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Public and Agent Open Houses Advertising and Promotion 

A public open house when your property is first placed on the market can be very important, but not for the reasons most homeowners think.  As with advertising, most visitors to open houses rarely buy the house they come to look at.  They often do not even know the price of your home when they stop by to visit – they probably just followed an "Open House" sign to your door to make sure they were not missing a good bargain!

An open house performs a similar function to neighbourhood announcements – it lets all of your neighbours know that your house is for sale, and it practically invites them to come "take a look."  Being generally nosy, a lot of your neighbours may take advantage of the invitation.

And they may tell their friends about your house, creating more "word of mouth" advertising.  This can work in your favour.

Of course, there are other reasons for holding public open houses, too.  Listing agents who "farm" a particular neighbourhood use them as an opportunity to meet with other local homeowners who will someday be selling their home.  Your listing agent may hope to list their home in the future.

Public open houses held after your home has been on the market awhile do not usually serve a useful purpose in selling your home.  Most of the neighbours already know your house is for sale and open house visitors rarely buy the homes they visit.

However, if you really want more open houses, your listing agent may allow other agents to hold it open.  Open houses may attract prospective home buyers who are not already signed up with a buyer agent.  This may increase the 'pool' of buyers and agents hope to convince some of those home buyers to become their buyer clients.

Another imortant factor to consider with public open houses is buyer agency.  In Ontario we operate under buyer or seller agency, read more about agency here.  Under the Real Estate Council of Ontario Rules of Conduct we agents must attempt to 'sign up' a buyer to a written buyer agency contract at the earliest possible time after meeting with a potential buyer.  This means that many (if not most) buyers these days are already contractually obligated and must be completely loyal to and only work with one particular agent.  If another agent does a public open house on a property to 'pick up' a buyer then this is no longer an effective method, since most buyers are already 'signed up' and not available to work with any other agents.

AGENT OPEN HOUSES:

On the other hand, Agent open houses can be very effective in many ways.  They provide feedback from other active agents working in the area.  They also allow us fellow agents to see a large number of homes in a short period of time.  During the agent open house tour an agent may see your home as the 'perfect' fit for a buyer that they are working with.  Often the day or two after an agent open house you will receive many showings and frequently you may receive an offer from an agent who was through your home during the agents open house!

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