In this difficult market I'd use every marketing tool in the box, so YES to some open houses.

Although your neighbors may "snoop" they might know somebody that is looking or may be renting and want to buy in the area. One of the houses back that I sold had a back-up offer that was from a neighbor going through at the open house and the offer we accepted first was also from that same open house.

Always do an Open House or two, or three. Just don't run one weekly. An Open House may generate lookie-loos and neighbors, or it may generate an offer. This forum is full of stories of people who bought or sold a house via an OH.

In my area, Open House do sell houses.

You might nip neighbor nosiness in the bud by staying there for the open house...

& if your neighbors do show up, smile big & welcome them & tell them you're *so* glad they came & you hope they have a friend or nephew or somebody from church who might like your house.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I certainly wouldn't hurt to try everything you can.. and I think there's something to be said for getting a bunch of people through in one fell swoop, as opposed to 20 private showings, and 20 pet removals in the middle of a work week ;)

I just need to convince my husband and realtor that this is a good idea, they're both opposed to doing them. Well, our realtor said he'd do one if we wanted him to, but it's not something he recommends.

Why not try to network on that other Open House traffic? See if your realtor can get with the other realtors and do them all in the same weekend - someone looking at a neighbors house may like yours better.
Definately do an in house flyer for taking with listing every little feature that you like about your house, neighborhood community. For example - I think a house who's backyard faces north and front living faces south is a bonus. Not something most people think about too much and a small detail but btw two similar houses.......

DH and I have bought all our houses (PA & WV) after doing the Open House.

They are very popular and successful in my area!

What is wrong with neighbors seeing your house? Our realtor held an OH specifically for the neighbors and drive-bys one weekend. She sent out postcards to everyone in our old townhouse community and put up a sign, but it was otherwise unadvertised. (Later she held two advertised OHs.) Lots of neighbors came by (we had already moved to another house a mile away). A few of them told their friends about the house. Unfortunately nothing panned out via the neighbor-network (we sold to a couple from a different part of the county).

I say do whatever gets the word out quickly and broadly.

Chelle, in my (old) area, open houses did not sell houses, nor were agents opens attended. My 1st agent tried with both, had 2 agents show to the AO, and the OH's were usually the same. My 2nd agent didn't usually do them but did because I asked. He also did the time different, it was 10:30 until 2 instead of 12-4.

From my experience, the agents have to do the OH right in order for it to really count. 2 weeks advertising on realtor.com; I also like Friday to Sunday (weekend of) in the newspaper and if it is on other sites, that's a plus. Signs (including directionals) with balloons are also a must and I like the OH sign to go on my lawn the Sunday night; a week before the actual OH.

If the OH doesn't work, then you tried.

I sold 2 of my houses off an OH. Also, I went to an OH (because I'm one of those Lookie lous & like to know what is going on in the market around me)& told someone about a nice house near my house & she BOUGHT IT. Surprisingly, her REA didn't tell her about that house, but her realtor made a commission off my telling her client about that house.

I agree with some of the posters. It can't hurt even if someone is a Lookie-Lou. They may tell someone. I'm a perfect example.

My wife and I weren't even in the market to buy a house. I saw an ad in the newspaper for an open house in the next town from us that sounded really attractive. We decided just to go admire it (Lookie-Lou) and found it had every feature you could love about an antique house. We put an offer on it that day and four years later we still love it and laugh at what an impulse buy we made. I'd go with an open house you never know when someone will decide it was meant to be.

Thanks for the input, everyone. I'm going to push my agent to do an open house.

For now, we're 25 DOM, have had 20 showings, a couple 2nd time lookers, but no offers.

We're reducing 10K today. We've also decided that since it's a corner lot, with a LOT of sidewalk to shovel, we're throwing in our new snowblower. Hopefully that will sweeten the pot!

And just an update from my 'Let's-kill-the-server-with-bandwidth" Rant post (that I don't want to bump back up to the top!), the FSBO people across the street have listed with an agent/MLS. They're asking the same price as our original (pre-reduction), except they don't have a finished basement, nor the 4th bathroom that we have. But then, we have the disadvantage of the corner lot, so, all things being equal....

They're going straight into open houses this weekend, both Saturday and Sunday. It'll be interesting to see who ends up selling first!

I found my first house during an OH. I'd seen the ad posted for the house, but it was on a busy street and I decided against it, though it seemed like it would fit my needs. Then I saw the OH advertised and decided to go look. I loved it! It did fit my needs. I came back w/mom and looked a second time and made an offer.

In this market, you need every tool in the shed.

