An open house is the perfect opportunity to minimize the disruption to the seller’s life by combining many showings into one. This helps relieve the pressure (a little) on you to keep your house spotless for showings at a moment’s notice and allows interested house hunters the convenience of casually viewing a home without an appointment. This appeals to buyers who are looking for a home but haven’t yet gathered enough information or done enough investigation of the market to be ready to make a decision. They want to “browse” an area on their own before formalizing a relationship with an agent. This relieves them of the pressure that can be imposed by an enthusiastic agent. On the psychological front, an open house can also increase competition for the home. People tend to take the old phrase “Hurry! It won’t last long” with a grain of salt unless they are jostling for position to see a room with five other people crammed into a doorway. This can be a powerful motivator for an indecisive buyer to get off the fence. It can also be the starting gun of a bidding war, which can only be good for the seller. Before scheduling your open house, you should study the activities calendar of your area to avoid conflicts such as annual festivals, holidays, or special events to ensure there is nothing happening that could conflict with attendance and keep your targeted audience from your open house. Look for a calendar “dead spot.” Open houses in a seller’s market can be very busy, with many people milling around a property, catching bits of each other’s conversations, and infusing potential buyers with a sense of urgency and competition to place an offer before they miss an opportunity to bid. Should more than one party be interested in the home, a bidding war can begin, which is a great advantage to
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