I’ve written about the Open House concept on a variety of blogs and I always say that I’m not a real big fan of Open Houses.  Of course, Sellers really like the idea of an Open House and I can understand why.  After all, the Open House is steeped in real estate tradition.

Back in the old days - before a widely used, computer based Multiple Listing Service, pre-Internet, pre-lockbox - one of the only ways to get your house shown to the largest number of potential Buyers was to have an Open House, usually on Sunday afternoon, and advertise like crazy hoping that someone who visited the house would want to buy it.

Nowadays, of course, there is a widely used, computer base Multiple Listing Service that can be accessed by virtually every Realtor within 100 miles of the house.  That Realtor can make the necessary arrangements with their Buyer client to see the house almost anytime.  Tuesday at 3:00pm.  Thursday at 6:00pm.  Saturday at 10:00am.  If the Seller can provide reasonable access to their home, it can be shown virtually anytime.

In addition, there are literally dozens of real estate specific sites that collect data (”data mining”) from the local MLS systems and provide it, for free, to anyone who has an Internet connection.  Here are just a few:

There are literally dozens, if not hundreds, of others.  In fact, according to the National Association of Realtors, 84% of home buyers will search the Internet before calling a Realtor or visiting a house.

So, if an Open House really isn’t that effective, why are they still so popular and why do they still exist?

Tradition

Believe it or not, this is a case where because something has always been done, people want to continue to do it.  You’ve probably heard, “It’s always been done this way.” whether at work or at school or at some organization to which you belong.  That’s the deal with Open Houses: tradition.

The Neighbors

Yep. It’s great for the neighbors.  They’ve seen the sign in front of your house and they’ve been wondering for years what the inside is like.  What is your decorating sense like?  Have you done any improvements to the kitchen, bath, family room?

These are the folks you never invited over for coffee or a cookout and want to compare your house (and your house’s price) to their home just in case they might want to sell their own home.  Which brings me to…

Meeting Potential Sellers

There is a possibility that one of your neighbors has been thinking of selling their home.  Just thinking.  Now that they have a chance to visit another home in the neighborhood they jump at the chance.  Fortunately, for the Realtor hosting the Open House, that neighbor might be calling that Realtor when the time comes.  After all, the Realtor must be the neighborhood expert since he’s selling a house down the street.  If there is any connection whatsoever, the Realtor may have just picked up another client, which leads me to…

Meeting Potential Buyers

You may think that potential buyers that are visiting your home really want to buy your home.  If you get real lucky that might actually happen (about 1% of the time).  More likely will be someone floating in just to see what’s available in various price ranges in the neighborhood and, if there is a good connection between the Realtor and the potential Buyer, the Realtor might be getting a call to help the buyer find a house - a house that has a lockbox and can be shown anytime.

The Realtor

Sometimes an Open House attract a lot of people.  Sometimes it attract zero.  I always bring a book or a newspaper or some other reading in case it turns out to be zero.  I know other Realtors that bring their laptops to catch up on their blogging (no, this is not being written at an Open House) or check comps for other clients or catch up on e-mail.

It’s also fairly good exposure.  Yes, it gets my name out.  People call me and ask me about the house even if they never show up.  They usually have a follow up question about other houses that are less expensive or have more bedrooms or are in a different neighborhood.

The Home Owner/Seller

They make the home owner feel good.  The house gets all cleaned up (and if you use my services, professionally staged) and prettied up. It gets them out of the house for the afternoon.  Sometimes the Realtor can report a lot of “traffic” through the house and that will create the illusion that someone may be forthcoming with an offer. In the end, an Open House will have been conducted and real estate tradition will have been continued.

Don’t get me wrong.  I really don’t mind doing Open Houses.  Sometimes, I have great fun at them chatting up the neighbors and enjoying my Sunday afternoon.  However, I always let my Seller clients know that they shouldn’t get their expectations up too high.  An Open House is a long shot, at best, when trying to find a buyer for their home.  It’s not unknown for someone to come into a home and tell the Realtor sitting there, “I’d like to buy this house.” so I do them with a smile.  One day that magic buyer will come into one of my Open Houses and me, the Seller and the Buyer will all be happy campers.