Open House

In real estate, the term “open house” refers to an event held by an owner or an agent of a property for sale, during which the property in question is visited by possible buyers or other agents (in some cases the term means the property itself). Such practice in some form has been in use since the very emergence of the real estate business, as it’s a convenient and sufficient way to attract buyers’ attention. Although the practice is still in use today, due to some of its weak spots and the wide spread of multiple listing services, open houses become less popular nowadays.

Open House organization and main features

An open house usually means a period of time lasting several hours or a whole day, when a house or another kind of property for sale is specially prepared and attended by non-owners, typically groups of potential buyers, who are allowed to have a decent and thorough view around.

Considering the peculiarities of the real estate market, such as its relative illiquidity and a noticeable dissimilarity of objects even within the same territory and price range, open houses have always been considered a great possibility to promote a new object in the market.

As an open house is suggested to be a longer event with the possibility of freer interaction with the property than a regular visit with a real estate agent, it’s more likely to provide potential buyers with a detailed picture of the property and their possible living there.

The main reason an open house event is organized in the first place is that an owner and an agent need to capture the interest of the visitors, who might become potential buyers. So, for an open house, the property in question is usually carefully prepared. Preparation of such kind typically includes cleaning, freeing the space of personal objects, sometimes some additional decoration or minor repair works. If the property in question is newly built, professional stagers might be hired to make the place more appealing for purchase. Current inhabitants are usually asked to spend time away from the property to make the visit more comfortable for potential buyers. In some cases, snacks and beverages are served for the visitors for the additional comfort and entertainment. Although it’s not strictly necessary, it often helps to create a cheerful atmosphere, which might be good for building relations.

It’s often expected that a correctly organized open house would lead to an immediate offer and a deal. In reality, it doesn’t necessarily happen. Nevertheless, open houses have one more useful feature besides attracting a buyer. If no visitor likes the house to the point of buying it immediately, owners or an agent might get feedback on what should be changed or corrected in order to improve the property. The demanded changes are sometimes small enough to be done without wasting much time and money.

Open House for real estate agents

As it has been mentioned before, open houses are organized for two different groups of visitors — potential buyers and real estate agents. So, depending on a status of the visitors, an open house event might be held at different times. For potential buyers, it’s usually organized during the weekend, typically on Sunday, while for real estate agents it’s often held during the working hours on a weekday.

An open house event held for real estate agents exclusively is alternatively called a broker’s open house. Such an event helps the agent of the property on sale get an outside perspective and professional advice from colleagues, and also schedule visits for their clients, respectively.

Advantages and disadvantages of Open House

Organizing and holding an open house for promotion of the property on sale have several distinctive advantages. Some of them have already been mentioned, but to get the full picture, it’s worth studying them as a list.

These advantages are the following:

• An open house is a good way to advertise the property and gain potential buyers.
• It helps to get feedback from the visitors and learn the weak spots of the property.
• There is a possibility to get an immediate offer to buy the property.
• It’s a convenient way to present the house to a number of people simultaneously, avoiding a series of individual showings.

At the same time, a procedure of open house is now sometimes considered to be old-fashioned and insufficient because of a number of negative features this kind of event have.

The main disadvantages of the practice are the following:

• An open house actually provides less coverage and gains less attention than multiple listing services, which became extremely popular due to their effectiveness and convenience.
• A process of organizing an open house might be time-consuming, expensive and inconvenient, and there’s no guarantee any real profit will be gained from it.
• There’s a possibility of theft or property damage, especially if a large crowd is visiting the house.

So, it’s important to take all the aforementioned things into consideration when planning an open house. Alternative and innovative forms of promoting the property might sometimes turn out more fruitful. Although, an open house is still a popular option, and it undeniably has its positive side.