Should Real Estate sellers have
Open Houses?

Absolutely Yes! Many home buyers enjoying driving around looking for open houses. Many home sellers have sold their home thru open houses and saved themselves $1,000s in real estate commission. When selling your home thru a real estate agent, make sure you have the right to also sell by owner. Most real estate agents do not like to give this option to the home seller. The reason most agent frown on this, is because most homes are not sold thru the listing agent. The listing agent makes his portion of the commission whether he finds the buyer or not. Most home sellers do not know this fact. Only 10% of the time, does the listing agent actually sell the home and then he would make the full commission, which is typically 6%. If another agent sells his listing, then he splits the commission, 3% to him and 3% to the buyer's agent. This is why the MLS Flat Fee Listing Service is so valuable and helps home sellers save $1,000 in commission.

Many home sellers who wish to advertise their property to a larger market make the decision to hold an open house, and schedule a day where they invite people to come and examine the property. Is it beneficial for home sellers to go through the trouble of having open houses? Absolutely.

Of course, plenty of homes are sold through private showings and open houses between the home owner and the buyer. But the publicity of a well-advertised open house can bring in a larger group of interested people who might not have been exposed to the property otherwise.

Many people in the market to buy a home can't leave work or family to go house-hunting during the week; it can be difficult to find a time that works for both the buyer and the owner. Open houses make this simple. They are usually held on weekends, and all parties have plenty of advance notice. Not to mention the fact that a buyer at a well-prepared open house sees a much more pleasing display than one who is led through the house at 9:30 on a Monday morning.

However, all of this can come at a price. The number one concern among home sellers regarding open houses is security, for their possessions as well as their property. A seller who is already packing up to move might be very amenable to the idea of an open walk through, but one who is still living in the home would have quite a lot of preparation ahead. Things can, and do, get broken or stolen at open houses. It takes a great deal of time to organize a household's worth of belongings in such a way that several strangers poking through the house at once, trying to see how big the closets are, will not disturb them.

There is another security factor. Home owners are often just plain bothered by the idea of people seeing what they own and getting a chance to essentially case the joint. This is another reason why, if the owner is unable to store their property elsewhere during the open house, it may not be worth the risk.

Those who feel that an open house would be a good move in their market simply need to act smart. Request the help of your realtor, friends, and family, and pack away belongings. Provide adequate supervision in every room during the open house. If you would rather organize the open house into a series of guided tours, with one starting every fifteen minutes, this is a possibility (although you might lose one or two buyers who would prefer to wander free).

Basically, if your house does’t have a lot of curb appeal and is short on offers, it might be worth your time to let potential buyers get a free peek inside. It can be a secure and helpful step in the selling process, provided you take the time to prepare for it.