Open Houses: Pros vs. Cons

This is why home sellers sometimes resort to conducting open houses. This way, potential buyers can have a closer look at a property and decide whether or not they’d want to live there.

However, an open house may not always be the best way to sell your property, when patience could have saved you the time and money spent in preparing for an open house.

While open houses can speed up the process, they aren’t always a sure thing, and you should look at the advantages and disadvantages first and decide for yourself if you think holding an open house will help you sell your property.

Pros

• Increased exposure

  Marking your house “sold” as quickly as possible is often determined by exposure. The more exposed your house is, the more probable that someone would buy it.

  Someone from another city who’s looking to buy a house in your area, for example, might not have the slightest idea of where to live, but may see an advertisement for your open house and find that it’s the perfect property for him or her.

  Conducting an open house will open you to a lot more exposure through advertisements in the newspaper, street signs, and the internet. Through this, you’re gathering more potential buyers and increasing the likelihood of an easy sale.

• Offering a firsthand look

  By welcoming prospective buyers into your home, you’re giving them a taste of what it’s like to live in the house that you’re selling. This may sometimes be the only thing they need to finally decide on whether or not to purchase a house.

  Not only do you let them feel the experience of moving around the house and help them visualize their life in that home, you also introduce your neighborhood to your guests, which is another critical factor that buyers consider when looking for a home.

• Open for everyone

  An open house will present your house not just to potential buyers, but also to brokers who may offer you help in securing a sale in the future. Basically, you’re opening your doors to all sorts of people you can make a connection with, apart from potentially selling them your house.

  You can get acquainted with not just brokers, but also to people who can help you make repairs and improvements to increase the value of your property, and even find new friends.

• Convenience

  Not everyone is familiar with the process of buying a house, and an open house is a great way to find a potential buyer among these people. People who happen to just pass by your house may drop by and find that this is the home that they’re looking for. This is also convenient for you as a seller, as this gives you a settled time to entertain guests and look for buyers.

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Cons

• Security risks

  Remember that an open house opens your doors to all sorts of people, and this may include people with bad intentions. You may subject yourself to an increased risk of theft by having people come over and see which of your belongings they can take in the guise of looking for a home to buy.

  However, the solution isn’t to simply not just conduct an open house. If you think that an open house is necessary, just have proper precautions such as employing security or simply keeping all of your valuables locked in a secure place in your house.

• Not a sure sale

  Hosting an open house will subject you to the tedious process of cleaning up your house and even preparing food and drinks for your guests. That will require you not just to spend your time and effort, but also your money.

  While it may indeed net you a number of potential buyers, there’s no guarantee that your efforts will translate into a sale. Simply put, hosting an open house is an investment that will not necessarily pay off.

• Stress

  All the preparations in trying to make your house as presentable and desirable as possible can lead to stress. Surely enough, it will take up a chunk of your time that you could have spent working or resting, and it can get to the point where every little detail bothers you.

  Furthermore, not having any buyers immediately may lead you to question yourself and the viability of selling your house, which can take a toll on your mental and overall health. It’s a must that you remember that selling a house can be a lengthy process.

• Lookie-loos

  It’s inevitable for your open house to be attended by people who simply have nothing better to do. While it’s not necessarily a bad thing to have people drop by your open house, it can get pretty dragging to constantly have to host people who actually have no intention of purchasing your property and are basically just there to eat up your time.

Image credit: open houses pros cons by twenty20.com

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