Open House Myths

by Shawn Lackie

It’s a good time to dispel a few Real Estate myths. One of the largest and most oft quoted is, Open Houses only account for 2 per cent of all houses sold. Many agents pooh pooh the idea of even holding them, claiming they “Never do anything to sell the property.” Wow, there’s a real open minded ideology.

I have lived by a handful of credos over the years, one of which is, to never pre-judge a situation. Expect the unexpected. That most definitely includes hosting open houses. My wife used to be a weekend widow. Not because I was at the football or hockey games or partying with friends and relatives. I would stage a Saturday AND Sunday open house. For myriad of reasons. The most important was, keeping the promise to the client. I would market their property to the best of my ability and expose the place to as many eyeballs as possible.

In the pre-pandemic days, open houses were a popular way for potential buyers to check out the home AND take a look at the area in general. There are some things you really can’t see on the internet and it was a chance to get a feel for the vibe of the home. You have to see it to feel it.

My open houses actually paid off, in a big way. I found about 30 percent of my business came from these and over 50 percent of new clients. Think about it, you aren’t bothering people with door knocking or cold calls. THEY ARE COMING TO YOU! How could you not consider this to be a plus?

I ran an open house in Oakville which attracted 20 couples on Saturday, and another 25 on Sunday. That’s 45 possibles I wouldn’t have found otherwise. That place sold through an open house to another agent but the sale was still generated by the client seeing the place.

At another listing, in Caesarea, I held an unadvertised open house, on a Saturday afternoon, which generated one visitor. Like they say, you only need one and he was the one. He bought the place and then had me list his home, for sale in Oakville. Old Oakville: where the homes don’t come cheap, and guess what? I sold that place at an open house, to a local developer. Two deals from one open house. Not bad odds, and it all happened in August, which was considered a slow month.

I sold another place in Oshawa, at an open house. Two buyers showed up and both wanted to do offers. On the spot. I sold a client’s home in Scarborough, to an off-shore buyer who didn’t see the place. However, his close friend was at my open house and recommended the place to his buyer friend in China. The most important thing about hosting these events is getting a real feel for what is happening at that time in the market, current trends and all. You won’t be able to get that feedback on the ‘net. Face to face and voice to voice is where it’s at. It always has been.

Feel free to check out this story and more on my blog site, at https://slackie14.wixsite.com/buy-sell-and-more