I know everyone has already fully explored this question, but honestly, more than one open house per month OVEREXPOSES your home. Check and see what homes in YOUR EXACT price range are for sale, at what price and take a look at the photos on the internet. If a buyer can find a "better" home (granite vs. laminate, hardwood vs. carpet, finished basement with kitchen vs. unfinished) within 15K, your home may just need to be repositioned with price. Make sure all internet sites are used, as over 80% of buyers START their search online. Thanks, and best of luck

Open houses are just ONE of the tools that a realtor has in his back. Less than an 8% probabililty of a sale coming from an Open House in a Normal market. -But, in the market that we are in, I feel that every avenue should be pursued. I am a strong believer in Broker's Open Houses. Here in the Cleveland market, Brokers tours done on Tuesdays. Keying marketing to the Real estate Community is vital--80%+ of sales of homes come from Realtors bringing buyers to a listing! What is most essential is that your home needs to shine in its price category. Best of luck.

Depending on your local market, more open houses could actually do more harm than good. You don't want to appear "desperate" to sell. Having too many open houses can give that impression. In my market one per month is reasonable. Your agent is likely providing exposure for your house in a variety of ways. Virtual tours are a great tool, it's like having an open house 24/7 for on line buyers without the inconvenience to you.

Susan,

There are 3 reasons homes don't sell:

Price
Condition
Marketing

You just need to determine what is missing.

Christina Asad Edwards, REALTOR
2006 & 2007 Sales Masters Top Agent
Christina.AsadEdwards@RealLiving.com http://www.teamedwards.info
mobile or text 937-205-4741
office 937-573-0082
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Real Living Realty - #1 in OHIO!
Realty, Mortgage, Title, Relocation

Pepper,
I do like to do several open houses on my listings, usually 2 per month, per house. This keeps my clients happy and it does create more exposure to their home. However, as the others agents have stated it is proven that open houses don't usually sell houses. Being priced competitively and having as much exposure as possible via internet are your best options to get your house sold.

I would recommend you look at a few real estate sites, put in the criteria for your home and price range, this way you will see what is on the market for the same price. Then run another search up to $50,000 less and see if there are homes that are comparable to yours in that lower price point. Look at it as if you are the buyer. This way you can be realistic about the price of your home. Best of luck!!!

Hi Susan, I don't live in your area but the answer to that question in universal. It is very rare that a house is sold from an open. I have been selling homes in Minneapolis for 17 years and have sold 2 or 3 at an open in all that time. However, I did meet a lot of good buyers who bought something else that was better matched to their needs. To increase traffic there are 2 magic solutions.....make sure its priced better than any of your competition and that it is in better condition. Kristen DuLac, Real Estate Consultant, Minneapolis

Unfortunately, on average, there is generally a less than 1% chance of selling your home to a buyer who comes through during an open house showing.

I don't know about your area, but 3 open houses in 90 days is pretty good. Usually, open houses don't sell houses. Agents often do open houses because sellers expect it...and because it provides the agents with a flow of potential buyers (not of your property, though).

However, practices can vary based on geographic area. What did your agent's marketing plan call for? The marketing plan should have been presented to you at the listing presentation and then, as appropriate, refined or tweaked based on discussions you had with your agent. If you're not certain, or if you'd like to modify the marketing plan to include more open houses, speak to your agent about that. But, as I said, in many areas of the country 3 in 90 days is pretty reasonable.

As for your question of whether the probability of selling your home would increase if your agent held more open houses, it would, but only slightly.

Regarding other steps to get more traffic, again, review your agent's marketing plan. Internet marketing is big; make sure your property appears on as many websites as possible. And make sure that on your agent's site, and on the MLS, there are plenty of good pictures of your house, inside and out. Also: Has your agent held a broker's open so other agents can see your home? Also, is your agent doing postcard/direct mail marketing to your neighbors and to other targeted areas?

Those are just a few things your agent might do...and might already be doing.

Finally, of course, make sure your house is priced properly. Ask your agent to run another CMA. Make sure you're among the lowest-priced comparable properties.

Hope that helps.

I am going to let you in on a small secret, well known by many real estate agents, but not many home sellers: OPEN HOUSES DO NOT WORK for selling a home - they are simply somehting that agents do to makle their seller's happy but are just afraid to tell them the real truth about what sells homes - PRICE and CONDITION.

Are homes sold at open houses - sure they are, they are also sold at foreclosure auctions, estate sales, and many other sources, just not a very hig percentage of them. The best thing for you to do is price the home at about 2% or more under true fair market value, make it look like the best home on the block, and offer some seller concessions to the buyer - a finance package, for example - possible buying the interest rate down, or paying closing costs. That usually works well in this market.

As far as advertising the home - the internet is the only way to go - make sure it is out there on MULTIPLE websites - Trulia being one of them.

Good luck!

This, unfortunately, is a quandry that many Sellers (and their respective agents) are in these days. Continual marketing and time is the key these days. I know it's painful, but when you are competing against foreclosures it's not the best scenario to be in.

Online marketing is a MUST!

Best of luck to you on your endeavors!!

Of course if your agent were showing it more it would be exposed to more buyers but if your agent doesn't have buyers in that price range or criteria they can't help that. Typically if you're not getting any offers it's due to the home being priced to high or it needs to be staged to show better. Internet is the #1 way buyers will find your home and the 2nd is their realtor.