disruptive of your schedule because they usually require you to clear out on a weekend afternoon. They also pose more of a security risk for your valuables.
But the chance of losing your valuables can be reduced by hiding small items that are normally in plain view (such as a gold bracelet or a camera). Having more than one agent present also helps keep track of visitors looking through different areas of the home.
Still, if demand for homes is high in your neighborhood, you can spare yourself a lot of disruption by receiving many potential buyers in one afternoon. Furthermore, in a hot market, a well-attended open house can generate the excitement of an auction house, pushing up prices, Courselle says.
And though it’s unlikely you’ll sell your home through a public open house, you never know who might make a spontaneous visit and then happen to like the place.
Courselle remembers how, a few years ago, a charming little ranch-style house was sold to a couple who happened to be peddling by on their bikes during an open house.
The wife was a doctor and, because her husband was still in law school, they had expected to wait until he was practicing law before purchasing a place. But after seeing the house, they were so delighted that they hopped on their bikes and went back to their apartment for a checkbook. They bought the home that same day.
Why does Courselle recommend that you allow public open houses at your place? “Because there’s always the off-chance that someone will come in and like your floor plan enough to buy the home,” she says.
