Open Houses: Valuable Marketing Tool or Wasted Effort When Selling Houston Real Estate?
Posted by 2M Realty on Friday, November 20th, 2009 at 7:45am.share the Houston Real Estate Blog!
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As the holidays approach, any Houston real estate agent will tell you that the number of “tire kickers” expressing interest in your listed property is certain to drop. Potential buyers surveying the market this time of year are likely very serious about making a deal.
With this in mind, should a seller insist that his or her agent schedule at least one open house? The answer, of course, truly depends on the seller’s preference. As turkey dinners and family gatherings begin to occupy schedules, however, the opportunities to draw heavy buyer traffic via an open house dwindle.
Houston real estate is available in a variety of upscale city neighborhoods, in addition to many attractive suburban developments. A buyer can gain an important perspective on pricing and location by simply picking up the Sunday newspaper and a map. Depending on the time of year, open houses may be prevalent. This does not suggest, though, that open houses always result in sales.
Some sellers may demand that their agents “work harder” for commissions by staging multiple open houses. Others might shy away at the prospect of strangers peeking in their closets or dragging dirt onto the brand new carpet.
The jury is out on open houses. What remains clear, however, is that a presence on Houston real estate web sites is necessary to sell your current home or purchase your next property. Open houses offer potential buyers the chance to view your product in person and ask many questions of your agent, but the web may very nearly fill that role.
A Houston real estate web site obviously can’t reach a potential buyer in the way a trained and skilled salesperson might, but it will undoubtedly gather and present a considerable amount of information with a few clicks.
The idea is to attract qualified, eager buyers to your property and the agent representing it. Whether that pull is generated by the web or an open house, most sellers could care less. In this market, exposure is crucial.
The impact of open houses remains open for debate within the industry. Could an open house ultimately contribute to the sale of a property? Perhaps, but at the very least the agent and owners can obtain valuable feedback from prospective buyers regarding positives and negatives of the home. After all, what could it hurt?
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2M Realty is a unique brokerage firm providing agents both traditional and Internet services throughout the Greater Houston real estate market. With its' Treehouse virtual platform, participating agents experience the freedom of working from home and get to retain 100% of the commission. This platform is an end-to-end online solution giving agents personalized websites, lead management programs, marketing collateral tools, form libraries, transaction management, electronic signature functionality and more.
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Open houses aren't what they used to be, but you have to change with the times. There are a lot of other marketing efforts that could do better. You just have to test them out and see what works for you. Two of the three Texas ranches I've bought in the last five years have been after visiting an open house, so yes, it still works.
Posted on Thursday, January 28th, 2010 at 4:46 PM.