Are Open Houses Necessary Again?

Brokerage, Selling February 16, 2023

There’s always a big debate regarding open houses and real estate. For many years, especially in the 2010s, open houses were a great tool for agents, but not necessarily the best tool for actually selling a home in our market. Open houses would be full of looky-loo buyers, we called them Starbucks coffee buyers, and nosy neighbors trying for a peak at their neighbor’s home. This was valuable for agents since these people looking for a home 9-12 months from now or neighbors could be future clients. The real buyers made appointments with their agent and came to a private viewing of the home.

With the market that was established post-Covid, the open house has become a large tool in the agent’s pocket for not only their own exposure but a necessary one to get top dollar for a home. The formula has been simple and effective. Price a home correctly, list coming soon early in the week, activate for the weekend, host open houses with buyers lining up to see the home, and sell with multiple offers by Monday. Many buyers, especially millennials and gen-z, are moving away from that private viewing time and heading to open houses. This creates a strong effect on buyers that’s simple consumer behavior; “if everyone else wants it, I must want it too.” That’s the power of the line at the open house. It’s what helps drive the price and if there’s nobody at an open house nowadays, it almost feels like something is wrong to the buyers. 

So not only is it vital to be doing open houses but having highly successful and effective, well-attended open houses with a lot of buzzes is a huge piece of what we do to get our seller’s the best offer on their home.

If you have any questions on open houses, what’s going on in the real estate market, or local happenings here in NJ, don’t hesitate to reach out to me.