You’ve probably seen signs around the area for Open Houses. You may have even attended a few. These are open invitations for potential buyers to drop by on a certain day and time, to check out the property and get more information. When you’re listing your home for sale, you might wonder whether you’ll need to have an Open House.
To answer that question, you’ll need to consider the pros and cons. Planning and hosting an open house isn’t as easy as it may seem. There’s a lot of preparation involved. In addition, you’ll likely spend hours making your property look its best and you’ll need to be away from your home for a good part of that day.
That being said, an Open House has many advantages.
- Open houses used to be advertised only by Realtor signs and attracted nosy neighbours but the world has changed. In Calgary open houses can now be advertised through our Realtor system and will get uploaded to Realtor.ca
- Typically I find about 80% of my open house traffic saw the listing on Realtor.ca and came specifically to view that home.
- It is important to note that open houses typically cater to the people who are in the beginning stages of their search and have not yet hired an agent to represent them. If they are wowed by your home this often speeds up their buying timeline.
- It helps showcase features of your property that may not come across well in advertisements and listing descriptions.
- It attracts potential buyers who, for any number of reasons, might not otherwise call to view the home.
- It generates a buzz and publicity about your listing.
When I get asked this question my answer is “Don’t know if it will help it sell your home but it certainly cannot hurt. Having said that the final decision is always left up to the client.
PS: As I write this I can also tell you that last weekend I sold a home where the buyer was introduced to the home at an open house so it can work!
For more info on Open Houses contact us