Buying VS Renting. Which is Better?
Open houses have been a selling technique (marketing tool) for real estate agents since 1910. April seems to be the most popular month because the weather is better in the Spring and most people want to be settled in to their new home by Fall. But now since Covid-19 this marketing tool is changing.
Open houses typically for the homeowner is a real hassle. They have to clean their home top to bottom and declutter. Then they have to leave their home for at least 3 hours. All this to find out when they arrive back maybe one or two people showed up. If by chance all those people came in at once there is only one agent. So no one really gets that agents full attention. For the real estate agents, we spend time marketing the event, then the day of, pick up the food, drink and balloons, place all the signs, set it all up and cross our fingers and wait.
If we are all honest about it, and we tell our sellers, Open Houses rarely sell the home. Open houses are a tool for the agent to get buyer leads. So who would come through your home then? Nosey neighbors, so-called buyers who think they can afford your home but have never been pre-qualified, or someone casing the joint? You don’t know.
Why are Open Houses good? Well you are getting agents in there as well sometimes and if the home is not suitable for the people they are with they could have someone else in mind. Sometimes agents will be trying to find a home for someone not local so they could be coming in to preview the home. Open Houses give the home a little more exposure by adverting the event so the home gets seen more. Seeing the house in person is always better than on the internet. They are also convenient for people to just pop in and not have to make an appointment.
We started doing Virtual Open Houses ever since Covid. We realized in a short time that not one or two saw the home better yet sometimes over 100 people saw the home. For you the seller you never even have to leave your home, you can just step outside for 10 minutes while we walk through with our phone video taping while sitting in a stabilizer so we don’t get our viewers nauseous. From there once it is live and running we can answer questions and set up appointments for private showings. We are in a digital age now a days and there are countless ways to get a house sold. This is one of them.
So if you are thinking about having a live Open House weigh out the advantages and disavantages. Could you get lucky and sell your house this way? Sure. Can you count on it? No. Is it worth the effort? Only you can answer that.
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