What Is An Open House and How Does It Work?
Open houses are a time-honoured way to bring exposure and potential buyers to a home you are looking to sell. Between virtual and in-person visits, homebuyers in Ontario tend to use open houses to find their next home at a significant pace of 11%. It’s also an extremely efficient way to show your property to a large number of potential buyers, avoiding the need for arranging individual viewings.
Our secret to real estate success for our clients is hosting open houses that are staged by experts, advertised by dedicated marketing professionals, and photographed by professionals. We bring in the experts to make sure your open house is as successful as possible.
But let’s backtrack. What exactly is an open house? Do you even need to host one? And do you have to post an open house advertisement?
It’s time to explore the concept of open houses to answer all of the above questions. We’ll also cover other important points.
What is an Open House?
The open house definition, as used by realtors, is simply when the seller of a house hosts a specific event designed to attract prospective buyers and get them acquainted with the property.
In a perfect world, open houses result in receiving multiple offers for the
listing that is for sale. That doesn’t always happen, but even if nobody makes an offer immediately, they make a listing more visible and memorable to potential buyers.
How Open Houses Work
A specific in-house event, such as an open house, should be carefully planned ahead of time to get the home ready for viewing and make it look as appealing as possible.
It all starts with advertising the open house through various promotional materials, real estate websites, and social media channels to provide maximum visibility to homebuyers. Depending on your real estate agency, an open house may also include home staging and a deep clean to boost the home’s curb appeal and get the house ready. Read our previous post for
home staging tips
These marketing efforts can include a house sign and street signs in the neighbourhood directing interested buyers to the property. At the open house, a sign-in sheet can gather the contact information of prospective buyers visiting the home, and additional details about the property can be provided in the form of a description sheet. This sheet will outline the number of rooms in the home, square footage, and special features.
To give potential buyers every opportunity to see themselves living in the home, it’s best to remove personal items, like family photos. These can be replaced with art pieces that match the decor. As for making the most of the space in each room, a professional home stager can create a warm and welcoming feeling with just the right furnishings and accessories to achieve a wide appeal. They can, in collaboration with the real estate professional, even ensure the air in the home is clean, but the use of air fresheners should be avoided as many people have an aversion to chemically enhanced air.
From there, the big day of the open house arrives and your
real estate agent will oversee the entire process, talking to potential buyers, showcasing key features, and ensuring everything goes smoothly.
The goal is to tempt buyers into making an offer. Having a stream of prospective buyers interested in the property increases competition and can motivate buyers to make an offer.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Open Houses
Even though open houses are common, they shouldn’t be considered a requirement. We strive to educate our clients about the pros and cons of open houses.
It’s important to consider both sides of the coin before you have your heart set on hosting an open house. Your home may be in an area that makes an open house unsafe, or there may be other reasons why a property is not suitable to host an open house. There are also some neighbourhoods where an open house will only invite nosey neighbours or people who just want ideas on improving their own homes. Your real estate agent can determine whether an open house is the right option to sell your home.
Advantages of an Open House
There are plenty of advantages to hosting an open house. Some of the most important ones are:
- Increase visibility and ideally decrease the amount of time the property is on the market
- Facilitate easy viewings for buyers interested in the property and gives them a chance to feel out the property and neighbourhood
- Highlights the distinct features or advantages of the property that set it apart from other real estate listings on the market
We always create a professional advertisement just for the open house and then promote it publicly through social media channels like Facebook Live and Instagram, along with reaching out to our network of buyer’s agents. Our in-house team of dedicated marketers knows exactly how to get eyes on your open house listing.
Disadvantages of an Open House
Open houses are not necessarily perfect for everyone. They bring in a number of distinct drawbacks, including:
- Theft and overall security should be taken into consideration. On top of people stealing things when nobody is looking, some criminals use open houses as an opportunity to plan their break-in.
- There are no hard statistics that indicate hosting an open house will result in receiving higher offers, or any offers at all.
One way to circumvent these drawbacks is to host a broker’s open house, sometimes called an agent's open house. This type of open house is promoted only to buyer’s agents, meaning the attendants are actively buying a new home. Open house listings are not made publicly available and this reduces the chance of theft or attracting people that will waste everyone’s time.
How Long Does an Open House Last?
Open houses should not be an all-day event. Instead, a typical open house lasts one and a half to two hours, maximum.
That might seem too short, but that’s actually why it’s such an effective time frame. Rather than telling interested buyers to drop by at their leisure during a specific day, they have a narrow window to plan around.
The exact time you choose is also important. It should always be held when people won’t be working or attending to other responsibilities. This means open houses should happen in the evenings or on weekends.
How Have Open Houses Changed During COVID-19?
COVID-19 certainly had an impact on how open houses are offered. A few of the biggest changes include:
- Some open houses may encourage the use of a mask.
- The availability of hand sanitizing stations
- Removing snacks and refreshments for potential buyers
The Bottom Line: Open Houses Work
Hosting an expertly staged and advertised open house can be a great way to bring attention to new homes for sale and potentially result in receiving offers. However, it’s important to consider that with a standard open house, anyone that sees the real estate open house signs can simply walk in. Security and theft must be considered during every step of the process.
Are you ready to put your property in the spotlight by holding an open house? We have helped sellers hold successful open houses in Milton and surrounding areas for decades and we’d love to show you what we can do.
Want to know more about how Flowers Team does open houses? Check out our open house service page
Contact us today to discuss how our agents can boost the visibility of your home for sale through an open house.
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