See, its the damage that has been done over this last decade in real estate. This may shock you but PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE REALTORS. LET ME SAY THIS AGAIN...PEOPLE DO NOT LIKE US! We are 3rd in line behind Lawyers, Used Car Sales people, and then Realtors.

In speaking to 1000's of people at the Home Shows year after year its obvious. Give the people what they have been asking for. Good Lord! Be happy someone even came INTO your Open House.

The Buffet is over! (sorry to give you the bad news)

Give up the open houses! Only looky-loos, drive-bys who can't afford the house and not-ready-to-buy buyers go to them, anyhow. Real buyers set appointments. Open house visitors know that the agent is there just as a meet and greet for potential new clients anyhow and are sick of being "sold" by some eager beaver agent. I rarely waste the seller's time with open houses anymore.

Ray, so what are the people asking for at the home shows?

We still do open houses. Its a great place to meet new people and find out how people view the home you have marketed. People are amazingly honest!

In defense of not-ready-to-buy-buyers and open houses - open houses are important opportunities for us to get our feet wet looking at the market, GET serious and settle on what we want while not wasting an agent's time making appointments to look at homes we aren't ready to buy either. Think of open houses as planting seeds for efficient buying down the road. More of an invest in time for the overall real estate market and profession as opposed to a direct investment in your business.

For instance, I didn't use a buyer's agent. My family and I drove around weekends looking at mostly the outsides of homes and the neighborhoods. On a few occasions we did go to open houses and they helped us get an idea of what we wanted for the money we were willing to plunk down. I trolled the real estate sites staying on top of new listings with eyes on the bed/bath counts I wanted in the areas I wanted. So, when I found THE ONE, we were able to jump on it. Nobody's time was wasted.

Coincidentally, we were really interested in looking at another home the week before we bought THE ONE. I called the listing agent to see if we could get in and look at it soon. She told me that the sellers were too busy that weekend but that she would hold an open house the following weekend. I had to call her the day of the open house and tell her we just went under contract.