open houses

My first open house in 13 years

by John Rice

I did my first open house since 2009 recently. None of the people who came to the open house bought it.

Why?

Because open houses do not help a seller get their house sold.

Who comes to an open house?

1) People who are so new in their search for a home that they are not ready to make a decision.

2) Neighbors.

3) People who just like houses and real estate.

Why do realtors seem to love doing them?

Because they get to meet all those people who are not going to buy the house they are standing in but may buy something later.

Why then did I do one?

For my seller. We put her house on the market right before Thanksgiving. That is statistically the absolute worst time to put a house on the market……and Thanksgiving 2022 was pretty much the worst market since 2011. Interest rates had just put all buyers in a state of shock and very few were out actively shopping.

My seller was one of the nicest clients I have ever had. She needed to get this house sold so she could get married, move and start a new life out of state. All that was in the way was selling this house. It was very discouraging to her that it didn’t sell fast. The market did a major shift so quickly last fall. FYI-It is much better now. Buyers are getting used to today’s rates and are not as shocked/mad/afraid to buy a house. Back then all the headlines were how terrible the market would get. Prices would fall. Zillow and Redfin went from predicting things like 14% annual gains to declines of 10% or more in value.

Long story short, she needed a little encouragement and the least I could do was give her part of one Sunday afternoon.

It had been so long since I had done an open house that I didn’t even have any signs. The first step was to buy the bigger open house sign to put in the yard and get it scheduled online. On my way to her house, I placed the brand new directional signs so people could find the place.

Where I hadn’t done one in so long, I had no idea what to expect. My plan was to get my 10,000 steps done for the day by pacing around her house. I had many pleasant surprises that day. The first of which was that the seller had candy in practically every room and had baked fresh cookies. I ate so many of them that I should have walked 1,000,000 steps that day. We had a huge number of people show up. So much so that I didn’t really have time to play solitaire and sudoku on my phone. I also ran into two people I knew that I hadn’t seen in forever. Overall, it was a successful open house in the sense that it gave my seller the encouragement she needed.

Selling a house is very stressful. Most of my job is giving practical advice and taking care of tasks. Sometimes it is about doing something that says “We’re in this together.”

The house sold a few weeks later to a young couple who feel in love with it. The seller was very happy they loved the house as much as she did.

Best way to get top dollar for your house

by John Rice

I don’t really know how to say this without upsetting some of my realtor friends, but most of the current marketing trends are just hype.

Many agents are doing weekday open houses.  Like a Tuesday or Thursday from 5-7.  Often the house sells before the open house……and if the listing had hit the market that day, that is the exact time buyers would be scheduling their showing anyway.

Many agents are doing these “Coming Soon” listings.  After making everybody wait to see it, the house sells the first day on the market for full price.  Imagine that.  Just like every other new listing that is priced appropriately.

Some say that these are the best ways to expose the listing to a market that is already hungry for new listings, and at a time when there is a shortage of houses for sale.

Here is what I say is the absolute positively BEST way to know you got top dollar:

You put the house on the market late on a Friday.  Why?  So the listing gets fed to zillow and all the other real estate sites in enough time to get on every buyer’s radar but is too late to be shown that night.  Why again?  Because more people are available to look at a house on the weekend than they are during the week.  Why do you want that?  Because you want every buyer to not only see your house, but to also see every other buyer flocking to your house.  Nothing motivates a buyer more than seeing people coming and going during their viewing.

You show the house all weekend.

And this is where the rubber meets the road.  You tell all the agents that the seller is not making a decision until Sunday evening and to submit their client’s highest and best offer.  That gives time for the house to be seen by every interested buyer.  More interested buyers means more offers.  More offers means a better price and/or terms.

 

 

Why I let my sellers stay home 2-4 on Sundays

by John Rice

The house across the street from me recently sold.  There had been open houses almost every week that it was listed.  It had tons of people come see it.

Sounds great, right?

Doing a little research, there had been 82 sales of houses priced $50k less and $50k more than this house’s list price.  That is 82 sales all year.  In ALL of Lexington. And there had probably been about half that many people come to the open houses.  I know because I was home every Sunday between 2 and 4, usually washing my cars.  Could it be that there were half as many buyers out there looking as we have had sales all year?  Doubtful.  I bet most of those people are just out on a Sunday between 2 and 4 for entertainment.

Which gets me to my point.  No offense at all to the agent who had this house listed.  The agent did a great job.  The pictures looked great.  Great marketing too.  I just don’t think open houses really help sell a house.  In the internet age, exposure is never the problem.  I think they are one of the few tasks an agent can do that a seller can see.  It makes a seller feel good.

Selling a house is a lot like fishing.  You bait the hook with quality pictures and an attractive price, drop it in the water we call the internet, and wait for a bite.  Sellers don’t like that.  Sellers want action.  An open house is something they can see.  Even if at 4:05 when you are pulling the open house sign out of the yard and telling the seller the house didn’t sell, they are happier because they saw you do something.

I often have sellers ask about doing an open house.  I guess I could do one and make them feel happy, but I normally tell them how it really works.

I tell them that open houses are the 8 track player of the real estate world.  They hark back to the days when there were no pictures except maybe a black and white thumbnail of the front of the house in the newspaper.  An open house was the only chance a buyer had to see the inside.  Now we have multiple quality pictures, inside and out, and some even have pictures to show you what the house looks like to passing airplanes.

I tell them that most people that come to an open house are either just beginning their search and not ready to pull the trigger, or are neighbors, or bored, or even thieves.

I tell them that to believe the house will sell due to an open house means that we have to believe there is a buyer out there who wants to buy the house but is too afraid to call their own agent or the listing agent to schedule a time to see it.  And in this market, doesn’t mind the risk that it will sell before the open house.

I tell them I know all this because I use to do open houses all the time until I realized all I was doing was kicking them out of their home in the middle of one of their days off work.

And they always tell me they didn’t realize all that and to skip the open house.

In my opinion, the best thing you can do when your house hasn’t sold is to listen to the market.  If you get feedback from showings and most of the buyer’s thought the price was high, the house needed paint, or there was some other negative, you should fix the issues or reduce the price.  Remember my fishing analogy?  Not responding to the negatives is like fishing with the wrong bait.  Inviting all the fish to come see your bait will get you an audience, but they won’t bite if they don’t like it.

Oh, about that house across the street.  How did the buyer see the house?  They scheduled a private showing with their own agent.