Will an Open House in Help Sell My Ossining or Croton Home?

When I hung my new real estate license on the wall in 1996, open houses were considered the cornerstone of any marketing campaign to sell a house or condo. At that time, the Internet was in infancy as a consumer tool, Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data was not readily available to the public, and the MLS itself was on a DOS-powered modem terminal with dot matrix printouts and no photographs. If a consumer wanted information on a home, they typically had to get it from a broker. Short of that, the only way to see the interior or judge curb appeal was to physically visit the property.  Though imprecise, open houses were a way to get information without hiring a broker.

Today, with the search options available to consumers that include video tours and literally dozens of photos, a consumer can get most of the information on a home for sale in their pajamas at 2 a.m. Consequently, homes listed on the MLS are "open" for business 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. National Association of REALTOR (NAR) statistics indicate that over 85% of consumers find their homes online, but that percentage is probably higher for the New York area given the sophisication of our populace. New Yorkers, especially our Westchester neighbors, do a copious amount of research on homes online before actually going out to see them. Are open houses still a good idea?

The answer is that that it depends, but not nearly as good an idea as they were 10 years ago. Online tools for brokers are powerful. We can track the analytics of how many people click on a listing, what web pages are most popular, and we can even match our listings with the saved criteria of other agents buyers with a tool in the industry called reverse prospecting. And with online consumer tools like Google Earth, Realtor.com and Zillow (to name just a few) providing so much data on properties, a buyer watching your home for sale knows what kind of shower curtain you have in your bathroom and how you have your furniture arranged. With gas at over $4 a gallon, that saves some serious time and money.

Tracking my own statistics since 2005 when I started my  firm, I have had only one property close with a purchaser through an open house. And that buyer was sent the listing by their agent prior to their visit. In the same collection of almost 300 closed sales, I would estimate that over 25 buyers made their purchase with our firm after meeting an agent hosting an open house. While the home might not have been a match for the buyer, they struck a rapport with the agent and used their representation. The real advantage of an open house, it would appear, is not to the home owner at all, but to the agent!

Aside from that, there are other issues that might not make an open house such an attractive idea to a homeowner selling their home. As brokers, we promise to screen buyers to make sure they are qualified prior to setting up a showing. We cannot do such screening at a public open house. The exposure to security risk, especially in this economy, is real. Many home sellers know this, and more than a few dismiss open houses because they feel they only attract nosy neighbors. Historically this has always been the case.

All real estate is local, and open houses remain an important and integral part of the process in Manhattan, which has one of the most unique real estate markets in the country. But in Westchester, the sentiment on the effectiveness of open houses seems to be waning, at least for single family homes.

The takeaway for consumers is that open houses are really a small piece of the modern puzzle. They have their place, buts sellers should insist that their brokers provide the MLS with lots of good, well lit photographs, accurate data, strong marketing remarks, and to proofread their listing for accuracy. The consumers who search online will respond to that. If an agent suggests an open house, keep in mind that there is a benefit in it for them that may not involve actually getting your home sold. However, if every other base is well covered, it could coax a shy buyer out from behind their computer.