I'm guessing that if you are reading this and you have sold a home you have also had an open house. How did that go for you?
Open houses provide additional opportunity to advertise, they provide traffic through your home, they can get the home a little more attention than it might otherwise be experiencing. These all sound like good things and in some cases they actually lead to finding a buyer.
The open house is an excellent resource for Realtors to pick up buyers. Realtors who are hungry for business will do open houses to meet potential buyers before they have started a relationship with an agent. Most open house visitors are out getting a feel for what the market has to offer and they have not yet decided to find an agent they trust to help them with their search. This is prime time for the visitor to meet Realtors while they are viewing homes and they will find someone they are comfortable with. I don't think that people realize they are doing this. They are more excited to look at houses. Once they become ready to buy they will often go back to one of these agents they met, remembered and trusted.
Many fellow agents tell me they have sold homes from open houses. The majority tell me that they are only there to pick up future buyers and that they don't expect to actually sell the home they are opening.
My experiences have left me somewhat sour on the process. I see all of the neighbors, not a bad thing though, they may know someone who is interested. But...do you really want them roaming through your home and nosing into your personal life? As an agent I would constantly be on guard watching to make sure that no pilfering was going on, making sure that no windows had been unlocked leaving a method of entering into the home later when unexpected and unwelcome, medicine cabinets are left untouched, etc.
It is my opinion that couples with young kids NEVER have an open house. Why would you want to allow a stranger to know the layout of your home, to know there is a child living there, and to create an easier opportunity to hurt you and your family?
If you have medication that would be desirable to someone for a non-medicinal purpose, prescriptions with 'street value' and you want to have an open house then you need to remove all of these items and take them with you. Please do not leave them in the home.
If you have small things of value laying around your home you should put them away in a safe place where they are out of sight.
Realtors try so hard to follow visitors around and make sure that they are monitored but if you get more than one family or group of visitors into the open house it becomes impossible to be everywhere. We also try to monitor clients who we are showing but sometimes it gets difficult. If we have a couple and they go two separate ways, we are only one person. Get it? I've had sellers be upset because a buyer locked a door that wasn't locked when we arrived, they opened a blind they shouldn't have, the messed with a thermostat and left it very low or high, they just sometimes do things that they don't think about and the agent has no idea.
All of these same risks exist as we show your home to our client for a potential sale however, we pre-screen, we have addresses & contact info, we pre-qualify with a lender, we are building a relationship and we know who we have in your home. This certainly helps to limit risk.
By the way, for all of you For Sale By Owners out there, let me offer some advice. NEVER show your home to a stranger (male or female) all alone unless you have someone aware that you are showing it and waiting to hear from you once the showing is over, make sure the prospect knows that someone is looking out for you and is aware that you are showing at this time. Be sure to get an address, phone number, place of employment from the prospect prior to meeting them and verify that they are who they say they are. The internet makes this a little easier these days. I will always call the client back at the number they left and try to call their place of employment and ask for them prior to meeting them. It just helps to know that they are who they say they are. In our office our receptionist or another agent knows when I am out with a buyer. When this buyer is a stranger to me they will meet me at the office, the receptionist will see them, see the car outside, know when to expect my return and the prospect is aware that everyone knows that their car is in the parking lot and they are with me in my vehicle. You can't do that when the buyer is coming to an open house or meeting for a showing.
Another safety concern for FSBO sellers and agents in an open house or on a showing, don't ever enter a room in front of a stranger when there is no other exit but the one you came through. You do not want to get yourself into a room you can't get out of without going past a person who could do you harm. When preparing for an open house I will arrive early, go through the home and unlock all exterior doors and taking note of all exits. I will always keep an exit behind me - always. I will always be in a position where I can turn and run to get away if need be. The most common motive for harm against a Realtor on a showing or in an open house is robbery. We often think of people who would want to cause us harm as being far and few between because most normal people would have no motive to hurt us. We don't think about the opportunities we provide for someone to rob us of our wallets, personal possessions or to rob the seller of personal possessions in the home.
Food for thought...
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2 comments:
Wow Tracee! You said a mouth full! These are all also good reasons to hire a Realtor as well. Your agent knows the home that they are sitting in for that open house. They know the hot spots in the home as and if they don’t, they should have taken the time with their seller to go over all these safety issues such as valuables and medicines and any weapons as well that create these “hot” spots and make sure all it put away or removed before any showings of any type. So, right! If more FSBOs would utilize our resources how many headaches they would save themselves. As agents, we offer so much more than a sign in their yards.
You’re absolutely right about the possibility of selling a house during an open house. This is a rare occasion. I’ve had it happen only once. But, there too when you list a beautiful home and no one is showing it, an open house is a great way to get traffic in the home, we always hope that if the lookers aren’t buying that they will tell someone they know who is. Yes, we hope to, of course, to make a great first impression on those lookers and that they will also tell someone how great you are as well. If we don’t get a buyer come through, we hope that our picture and the picture of the house in the paper each weekend keeps us and the house in the minds of the public.
Wouldn’t it be great as well if our local paper would go back to putting the Homes section of the paper back in the Sunday paper? Not everyone gets a daily paper. Most everyone gets a Sunday paper, it would mean more exposure for agents, their companies and, of course, our clients of whom without there would be no business.
I will comment on the 'good'for now, and not the 'bad & ugly'. I have had 2 sales result from open houses in the past year. I just got back from 2 open houses and had people at each show interest in both of the homes.
A seller's neighbor a street over may not even know a house is for sale, but knows someone who would love that home. I had a couple come to my open house because of flyers I passed out to the neighbors on the street. They like being able to tell people they know about a home available in their neighborhood so their friends can move in! Another couple saw the signs but hadn't seen the ad in the paper. All of this increases the chances of making buyers aware of a house for sale that may not have known otherwise. The more that come through a home, the more a chance of someone liking the house or knowing someone who will like the house.
It is always good to take precautions whereever you go and whatever you do---good reminder! Be aware and take care!
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