I've never heard of an agent who is opposed to OHs. Usually they love them because they can pick up more clients that way.

Good luck!

If your neighbor is having an open house this weekend, why not do one too. Can just walk over from one to another.

Two of my neighbor ladies came by to look during one of our open houses. We had actually encouraged one of them to, if she wanted. We had replaced the carpet, removed a hardwood entry and replaced with tile, and put new flooring in the kitchen as well. They'd seen the workers and were curious and the house has never looked better so I certainly didn't mind.

We've had 3 so far, and another this weekend. Nothing has come of them yet, but there's 15 more familes that have seen our place now because of them. One couple said it was perfect for them but had to talk with their financial backer and bring them to look, but it's been almost 2 weeks and we havent heard back. One couple came came through at the beginning of the open house and then came back in the last hour for another look but they have a house to sell across country and won't be in a position until it sells.

I fell in love with a place I saw during an open house, but we were not in a position to buy since my house was not yet ready to list. I KNEW the house would not last and the agent said the seller could not take a contingent offer since they already bought a new place so I didn't even try.

You never know what they will bring, so, what's the harm? Your house has to be ready to show anyway so just go to lunch and take in a movie let the agent do their job and see what happens!

It'll be interesting to see who ends up selling first!

What my agent thinks worked for us was the fliers I made. I wrote bring all offers or something to that effect.

I've never heard of an agent who is opposed to OHs. Usually they love them because they can pick up more clients that way.

My last agent did not believe in them for our market but did it to humor me. I did ask when I 1st interviewed him, he said he didn't do them, but if it came time to discuss it, he'd do one.

Pretty sure we had 3 people come through. One couple loved the house but it was over their range. My agent was taking them to more houses when he was done at our house. Whether he sold them anything, I don't know.

He did not prep for the OH well. We had no directional signs and being off of a busy road, you needed them. I would have had shore traffic had he had signs. Thankfully I went to the dollar store and bought metallic balloons. The ones he brought (from memory) did not have helium. I also did not get the insert for my sign until the day before; should have been up all week.

IIRC, we were in negotiations with 2 couples a few days before the OH so he knew it was most likely sold, but we went through with the OH anyway. Would have been nice to have someone come through and offer more then what we were just offered by the two couples but oh well.

I doubt your Open House will get 20 lookers. I bet it will be closer to 5 or less. (But all you need is 1 that loves the place if they offer.). But pls post results of your Open House. the realtor needs to advertise the Open House via signs for several days and newspaper.

Yes, neighbors will come, this is common. They might be thinking of listing their home soon and want to see the competition. So what. That is part of an Open House.

IMO, throwing in the snow blower draws attention to the fact that you have lots of sidewalk. Then again, I guess folks up there think about snow/shoveling so notice the long sidewalk anyway.

Well, my realtor seems to be a Monday to Friday guy. He's a Remax Agent, and in the top 50 negotiators for Canada, but he specializes in commercial real estate, though he's sold many houses in his day. He was referred to us by a friend, and he was happy to list our house, but I'm starting to realize there's a difference between commercial and residential agents. This guy takes off for the cottage on Friday and is gone all weekend. I'm guessing this is why he's not wanting to do an open house.

We might have to re-think our agent.

Sweet_tea, I know.. I didn't want to draw attention to it either, and I was hoping - being June - people weren't thinking about shoveling snow. But, they're obviously thinking it anyway when they see the sidewalk, because that has been our only negative feedback on the house (corner lot, too much grass to cut/sidewalk to shovel).

Well, we watched our neighbours get an offer on their house last night. They had a showing, the people were in there for a long time, they all came out and the agent was still writing the offer on a clipboard. He went to his car and made a phonecall, and told the buyers "I'll let you know when we have an offer".

From what I can tell they're still going ahead with their open house today. It could have been a conditional offer, or a lowball. Who knows.

I don't get it. We just reduced 10K, and they're listed for what we originally listed for. It's pretty much the same house, only they don't have the finished basement or 4th bathroom that we have. What they do have is a pie-shaped lot in the middle of the court and a nice backyard/deck.

If I knew trying to sell a corner lot was going to be this difficult, I would never have bought this place!

I guess the good part about this is we'll now be the only house in the neighbourhood for sale *sigh*

Oops, that was supposed to say ""I'll let you know when we have an ANSWER". I wish we could edit posts on here, lol.

