[slomoe1954]

Our home is currently listed for sale here in The Villages. Our agent is strongly encouraging us the let her schedule an open house. I have been told in the past by other realtors(outside The Villages) that open houses seldom lead to the sale of a house but are primarily for the agent to develop new leads. But maybe things work differently here. I am wondering how many people here successfully have sold their homes with an open house.

[Fredman]

Sold mine at a open house

[JohnN]

sold mine at an open house too - the very first one! good luck

[ctmurray]

We purchased our house at an open house. We happened to be coming back from swimming, we were renting in the area. Saw an open house sign and stopped in. That house was not what we wanted but the agent said her husband was having one just a few blocks away, so we stopped by there. We liked this one very much and signed the papers immediately. While we were there two more buyers came by and when they saw we were signing, they just put their heads down and left.

[Mortal1]

how will a potential buyer get an idea of how it looks inside without an open house? perhaps there are some folks that buy sight unseen, but it seems to be the norm to have an open house...in Maine there were a lot of open houses(ours included). you can't tell enough about a place by photos alone(imo).

[Stu from NYC]

House across the street from us had an open house in the morning and a pending sign in the afternoon.

[charlieo1126@gmail.com]

I bought a $350,000 condo ( not here) at an open house and sold 2 homes to people who came to an open house in the villages

[shut the front door]

Originally Posted by Mortal1

how will a potential buyer get an idea of how it looks inside without an open house? perhaps there are some folks that buy sight unseen, but it seems to be the norm to have an open house...in Maine there were a lot of open houses(ours included). you can't tell enough about a place by photos alone(imo).

Ummm, make an appt with the listing agent to see the home. And have the agents full attention in a private showing.

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

Originally Posted by Mortal1

how will a potential buyer get an idea of how it looks inside without an open house? perhaps there are some folks that buy sight unseen, but it seems to be the norm to have an open house...in Maine there were a lot of open houses(ours included). you can't tell enough about a place by photos alone(imo).

Three ways:

1. a normal photo upload to the realtor's website (which is then available on zillow, realtor(dot) com, trulia, and all the other MLS listing sites) - or on the Homes in the Villages page, at which point it wouldn't be available for viewing anywhere OTHER than that.

2. a virtual tour, available as mentioned in #1.

3. a 3D virtual tour, available as mentioned in #1.

Here's a 3D one, it's pretty cool: 1703 Lauren Ln, The Villages, FL, 32159 | realtor.com(R)

Originally Posted by slomoe1954

Our home is currently listed for sale here in The Villages. Our agent is strongly encouraging us the let her schedule an open house. I have been told in the past by other realtors(outside The Villages) that open houses seldom lead to the sale of a house but are primarily for the agent to develop new leads. But maybe things work differently here. I am wondering how many people here successfully have sold their homes with an open house.

Open house was a waste of time when we sold our house in NJ. You get a lot of nosy neighbors.

[Boomer]

. . .

[davem4616]

listen to your listing agent...they are the professional, they have the most knowledge of what is working in your area at your price point....so, let them use all the tools that they have available to sell your home.

we sold a home as a result of an open house...it does work

Staging makes a huge difference too

[retiredguy123]

I would definitely do several open houses.

Why do you think the developer does them every day?

[retiredguy123]

One thing I would not allow is a new gimmick called virtual staging. Last year, an agent showed me a house that had nice, consistent tile flooring throughout. A week of so later, I was looking at the online photos and noticed that they had replaced the tile flooring with wood laminate and installed wall mounted shelving in the den. It turns out that none of this work had been done. It was virtual staging. I hope the agent doesn't charge extra for that.

[John_W]

Originally Posted by slomoe1954

Our home is currently listed for sale here in The Villages. Our agent is strongly encouraging us the let her schedule an open house. I have been told in the past by other realtors(outside The Villages) that open houses seldom lead to the sale of a house but are primarily for the agent to develop new leads.

The most important thing you said was "New Leads". So they might not sell your home at your open house, but maybe a lead at another open house they held last week was the one that will sell yours. Realtors live by leads.