When we were looking in NJ broker open houses were very popular (it was a scorching hot market back then). Our agent brought us through a few of them as our schedule was tight so that is probably fairly common for an agent to bring a client.

Good luck! :-)

My husband and I sold two houses last year. Both realtors held broker open houses. One served a lunch. The other served coffee and rolls. None of the brokers who toured provided much in the way of helpful comments, but I'm sure the exposure helped sell the houses.

Our first agent scheduled an open house which was a complete failure. We lived in a mountain area, with dirt roads etc, and most of the agents/brokers just stood outside and chatted, smoked, and did not even come in to see the house, or have refreshments. I was quite angry and upset and if that happened today, I would go on the porch and tell them either come in or go away. They could care less. I knew in advance they would not be interested as they were from the city and did not even know where I lived until they came out and most of them were very uncaring.
I did ask several why they came, and their answer was--good day to get out of the city, and get paid for it.
I think if we were in the city, it might have been different, but 40 miles out????
I let certain people I knew quite well, that I was extreme disapointed and not to do it again.

Here in my little town NJ, broker open / lunches do not work and are a waste of money. My old agent held one, 3 people came, 2 were from her office IIRC. We were talking to our 2nd agent (who is a broker) yesterday, he said he never knew we even had one. He then said he & his son went to one where they gave away money to a lucky winning agent; out of the two agents that went, the prize stayed in his family lol

I really think it has to do with area. Open houses don't work here either. We had our 3rd on Sunday, 3 people showed. My agent was able to show one couple another house that day after it was over, so hopefully it was worth it to him. I also got feedback that another couple driving by that stopped loved the decorating; something people here did not like as I have flowers.

FWIW, the house just sold. We've had 3 offers in the last few weeks, 2 this weekend before the OH. Once contracts are signed I will make a post.

Congratulations roselvr!!! :-)

Thank you!

Congrats, roselvr! From what I heard our broker open house went well. 25 agents walked through. A few brought clients with them. One client said the house is too small so doesn't meet her needs. The other clients had either positive or poker-faced reactions. The agents had in general very positive things to say. There were a few negatives that were small things. Some agents said they'd bring clients back. We'll see.

In my small town, broker open houses are held on Tuesdays, between 11-2. They are well attended. I try to go to most, but some I skip because I don't have a client in that market or I know the home already. Guess it depends on the town. Our real estate culture here supports them.
Good luck with yours.
Jo

When we sold my last place, a condo, in 2005 our brokers open was well attended. It was near the peak of the market here in S.FL. Now the market is terrible. We put our house on the market a few months ago, not one agent came to the brokers open. No one has showed up to any of the public open houses either, not even neighbors. That's probably because we aren't allowed to put up signs. (The lack of neighbors, I mean.)

It's odd -- when we were shopping for houses in the DC area we loved open houses, since it was convenient and we could see 3-4 houses in an afternoon. Obviously we weren't going to buy all of them, but it gave us a great opportunity to see. Maybe the others were neighbors, but we were serious.