A survey conducted in Texas by the Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University (recenter.tamu.edu) says, “Although open houses are popular with sellers, they appear to be losing their appeal among agents. Sellers see the open house as an indication the agent is actively promoting the listing. Agents know, however, the odds are long that an open house will produce a buyer.”

The National Association of Realtors polled agents and found that open houses led to only 7 percent of all home sales. Referrals were sited as the biggest sales factor at 29% of all sales. In a 2005 profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, also conducted by the NAR, 42% of home buyers found open houses to be "Very Useful" as an information source and 55% said they used open houses as an information source in their search but of the nine categories in the chart showing where buyers first learned about the home they purchased, open houses were not even listed.

The Texas survey which had 36% of all Certified Residential Specialist license holders in the state respond, found that 97% had held open houses but only 41% said they were effective. According to the article associated with the survey, “Survey Slams Door on Open House” (http://recenter.tamu.edu/pdf/1258.pdf), “While 32 percent agree that public open houses attract many potential buyers, 62 percent believe most people attending open houses are not serious buyers. In fact, three out of four (77 percent) of the respondents say most open houses are held merely to appease sellers.” In addition the survey found that three out of four agents think open houses are effective in interesting buyers in homes other that than the one being shown.

The Open House has been a staple of selling homes for a long time and although we are seeing agent resistance and even data demonstrating they are not very effective I don’t see them going away anytime soon. As long as there are sellers out there who see value or at least believe there is value in holding an open house, there will be agents who sit in houses on weekend afternoons.

If you enjoyed this series of posts on open houses take a look at the complete article located on my website at “Selling a Home: Should you have an Open House” and let me know how you feel about the topic as a seller, buyer or agent?