With the agent, ask if he has someone in the office willing to do the open or to show him you are serious, ask if he will give you the signs and sign in sheet so you can do it yourself. All you need is for him to list is as open on the remax site as well as realtor.com

Corner lots - it all depends for me on how the house sits. The corner house across from me is horrible, he has no privacy what so ever. I don't understand why the didn't put his front door on the main drag so that his back yard would at least face my street.

With your lot it is hard to say since I haven't seen a picture of how the house sits. I noticed chain link fence and if I was buying, would have to put some sort of privacy fence up.

When catfish posted about his house I looked at his competition, there was one corner lot that actually was very appealing due to how it was fenced and landscaped.

Can you post your MLS number?

btw, been meaning to ask, how long ago did you buy the china cabinet? Very hard to find that color wood.

Roselvr, I took some new pics of the exterior. The MLS photos don't really show that it's a corner lot, that's something my realtor did on purpose. I think it's a bit disingenuous really, but his logic was that we wouldn't have gotten as many showings as we did, and that someone might like the house enough to overlook the lot.

Anyway, you can see the photos here: Link

I also threw in some of my garden, you might enjoy my roses ;)

So, the people across the street did indeed sell their house tonight. I've watched 2 of my neighbours sell in the past week. I guess that's a (dis)advantage of being on a corner, you see everything *sigh*

Oh....

btw, been meaning to ask, how long ago did you buy the china cabinet? Very hard to find that color wood.

The house is 12 years old, and that's a built-in cabinet. The original owners had it custom built when they built the house. It actually matches the cabinets. It's really nice, I'm going to miss that cabinet!

I love your front porch and flowers. What beautiful curb appeal they add.

Can you do your own open house? It seems a shame if there are open houses all over the neighborhood not to have one at the same time.

The neighbour selling isn't really a reflection on anything wrong with your house, but that the buyer wanted a pie shaped lot and perhaps an clean slate to do their own basement. However, I do find it odd they didn't even look at your home to do a comparison.

I think throwing in the snowblower is a good idea. Someone upthread said it draws attention to the snow and amount of sidewalk. Growing up in Canada, snow and shoveling is a reality. That snowblower may be what inks the deal for a young couple who may not have otherwise bought it because they don't have a snowblower.

Honestly, you may want to re-think your realtor. Weekend work is part of the job and if you had an OH the same w/e as the neighbour, you would have received traffic from that.

However, I do find it odd they didn't even look at your home to do a comparison.

Actually, I think they were at my house too. The seller's agent looks a lot like the picture from one of the business cards from our Friday showings.

Of course, whenever my agent decides to resurface, I'll ask him to follow up with the agent for feedback, and find out what the liked about that house over ours.

We did find out that during their open house on Saturday, the homeowner had a bunch of golf clubs stolen from his garage. This validates my husband's biggest issue with open houses (theft), so getting him to agree to one now is going to be a hard sale.

Chelle, I know I would miss the cabinet too! lol

Your yard is nice (love the roses), about the only thing that's working against you is the no privacy. How common are privacy fences by you? Where we used to live, they were common, at the new place I don't see many. I think my neighbor (no one on one side) is putting one up. That will be nice for us so we wouldn't have to spend the money since I don't like being able to look in everyone else's yard. Being on the corner like that, if you could put some privacy fence up it might help.

We did find out that during their open house on Saturday, the homeowner had a bunch of golf clubs stolen from his garage. This validates my husband's biggest issue with open houses (theft), so getting him to agree to one now is going to be a hard sale.

What kind of stuff do you have out? With us, we didn't leave much out, maybe some music CD's. People can take them while walking with an agent also but I don't think it's that common. If you have an open house, just make sure that you don't leave anything laying around. I don't understand how someone ran off with something that big.

I know, it's hard to believe that making off with golf clubs would go unnoticed, LOL. But, their garage door was open the whole time, and the agent is inside the house. I guess if someone had backed up in the driveway, they could have just hiked them into their trunk(?)

It's hard to tell from the pictures, but our house is situated on the corner of a cul-de-sac OFF of a cul-de-sac, so there's virtually no traffic other than the people who live on either court. It's not a through-way to anywhere. So, the street itself is very quiet. Also, the house that our backyard backs onto has no windows on that side of the house and the house that our yard sides onto has no windows on THAT side of the house.

Our city has some weird fencing bylaws for corner lots. You can have a privacy fence, but it has to be 5 feet from the sidewalk and only 4 feet tall (or something like that). Whoever buys it could plant some shrubs or something around it, I guess.

The lack of privacy in the back yard doesn't really bother me, personally. I putter in my gardens out front, but I'm not one to spend a great deal of time lounging in the backyard anyway. Surely I can't be the only one in Canada like that! :D