Real NEastate: Do open houses really work? [republished]

Real NEastate columnist Stacey McCarthy has the week off. The column below and information in it were originally published in June 2011.

Q: My home has been on the market for almost a year now. I fired my last real estate agent because he never did any open houses and hired one that does an open house every other week. It has been six months with the new agent, but no offers. Do open houses even work?

A: According to the National Association of Realtors Profile of Home Buyers and Home Sellers, only 12 percent of home buyers went to open houses to search for their homes, and even fewer bought at open houses. Although it may not be a complete waste of time to hold an open house or two to draw attention to your listing, an open house is not the end-all, be-all in marketing your home for sale.

The percentage of home buyers who used the Internet to search for a home was much higher at 74 percent. And 45 percent who saw a home online made an appointment to view the home in person. Hopefully you’ve hired an agent that knows it’s smart to market your home on the internet.

The average home buyer today will search for three months for a home and will see an average of 15 houses. If you want one of them to buy yours, the best and easiest thing for you to do to sell your home is price it correctly. I know I must sound like a broken record because I say this all the time but, if your home is not priced right, today’s home buyers will not buy it. No matter how smart you’re marketing it.

Stacey McCarthy is a real estate agent with the McCarthy Group of Keller Williams. Her Real NEastate column appears every Wednesday on NEastPhilly.com. See others here. Read other NEast Philly columns here.

 

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