How Real Estate Videos Killed The Open House

As we all know by now, open houses are becoming less and less effective for the marketing and sale of real estate. Open houses still exist thanks in part to misinformed sellers and real estate agents who can't say no nor tell the client the truth (that they don't work like they used to). But what will completely kill open houses are videos - of properties, inside and out streaming directly to the masses.  And remember, America is built on convenience and videos are much more convenient than a traditional open house. 

Let me explain... 

As a buyer, imagine this:

• You no longer have to get dressed up to go out in public
• You no longer have to get into your car and waste time, energy and gas money driving from property to property
• You no longer have to get harrassed by the listing agent(s) holding the open house
• You can now preview the property from the comfort of your couch, office or wherever you are
• You can now preview the property at any time, day or night
• You can now preview the property and stay warm (or cool) while there's a blizzard, rain storm or heat wave outside
• You can now preview during commercial breaks and half-time so that you never miss another college or pro game ever again
• If you're driving around and see a house you think you may like, you can just view the video podcast on your phone - you don't have to call an agent or go home to your computer to see it
• You have more control over your schedule and free time throughout the home buying process

As a seller, imagine this:

• You never have to leave your house for a 4 to 6 hour block on a weekend afternoon again
• You don't have to worry whether the set of nosy neighbors you don't like came through spying on your place and sizing it up against theirs
• You don't have to worry whether the agent who will surely be bored accidentally reprogrammed your remote while trying to turn on the TV on
• If you have friends, coworkers or acquaintances that may be interested in your property, you can send them a link to the video
• Buyers relocating to your area can now view your house way before their planned trip to visit and look for property.
• If a relocating buyer likes what they see on the video, they may even plan an earlier trip out to the area to see your house/neighborhood first hand, and write an offer much earlier than anticipated and your home sells that much faster
• And if you're smart and negotiate well, you should be able to get a discount on your commission from your listing agent/broker by not having any open houses

Still not convinced? Chew on this...

The real estate team I work on tracks where all the buyers we work with and the ones that bought our listings using other agents come from.

Less than 1 percent of them found the property they bought through an open house and that number is decreasing.

And the overwhelming majority of those stopping by open houses were nosy neighbors and people that were 6 to 12 months out from actually buying a house. Basically, there were listing leads and buyers who were nowhere near being ready to buy your house (if they even wrote down their real information).

You may say that this is only for this area (Loudoun County, Virginia just outside of Washington, DC), but check around with other agents across the US. You will see that the percentage is low across the board and getting smaller and smaller by the day. The number of internet users is growing daily, computers and high speed internet are becoming less and less expensive and the next generation of home buyers is much more tech and internet savvy than the baby boomers who are finishing up their real estate buying frenzy and looking at retirement in the near future.

Video will soon completely replace open houses much like agent/broker’s listing note cards were replaced by the MLS. For those who still think that open houses work and will never go away, just remember how many argued that the internet would never change the way real estate is marketed. We all know who won that argument...

Sample Video Companies/Platforms (including tools for blogs):

WelcomeMat ,YouTube, BubbleGuru

Related Articles:

Will Video Save the Open House? Or Kill It? - Sellsius

Is An Open House A Waste Of Time? - the real estate

Comments

[Joe from VideoHomes]

Uhmm...ditto I guess. :)

[Danilo Bogdanovic]

Thanks for the comment Joe - you are a man of few words and short, sweet and to the point.

[Dave Marron - SphereBuilder]

Have you or any members of your real estate team stopped offering open houses to your sellers yet?

[Tony Arko]

Hey Dave, we actually give a seller the option of choosing to not have open houses or print advertising for a reduced commission. Every one of my listings this year (42) has gone with the lower commission choice.

[Dave Marron - SphereBuilder]

Thanks, Tony. You must do a really good job of explaining to the seller why open houses don't do much to sell homes. BTW, I agree with you on that. I'm a broker too. I used to like doing open houses b/c I would advertise them like crazy (mostly online) and pick up more clients.

Consumers rarely find the home that they buy through an open house (or an open house ad). I live in the SF Bay Area. The market is still pretty strong here (1/2 of the home sales in my town sold for over asking over the last 30 days). A couple of years ago, when houses sold in a matter of days, open houses were more useful. Listing agents would hold off looking at offers until after one or two open houses. This would guarantee the sellers that the home would be seen by an acceptable level of buyers. When I say "seen", I mean actually visited. Buyers understood this practice and most expected to see houses on Sundays so that they could present offers on Mondays. Video is great for consumers and agents b/c it can save time and increase exposure. But, buyers still need to walk through a house.

Today, the market has changed. Smart agents like yourself are adapting.

[Ernie Tabel]

I wonder if this will do anything to improve Realtor.com's position.

E.g., http://blog.team366.com/2007/08/03/real-estate-video-goodness-a-first-for-the-ann-arbor-area/