One Open House in 16 Years

Authored by: Sean Stark
October 19th, 2007

A good article came my way this week via Realtor Magazine that discusses the topic of open houses. Are Open Houses an antiquated form of advertising if 80% of home buyers use the Web to search for properties? Here’s the link.

Is the Open House What It Used to Be?

While 80 percent of home buyers used the Web to search for properties, only 42 percent visited open houses last year, reports the NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF REALTORS®. But does that mean open houses are a waste of time? Depends on whom you ask.

Broker John Hodnett, of Lilia Delman Real Estate in Coastal Rhode Island, has only held one open house in his 16-year real estate career. He says serious buyers tend to view properties online and make appointments to tour the specific properties that truly spark their interest.

On the other hand, open houses often are frequented by people who simply want to see what a home looks like with no plans of making a purchase.

However, Hodnett notes that some sellers demand open houses because they want to know their agent is working hard to sell the home.

Lawrence Yun, Vice President, NAR Research made some thought out observances of the current real estate market. Yun sees an improved market for 2008. Let’s hope his crystal ball is correct. Remember to keep those prices in line out there, that’s one way to reduce this “very high” inventory…

Taking Inventory

Though the credit problems appear to be over, there is an overhang that looms large that could hamper the recovery of the housing market. Inventory is high – very high. There were a record 4.58 million homes on the market at the end of August. That’s a 10 month supply. But the number of total listings appear to be topping out. A significant portion of the existing supply of homes is old inventory that has been sitting for several months due to lower sales activity.

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