Your thoughts on open homes...

We bought a house last year that was only open by appointment. I would normally be put off by appointment only, however I really liked the house.

Also bought another one last year when we went to the open house for a sticky beak - had no intentions of buying. When it was still onthe market months later I put in a low offer.

If I was selling, there is no way I would engage a real estate agent who didnt have open houses.
 
You say you are unable to get proper feedback from the prospective buyers on the day of the open home. Don't you call them a day or two later for feedback? If you ask the right questions you will still receive constructive feedback from those who've come through even if they had no intention of buying. As a seller I'd be looking for feedback as well as getting the place sold. That feedback would help you too, right? Like if the general consensus was that a room looked too small or non-functional. If you thought the furniture was in the wrong spot and could be moved around to look bigger, this would confirm your thoughts and you could take this back to the client who can change this for the next open.

I am a serial open house visitor. The agents know me really well around here. One of them in particular now greets me by name and is as friendly to me as he is to everyone else there. While he doesn't have my business right now, I do give him feedback to give to the owner on the property and when I do sell my PPR next year, who's the first agent who's going to get a phone call? A friendly and helpful agent can be the difference between two identical houses so I don't buy the excuse that there's another property down the road that someone can buy instead.

As for opens being no good, I bought a previous PPR by attending an open house. Why did I go? Cos I had 45mins between opens and just found something half-ok to visit to fill the gap. That's about as much interest as I had in the advert. I've bought a couple at auction too as I felt comfortable looking through an open rather than making an appointment and being hounded.

And why do I love opens the most? I can wear my thongs and beach dress or throw a baby over my shoulder and look like someone who can't afford the place who's just come for a look. A lot of the time the agents don't even ask for my details when I walk in the door. I find I am left alone and can really have a good look at each house I go through. Some I end up buying and agents have admitted they didn't even notice me at the open.

With investors being the predominant purchaser at present I think you need to reconsider your theory on opens. Just because a person takes 5mins to view a place doesn't necessarily mean they are disinterested or wasting an owner's/agent's time. Yes we do look at lots of properties each weekend but we also know what we want.

Lastly, you say you know everyone who comes through the door at an open. do you advertise the open times or do you make prospective purchasers call the office for the open time? This annoys me and I tend not to look if the agent makes the open times secret. A particular agent does that in the eastern suburbs and I stopped calling them cos it bugged me. I couldn't organise my inspection times as they wouldn't divulge the open til late in the week and I had to make the phone call every time. All well and good to screen potential purchasers but a picture doesn't always tell a thousand words. Agents are missing out on potential sales by not embracing opens.
 
I am a big fan of opens - as both a buyer and seller - for all the reasons listed above.

A couple that are important to me are - as a seller - generally only have to open once or twice a week ... means the house doesn't need to be spotless and "on display" at all times (although always clean).

As a buyer - if I am really interested in the house, I like to turn up early and spend the entire time going over the house, feeling the vibe, poking in corners ... spent an hour at an open today and we'll put in an offer on Monday.

If this house didn't have an open I wouldn't have bothered making an appointment.
 
This is often the case i guess but the last few ive bought have been on the market a long time (the last one was on and off for close to 4 years) and so if the property is stale and has sat there for ages you will find it is often by appointment only. I dont really think a lack of home opens is an indication that the vendor is not willing to be reasonable or to negotiate.

True. Also, in areas where the market is flat or declining, there's usually a significant decline in open for inspections. During boom times, it's all open, open, open. I know which time I'd rather be buying.

Inspection by appointment is obviously less convenient for the buyer, but it's no real indication of stubbornness on the seller's behalf.

I think open versus by appointment can also depend on the area. In nicer areas, open for inspections generate more interest, even if it's just a lot of tourists wanting to take a squiz without any intention of buying. In areas with less cache, there are more inspection by appointments because the opens generate less interest. Then again, the most exclusive properties are often inspection by appointment only as well, but for entirely different reasons.
 
I generally like open houses as a buyer and a seller. We have sold 5 properties in the past to people who first inspected at an open house and bought 2 properties (one at auction) after going to an open home.

The problem with open houses where I live is that they're all on Saturdays - not good for the large number of people who work weekends. It's for this reason that I like an agent who is also enthusiastic about 'appointment inspections' - not everyone works Monday to Friday 9 to 5 and has weekends free. My husband usually works 7 out of every 8 weekends and I find it infuriating when agents (or vendors) are not keen on mid-week 'appointment' inspections when we're looking to buy.

As well as open homes, an agent should be prepared to show a property whenever a potential purchaser wants to look at it - that shouldn't be too much to ask given the commission they charge.
 
You say you are unable to get proper feedback from the prospective buyers on the day of the open home. Don't you call them a day or two later for feedback? If you ask the right questions you will still receive constructive feedback from those who've come through even if they had no intention of buying.

Off course. I usually go through all attendees the following Monday. Some people leave fake numbers however. Look, I speak to most people and it is rare I don’t get a chance to speak to an open home attendee; I just mentioned it because it can happen. It’s really not my point, my point is that at the end of the day, I have always believed it’s a tool used for the agents benefit more than the vendors.

Lastly, you say you know everyone who comes through the door at an open. do you advertise the open times or do you make prospective purchasers call the office for the open time?

Open home times are advertised on all our web sites, local paper, homes guide, window display, brochures in our office, sign + an email alert is sent to all buyers on our database and the surrounding area gets a personalized letter of invite. So no, it’s not super secrete.

