Never Have Open Home Viewing When Selling Your Home.

Think about this

I am a huge Bob’s Burgers fan. It takes one or two episodes to get into the comedy cartoon characters, but if you haven’t watched it, watch it to see if it resonates with you.

In one episode, Bob and his family go to view open houses in elite neighbourhoods, they could never afford. They are there for the free food, and drinks.

It reminded me of an open house, with no agent to sell the place. That got me thinking about the pros and cons of selling your home the open house way.

I suggest from the research I have been doing, that the below are the reasons I would never do an open house no matter how much the agent pleads with me to do so.

Agents benefit. You don’t

The reason real estate agents plead with you to open your house to view by prospective buyers is so that they can do no work and they can build up their list of potential buyers, not only for your property but for their portfolio of properties.

It makes it harder for buyers

Most of the time, open house viewings are only open at certain hours on certain days, so it makes it harder for serious buyers to look at your property.

Any other business that was to open the hours of open house viewing will not do much business at all. It’s like saying. ‘Hey, I have this great product to sell you, but you can’t see it yet. I will show it to you when I want to, and you will just have to adapt to my timetable.’

Security

This is becoming a bigger issue, with selling cars and houses, the number of reports I have heard of houses being robbed after an open viewing, or cars being stolen after a ‘test drive’.

Think about it, it is the perfect opportunity for criminals to assess the property and make their plans to return, to rob it. Any agent who thinks they are going to keep track of people with ill intent is smoking wacky weed. Criminals will have fake names, and more.

Insurance

Most insurance companies won’t pay out if burglars enter after an open house, and they won’t pay out if there is any damage done to your house, because they will have a clause in their contract with you, that they do not cover losses from ‘invited guests.’

No Qualifying

There are no qualifying characteristics for entering an open home, so there may be people there who are trying to disrupt the sale and come back later to offer lower than the value of the property.

Many of these types will try to point out any flaws in front of other potential buyers, to push the price down.

Some may just be there to waste everyone’s time and they were never serious about buying. Some may not even have the money, for instance, in the Bob’s Burger episode I describe above.

No good trying to sell to people who will never buy. They are just time wasters or price cutters.

Good Buyers Run

Good sales agents will close the sale with people who are legitimately interested in making an offer, but when buyers enter an open home viewing, the agent allows them to leave without trying to close the sale. There is no point if that is the case.

Advertising costs

Useless sales agents will ask buyers to pay for the advertising of their open home and unsuspecting home sellers often oblige with promises of that being the best way to sell your home.

Do not fall for that. It will cost you thousands upon thousands of dollars for little if any, return, and you have just built the real estate agent business for him at your expense.

Visitors trash home

The public entering a home means you get a cross-section of society and some people are just destructive, so you risk people causing damage to your house, particularly if the open house is busy with many people milling around.

Privacy gone

Some buyers don’t enjoy buying a house that has had so many people milling around in it. Some buyers are more private and like their private spaces. The foot traffic factor will put these types of buyers off.

Lazy agents

Agents who are lazy will tell you ‘the market is weak’ if nobody shows up to your open house, after spending your money to advertise the open house.

Also, if they receive low-ball offers, they will use the excuse that you need to ‘listen to the market.’ well the market is greater than just the people attending your open house.

Comparisons are not your friend

People comparing your open house to the one down the road may compare someone who will sell at a lower price and will try to push your price down. Weak sales agents who are lazy will try to convince you to accept lower offers.

Recap

Resorting to an open house to sell your home is not something I would recommend. Beware of any agent who says it’s the best way to sell your home.

Think of strangers walking through the house with no intent to buy, losing privacy and people casing the place for later burglaries.

Think of the money that your weak sales agent will ask you to invest to advertise your open home and all the leads you will supply your lazy sales agent.

Be strong and don’t accept excuses, make the real estate agent earn their commission.