The Truth About Open Houses

Most people think that open houses are the agent’s way of getting the house sold. While it would make sense that opening the house to the 'general public' could potentially bring the next owner, that is not how it always works.

Real estate agent showing potential client around at open house.

Sorry to break it to you, and sorry to my fellow real estate agents, for spilling the beans. Less than 5% of houses are sold to someone who attended an open house. That’s right, less than 5%. Some statistics support the hypothesis and suggest that the number may be as high as 30%. However, I don't see that being realistic. You can look up the statistics on this if you want to prove me wrong. The lower percentages are shown where consumer-focused organizations did the research, whereas professional organizations, such as the National Association of REALTORS, generated the higher numbers.

The theory is that people attending an open house must be interested in that house, right? About 5% of the time, maybe. There is usually free food, drink, maybe a gift card giveaway, and the chance to wander through your neighbor’s house.

Why do agents insist on holding open houses? It’s all about leads. Agents collect names, email addresses, and phone numbers at open houses. Where does all that data go? You can guess this one—the agent’s database. Now the agent, or their virtual assistant, gets to email, call, and text those people until they get a response. Oftentimes, the response is a request to stop the assault.

If your agent wants to hold an open house on day one, or even in the first week, they are just using your house to find their next client. While many agents just go with this flow and hold open houses because that's what everyone else is doing, I choose not to go that route. Unless my client insists on it. Open houses can be disruptive to the client and mostly serve the agent.