I think that also, in my area they are not as widely used. We deal mostly with first home buyers who are usually eager and excited when it comes to buying. For a lot of them, they can’t wait to pick up the phone to enquire about a home. However, of late, first home buyers have defiantly dropped.

But let me give you today’s examples:

I have had 5 open homes:

Between the 5 open homes I had 4 attendees. Out of the 4 attendees, one of them was a buyer who I am talking too, and she was advised regarding the open home by myself. Otherwise she was happy to view by appointment.

The second buyer was a young fellow who was being encouraged by his parents to buy an investment. He didn’t seem as motivated as his parents. But, he may buy something so I will keep talking to him.

The third buyer was an investor who again, I have been speaking to previously.

The Last buyer was out of the area, first day of house hunting. He didn’t like the home he viewed. I asked for his criteria- So happened I had some homes around that would suit him down to the ground…. Guess what??? They were also open to inspect soon after. He was given the brochures but never turned up. I plan to follow him up shortly.

Granted 2 out of the 5 houses are currently priced too high, in which I accept that alone is the reason for no lookers. But the other 3 are new to the market, actively promoted and look great on the internet/magazines etc.
Interestingly, all these properties received more inspections during the week from buyers actually making the phone call wanting to inspect.

I know some of you have indicated that you have made offers or purchased properties you never intended on even looking at if not for an open home. And I completely agree. The buyer we find for a property is rarely the one who enquires on it. If a buyer contacts the office regarding a property do you think I just show them that one property? Simply said, I tell them to spare an hour or so, I grab a hand full of keys and show them everything we have in their price range or basic criteria.

In terms of the area we service. Not many homes sell through other agents in which we do not know who brought it. In other words, we have contact and are in regular communications with most buyers.

sorry again for the long post... Thankyou to anyone who bothered to read it.
 
Between the 5 open homes I had 4 attendees. Out of the 4 attendees, one of them was a buyer who I am talking too, and she was advised regarding the open home by myself. Otherwise she was happy to view by appointment.

Just sounds like a slow market where you are.

I love an open house when looking for a PPoR, which we're doing at the moment, but when looking for an investment i have a much more specific list of criteria, where properties can be narrowed down just by the description or a drive-by. That being said, i'll sometimes go to opens for something to do on a Saturday morning - which may lead to something else.

Open houses definitely have their place.
 
Put it this way, open homes can't hurt, it increases the chance that you might find a buyer (whatever your opinion of the likelihood: weird how an agent thinks it's unlikely in the face of opinions by buyers), and the agent finds more possible buyers for their other properties who might then need an agent to sell.

The point being, why WOULDN'T you do open homes? Not having the resources to follow up properly isn't the fault of the method. If sellers don't like it, sellers don't always know what works. There's a reason why realestate.com.au lets you search by inspection times. People do use it.
 
Never bought a house that was the was my intial inspection, but bought nearby ones that happened to also have an inspection. Once when talking to an agent at an inspection and told him what I wanted he showed me a property directly after the inspection, that that wasnt advertised, seller in financial strife, made low ball offer that expired in hours, with in 2 hours contract signed. Dont know how you can sell property with out flushing out potential buyers and putting yourself in a postion to find buyers, and what type of property they want.
 
1. As a buyer, do you prefer open homes rather than making an appointment?

Neither. As a Buyer open home inspections suck big time, and appointments to view the house even worse.


2.Would you not view a property because it has no open house?

If it's an open house, I wouldn't inspect it and I certainly wouldn't buy it.

If the house is viewed via inspection only, then I certainly wouldn't inspect it, and never would contemplate buying it.


Any other feedback regarding your thoughts on open homes would be appreciated.

As a property Buyer, I stopped going to home opens about a decade ago and it has proven very fruitful indeed.
 
1. As a buyer, do you prefer open homes rather than making an appointment?

Yes. Unless you're prepared to have the appointment at 8pm at night.
Too may times I've called and the agent says "how about 6pm"...

2.Would you not view a property because it has no open house?

Yes. I tend to look over properties with no opening time.... unless the price is cheap.
With a time I can use domain to sort out the open properties I want to see and go from location to location. By appointment, the window is usually smaller (I don't like keeping people waiting), which is why i like open houses which have a 45 min window - as long as I show up during that window, I can see the property.
 
I would sell my properties with an agent who does opens on Saturdays and even maybe a Wednesday evening, and also by inspection 24/7 (to cast a wider net).

I see a lot of buyers who "haven't done this before", and are terrified of calling agents and talking to them. Opens appeal to those people, as they can just show up and not get the 20 questions routine.

These are the types of people who will say to our sales agents "I want to offer 500K, but I'm prepared to pay more" (this happens more often than I would have thought, not realising that agents are not impartial) - I think a lot of people are very naive - you certainly wouldn't see these buyers posting on property investment forums - and I think many of these types of buyers just go along to all the opens on a Saturday.

Also - many agents are REALLY annoying - and follow you around and tell you things like "this is the bathroom, this is the bedroom" - thanks genius. If I want to look at a property being sold by an agent I know to be a total drag, I wait for the open and have a look around whilst trying to avoid them :)

If my property was in the millions, I would still advertise open homes but I would expect the eventual buyer to be known to the agent, or have at least phoned and been qualified by the agent.

My PPOR which I only bought in May, I took a friend to an afternoon open with no real intention of buying - and ended up doing just that. It's a very common story.

And just by the way - in QLD it is illegal to advertise open homes for tenanted properties unless the tenant formally agrees - meaning most tenanted properties/investments are shown by appointment only.
 
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