Open house

rio

A house we may be interested in is having an 'Open house' on Saturday afternoon. What does this mean? Is it just a way to drum up business by the EA, or is there more to it - i.e. does it suggest the owners haven't had a lot of viewings and are getting desperate?

lynzpower

My parents had an open house once as they were running thier own business at the time and a) didnt have time to conduct viewings b) didnt have time to keep the house in tip-top pristine viewing state due to running own business, so did this from the off. They had 6 offers on the same day.

They told me to do the same, might do actually

jamminjamaica

i have been to a couple of open houses. it is usually when the seller doesnt hae time to show the property and they or the estate agent hold an open house where loads of people look around the house at the same time.

goldbyron

I have heard of these and think they are a good idea. I remember going to one a few years ago and I put an offer in the next day as did another buyer.

You increase the chances of getting lots of buyers through your doors at once. This may increase the feeling of competition and lead to offers (perhaps higher ones) that day. It is a bit of a psychological tactic as well as the convinient aspect of doing all the viewings at once.

Good luck!

browsingid

Not sure where you are based, but open house viewing is typical here in Edinburgh - usually a hour or two on a Thursday and Sunday. Minimises disruption for everyone I suppose, but when you are a buyer it feels like you are running a gauntlet trying to get to see as many properties in the slots as possible!

Gambler

lynzpower wrote: »

My parents had an open house once as they were running thier own business at the time and a) didnt have time to conduct viewings b) didnt have time to keep the house in tip-top pristine viewing state due to running own business, so did this from the off. They had 6 offers on the same day.

They told me to do the same, might do actually

A house has just come on the market this week and is having an open day on Saturday. We have managed to get an earlier viewing tomorrow evening as it is exacty the type of house we are looking for in an area we previously thought we couldn't afford.

I definitely think it's priced to sell and is under the stamp duty threshhold at £250K.

I'm guessing this will be snapped up if it is as good as it sounds and looks in the EA particulars. Although after months and many viewings I do think the word 'immaculate' is the most over used word I have come across, especially when it is not true most of the time !!!

PasturesNew

There is a programme on TV that set these up. They find a seller who hasn't sold yet. They go in, titfer about (er, makeover) then the estate agent arranges an Open Day.

So the programme goes from the start (shabby house not selling), through the makeover (spot of magnolia and some nik naks), onto the Open Day, estate agent then arrives waving the offers made in envelopes. They open the envelopes, and a buyer is announced.

Only trouble was, there on TV ... open house.... nobody came.

However, in the main an Open Day is a way to get as many people as possible through the door in a short space of time. The objective usually is for people to view and put an offer in THAT DAY. So it's a "highest bid/best position" situation. It can work wonders.

Gambler

PasturesNew wrote: »

There is a programme on TV that set these up. They find a seller who hasn't sold yet. They go in, titfer about (er, makeover) then the estate agent arranges an Open Day.

So the programme goes from the start (shabby house not selling), through the makeover (spot of magnolia and some nik naks), onto the Open Day, estate agent then arrives waving the offers made in envelopes. They open the envelopes, and a buyer is announced.

Only trouble was, there on TV ... open house.... nobody came.

However, in the main an Open Day is a way to get as many people as possible through the door in a short space of time. The objective usually is for people to view and put an offer in THAT DAY. So it's a "highest bid/best position" situation. It can work wonders.

Well if the viewing goes well tomorrow I may be tempted to offer full asking price. Our position is we have sold to first time buyers.

I wonder if they would cancel the open day?

Magic_Dragon

Hi

I am selling at the momment and having an Open Day on Saturday

We have had a fair ammount of viewings already, one second viewing, no offers. Not a mad rush, but the interest is there. We have a small baby though and it was really annoying having to "sort" the house out every few days for seperate viewings, so we are having an Open Day

We have tied this in with a price drop. Hopefully it will drum up a bit more interest and get the house sold quicker. We are in no rush now, but it really is a pain selling

So if I was a buyer I would see my ad and think - open day + price reductions = desperate

In realitly we just want to sell the house the quickest and easiet way. We are not desperate - but if it gets more viewers through the door I dont mind if people think that!

Mozette

Gambler wrote: »

Well if the viewing goes well tomorrow I may be tempted to offer full asking price. Our position is we have sold to first time buyers.

I wonder if they would cancel the open day?

You could make your full asking price offer conditional on them cancelling the open day.

Gambler

Mozette wrote: »

You could make your full asking price offer conditional on them cancelling the open day.

EA has just told me they have had 40 requests for info in the past 2 days since it hit rightmove.

I have to be honest and say I feel really pressured by this open day viewing.

If we really like it I feel like I would have to put in a full asking price offer and that still may not be enough whereas if it were just a normal viewing I could take a little more time to think.

The fact that we have FTB's who we accepted an offer from over 6 weeks ago adds to the pressure. We have had 2 potential purchases fall through already.