Filed under: Real Estate
The Greater Milwaukee Realtor’s Association sent out a notice to 
Realtors advising them to be cautious when hosting open houses because police have recently received reports about people targeting open houses in an effort to steal from the Realtor and/or the homeowner. Once again, I’m reminded that times have changed in the real estate industry.
Back in the ‘day’, a Realtor would enter their listings into the Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The MLS was a sacred collection of homes for sale that could only be accessed by Realtors. In order for the public to have access to detailed information about a home, they HAD to work with a Realtor. One of the only options for the curious, was to wait for the listing Realtor to have an open house. Then the neighbors, the curious, the drive-bys and an occasional legitimate buyer would be able to look at the house anonymously. Open Houses have always been just another marketing tool. At the height of the market, national statistics indicate approximately 2-3% of listings sold because the buyer found it at an Open House.
Things have changed a bit (actually a LOT). Now all the sacred MLS information is available to the public online. In addition, the data available is exponentially more detailed. There used to be a single photo posted. Now we have multiple photos and even virtual tours of properties. A ‘legitimate’ buyer often weeds out properties sitting in the comfort of their livingroom, rather than driving around to open houses on a Sunday.
Another thing that has changed is the public notice of Open Houses. Before the advent of the internet, the main option a Realtor had was to put an ad in the Sunday paper. The price was ridiculous – $90.00 to say “Open Sunday 1-3 Cute Bungalow, 3br, 2ba, hwf $129,900 Realtor 262-555-1212”. Makes you want to buy doesn’t it?? Not much wonder in why that vehicle became a victim of technological advancement. Circling the Opens in the Sunday morning paper and then hitting the road just doesn’t happen anymore. A void has been created by the lack of a central source of Open House listings. A few have tried to establish an online source of Open Houses but none have surfaced as “the” resource yet.
So first, the motivation of serious buyers to drive around ‘looking’ has been diminished. Secondly, driving traffic TO an open house has become more difficult and limited. Thirdly, there are time and safety considerations. More and more brokers are reconsidering the effectiveness of holding Open Houses and as a result Less and less brokers are doing them. So now, even for those professional ‘lookers’ there are slimmer pickins on a Sunday afternoon. Less Open Houses + Less Serious Buyers out trolling = lower percentage of success in actually making a sale from an Open House. It’s always been a “shotgun” approach to marketing, but one that is making even less sense in this new real estate market.
