national open house -- should I open my house?

14 years ago

Sunday is National Open House where I guess there will be tons of open houses. It has been front page news here in my town for two nights in a row. My realtor can't host an open house Sunday for me because she chose another home to host. But when I asked if we should open my house she said that was fine as long as I host it myself or find a friend to do it. She said she'd provide road signs and flyers. It is very tempting because I've only had four showings in six weeks. I'm thinking I need traffic in here!

But should I be doing this -- hosting it myself? Or should I make an effort to find a friend who's not doing anything Sunday afternoon and maybe pay her? Since it's gotten lots of advertising there possibly could be a lot of people and I am a little worried about petty theft. My realtor said open houses rarely result in sales anyway. Advice?

Comments (6)

jerzeegirl
14 years ago
Does your realtor have any colleagues who might want to host the open house? Open houses are part of their job - That's why they get the commission when the house sells.
terezosa / terriks
14 years ago
Usually there are new agents in offices that may not have any listings that are happy to get the exposure that hosting an open house brings them. Ask your agent. Of course it could be that with the big Open Houe weekend everyone is already booked.
larke
14 years ago
I wouldn't use a friend unless they were professional RE agents. It is too tempting for friends to oversell and overtalk (on your behalf) and they are as likely as not to drive people away with their well meaning and possibly even legally-liable erroneous statements.
graywings123
14 years ago
I would find a way to have the open house. You have nothing to lose and something to gain. Your agent should be able to find someone to host it, but otherwise do it yourself with one or two friends who are instructed to say nothing about the house.

By the time our house was on the market, items attractive to thieves had already been removed or well secured.
emilynewhome
14 years ago
Several years ago there was a news article on the 'Disappearance of the Open House Signs', that sprang up every Saturday morning!
It seems many buyers weren't comfortable with their neighbors and strangers walking through their home, without desired results of offers.
From statistics, (I presume from the industry) the article stated that an 'Open House' rarely benefited the house in which it was held, and the Realtor usually sold one of their other listings to the potential buyers!
So good avenue for Realtors, not so good for your house!
deanie1
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for your responses. My realtor said no one in her office could host and that I'd just have to do it myself. So I didn't do it. I knew there would be tons of other open houses and buyers would be spread thin. So I used the day to go through houses in my same asking price range. (Geez, my house SOOOO much better!)

This Sunday, my realtor is hosting an open house for me. Been on the market seven weeks and only four showings--no offers -- gotta do something.