Several hundred realtors in Orlando were recently asked if they still held open houses as part of the marketing strategy to get a house sold. From the dramatic response that was received, real estate agents were passionate about wanting to respond to the question about open houses.
The answer was [Drum Roll Please…] an overwhelming 58% said that open houses are a waste of time and don’t do them anymore. The other 42% said they were in favor of doing open houses and still used them as part of their marketing strategy. The survey also revealed another interesting set of facts, over 70% of participants hold between one and six open houses in an average month while the remaining 30% don’t do them at all.
As listing agents in Orlando, we do hold open houses for certain properties as part of our marketing plan, especially luxury homes. Planning an open house for an investment home or a teardown would be a waste of time as open houses are geared more toward the retail buyer.
It depends on the seller whether an open house will even be an option for marketing the home. Some sellers are very private and don’t even want their own neighbors to know that their home is for sale.
Other homeowners expect their realtor to schedule at least one open house in the marketing plan. These homeowners just want the property sold no matter what and couldn’t care less how many people parade through their house. Open houses are also great for getting buyer feedback about the property.
Promoting The Open House
The most popular way to promote an open house these days is obviously social media. The more friends and people you’re connected with, the better your chances of having a successful open house. Email campaigns printed materials, and even bandit signs with balloons are also used among most real estate agents in Orlando to ensure some activity at an open house.
Some realtors will even take things a step or two further by baking cookies, popping popcorn, and even hosting a wine tasting at the open house.
So at the end of the day, open houses are alive and well although the majority of agents don’t do them. I think whether they are worth doing or not depends largely on the listing agent and how good they are at marketing their open houses. If the agent can get a good crowd to show up, then it’s worth it. On the other hand, if an agent just plans on putting up a few bandit signs and balloons, then why even bother?
