Every Sunday, in homes for sale across the nation, the scene is the same. Home sellers wake up early, scrub, vacuum, and straighten the house. Real estate agents put up open house signs, run ads in the local paper, and send out announcements to the neighbors. Then, the sellers pack up their things and leave the comfort of their home, hoping and praying that someone will buy it at the open house.
Open houses are a traditional tool for marketing homes for sale.
Let's take a closer look. Open houses rarely sell houses. Few sellers understand that an open house usually does not sell that particular property. Surveys by the National Association of Realtors show that only 3 to 7 percent of homes are sold by open houses. A buyer poll showed that 41 percent of home buyers attended open houses, but fewer than 5 percent purchased a home through an open house.