Keep Safety During Open House & Showings

While real estate professionals generally "do a good job" of relaying potential risks to their clients, "safety often takes a back seat" when the sales professionals are hurrying to prepare for a showing.
Homeowners should always be careful if they become suspicious of someone touring their home. They should not allow strangers to enter their home without an appointment, especially if they are alone. They should ask for a visitor's driver's license, address, phone number, and license plate number; take down a physical description; and provide the information via phone to someone as an extra safeguard.

Unknown agents should be told to enter using the lockbox, and all the lights should be turned on and the shades and curtains opened during a showing. Among other things, sellers should remove valuables from the home, allow prospects to enter a room first, refuse to answer any unusual and unnecessary questions, and plan an escape route just in case.

Do open houses sell houses?

I think many sellers see an open house as a sign that their real estate agent is making an effort to sell, and agents are sales agents are eager to show they are doing something to sell the home in a difficult market. So they want an open house. The irony is that many real estate agents say they mostly hold open houses to convince the seller that they are trying. It seems to be fairly common wisdom in the real estate industry that open houses don't sell houses.

The real fact: Serious shoppers make appointments. They are represented by an agent and have been qualified to buy a home for a certain price.

There's another thing sellers should know: Agents aren't just agreeing to hold open houses as a form of appeasement. An open house is a wonderful place to find new clients, people looking for a new home, and those thinking about selling.

This is not necessarily good for the home seller. Just think about a potential buyer who walks into your home. They want to buy a home, have not been pre-approved for a loan, but they're not sure this is the right one. 'No problem!' says the agent. 'I've got more homes similar to this one. Maybe you'll like one of those better.'

There are just two valid reasons for an agent to hold open houses and neither of them has much to do with selling the house being held open.

Reason 1: find motivated buyers (those that do not have an agent) and become their agent.
Reason 2: meet neighbors who will later want to sell their home.

For buyers, I think the advantage is it lets you see houses on your maybe list without having to make an appointment. Sometimes someone buys something. But very rarely.Chances are that it won't happen. Serious buyers went through the process of having been pre-qualified and they are represented by an agent. They have viewed property online, looked at pictures and they visit those properties they are interested in.