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LONG BEACH REAL ESTATE

Open Houses - Do They Sell Your Long Beach Homes?

Less and less buyers are visiting Downtown Long Beach open houses.  Did you know that less than 1% of homes are actually sold as a result of an open house? 

Most weeks I find myself scrambling for agents to help hold 6 to 8 open houses each weekend.  Each weekend they report back on the traffic, which has been rapidly dwindling to nothingness.  Agents do other Realtors open houses to find new business.  With no buyers to pick up for new business they are very reluctant to hold the homes open. 

Real buyers just don't go to open houses often anymore and agents are reluctant to spend the time sitting at them.  It's not just happening here.  It's happening in many markets around the country as is witnessed in this article by Maureen Francis, a Top Michigan Realtor. 

Personally I don't mind doing open houses for my Long Beach Sellers, I have met several of their neighbors and have secured many new listings while doing them, hey I don't turn down new business, but buyers are few and far between.  Open houses are a great way to meet the neighbors. 

Do you remember Gladys Kravitz from Bewitched?  I have met quite a few of her relatives (giggle).  I learn a lot about the neighbors, the neighborhood and about the house from the neighbors, they usually just love to talk, if you have the time to listen. 

Last week, a neighbor came in to an open house and kept me company for a while.  We had a great conversation.  It was quiet so I had time to spend chatting with her.  As it turns out she is thinking about selling her nearby Downtown Long Beach Condo and wants to discuss it further with me.  I now know all about the building she owns in, it's financial state, about many of her neighbors and many other details that will assist me in the sale of her condo.  She saw my sign and stopped in because she knew me from the area, I sell many properties in Downtown Long Beach and am very well known in the area.   But no buyers have come in for the open house I am sitting at.  Nada, nothing, ziltch!

The open houses are heavily advertised, lots of signs are all over the neighborhood with arrows pointing in the right direction.  Heck,  buyers used to drive around Downtown Long Beach and call on every sign and stop into every open house.  I am going to start singing here "Where have all the buyers gone? Long time passing". 

It is not often that I find 3 or 4 hours to sit quietly without distractions.  Doing an occasional open house gives me time to work on my computer, catch up on phone calls or to call my family (I don't do that often enough).  It is quiet time that I otherwise never seem to find.  So if a seller wants open houses, I don't mind doing them, as long as the expectations are realistic.  They just don't bring in the buyer for the home very often.  There are other, more effective ways, to attract buyers. 

We Realtors chat amongst ourselves and compare notes on traffic in open houses around the different areas of Long Beach.  Apparently you can get a tremendous amount of traffic to an open house if you flood Ocean Blvd in Bluff Park with open house signs on every corner, and have a multi million dollar beauty open.  One agent reports approximately 250 people walking through one prestigious manse the first day it was open, 25 through the following weekend.  Yep, lots of beach traffic and looky-loos, prancing through this lovely home - curious to see how the well off live. 

I recently called the listing agents of 5 or 6 properties in the Lakewood Plaza area, near one of my many listings, to see how showings and open houses were going on their listings.  Most of them were not even holding the homes open, due to little or no traffic. 

Buyers are shopping on the internet.  There are scads of pictures, slide shows, virtual tours for them to view properties and choose which ones they want their Realtor to show them.  There is no longer a pressing need for them to give up an entire day to run around viewing open houses.  They can cruise them from the comfort of their own home until they find several that strike them.  They can view them in their own time, with their Realtor, and prefer to work on their own schedules. 

If a seller wants open houses, I am happy to accomodate them.  I love getting new business, but I am not recommending open houses in Long Beach any longer.  They just don't seem to work any more, and I feel badly about putting the seller out of their home for 4 or 5 hours on a badly needed weekend. 

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