Do you like open houses as a Realtor?

Question

my real estate office is all about doing open houses to find more buyers that they can work with.  Do you like doing them? or is there a more efficient way of finding buyers

Christine Kankowski · Answer

Personally, I do not like doing them, however, I have had success in a few.  1 was a home where my buyers didn't want to see the home, because the pictures showed ugly cabinets.  When they drove by the open house, they decided to go in, and of course, loved everything else about it. (They still have those cabinets. he he)

I do only do them if the seller requests.  With Pictures online, and lockbox access, it is much easier to see the home the buyer wants.  Open houses create risk for the seller (theft) and brings in a lot of people that may not be in the price range at all.

It does create more visibility for the home...

Lian Shi · Answer

This is not entirely true. When you are at the open house, you represent the seller and cannot solicit customers to steer them away from that property, because you represent the seller. You can however tell prospects the truth. When I am here, I represent the seller and cannot discuss any other properties, however, If you are not interested in making an offer on this property, we could discuss how I can help you with your home search after this open house. Also, You should be keeping a sign in sheet and finding out which buyers don't have representation so you can follow up with them after. Hope that helps

Russell Brazil · Answer

It is actually illegal in my state to try to get a new client at an open house. Open houses here are to only be used to try and sell the property. Get caught trying to solicit new business by a real estate commission tester and you get a $10,000 fine

Kirky Galt · Answer

I've gotten a buyer at an open house before, but they're few and far between. Your prospecting time would be better invested in some other, more proactive method of lead generation. Setting up and conducting an open house takes about 8 hours, whereas you could spend that eight hours door knocking on targeted leads, and get better results.

Russell Brazil · Answer

You should more closely read the "Consent for Dual Agency" form for Maryland. Yes there is a form that allows what they call "Dual Agency" but it goes on to describe a very different form than what "Dual Agency" means in every other state.  Our "Dual Agency" states it allows the brokerage to assign another agent to the other side of the contract.  It does not allow one agent to represent both sides of the contract.

Our "Dual Agency" therefore refers to the same broker being on both sides of the transaction, but not the same agent being on both sides.

Lian Shi · Answer

Just fyi, Dual agency is allowed in Maryland, they just need to sign a consent. It's part of my husband's standard forms from his broker. (consent for dual agency, also consent for dual agency within a team).

Russell Brazil · Answer

Deletes...Posted in wrong thread

Account Closed · Answer

Enjoy it while you can.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urinetown

Back in the day when I was a Realtor you didn't have all the access to pictures on websites so an Open House was an easy way to get mass exposure instead of bothering the owner with individual appointments.  It also allowed all the NBHD nosey neighbors a look at the property and you.  I've had houses sell because of the neighbor referring a friend or family.  I also got listings because the neighbors saw me repeatedly in their NBHD.

I like open houses now as an investor because I can look at a bunch of properties quicker than I can with appointments with my Realtor.  As much fun as it is to cruise down Kalakaua Ave. in my Realtor's Jag I prefer going to open houses and announcing myself as a nosey neighbor if I'm looking at comps or give my Realtors name if I am looking to buy.  And I have bought property that I saw through an open house.

Russell Brazil · Answer

@Greg  H. On top of all that we also have to operate as agents in three separate state jurisdictions. (Maryland, DC and Virginia). Frankly sometimes it can be hard to remember what is permissible in each of the jurisdictions. Most people operate with whatever is most restrictive in any area so as to be on the cautious side of things. Heck even in one state the laws can vary county to county.  Most places it is customary to leave you business card at a showing...however we have one county in Maryland that views leaving your business card as an attempt to solicit business from the seller which is not allowable since they have a contract with another agent.  Dual agency is not allowed in Maryland while it is in DC and Virginia. The protected Fair Housing classes are not only different in each of the three states, but also change from county to county.

(I use state when referring to DC, because in the essence of regulations and laws that is how it is functionally)

Russell Brazil · Answer

That is actually illegal in Maryland too! We can have an agent from our own brokerage host an open house,(Which most of my open houses someone from my office hosts, usually a newbie) but not one from another brokerage.  The Real Estate Commission just last year released a memo essentially stating that by doing this you and the open house agent are in essence engaging in practicing real estate without a license. I forget the logic of how they got from A to Z on it, but it was clearly spelled out that your punishment would be for that.

Maryland/DC is a very "special" place.  We have the most lawyers per capita in the DC metro area by a large amount(788 per 10,000...#2 is NY at 86 per 10,000), and I guess in order to keep them all working we need to create some truly absurd regulations, and then make it easy to break them so they can be employed in coming after you, and others employed in defending you. Also our sales contracts are on average about 50 pages, and can easily reach 100 pages depending on what addenda are added to the contract.

Do you like open houses as a Realtor?

Most Popular Reply