I see realtors in my area holding "realtor only" open houses for about 2 hours around noon time a couple of days after getting the listing. This is to expose the property to other realtors. With today's MLS system which has interior pictures and virtual tours of the new listing, why bother having these open houses? I see these realtors serving lunch to other realtors to get them to show up! A lot of them are top producing realtors as well! Is there something here I don't see?

Or is this just a listing tool which makes the realtor look good to the seller?

I preview homes that are newly listed all the time. I read the listing in the MLS, and then go check the house out. It allows me to have a feel for the property, and to determine if any of my previous contacts would be interested. Plus, by doing this, I get to know the inventory of what's around me. When I preview, I leave my card, but have written on it, that it was an "agent preview."

As for a seller, I feel that they would appreciate the extra exposure as well.

I plan on checking out homes first. It should make things a little easier if you are showing to a client if you have been in first.

it is quite common in our area, pretty close to ABrown.

RealtyFox-
Let me ask you this. If you saw the pictures, virtual tour, description of a home you were to purchase and possibly live in, would you buy it without actually going inside and feeling the ambience, traffic flow, wheter the water pressure was sufficient for your use, etc. etc. ?

Do you think a Buyer would do the same?

They have these Broker Opens for several reasons.
To get the agents there and and get a sense of the property.
And just as important,especially in this day of e-mails, faxes, etc., to be able to network with those agents. Everyone has different wants and needs, and this give the opportunity to share those with agents outside your own office.

My experience has been that the Brokers Opens are more important than the public opens insofar as selling a specific listing. Public opens are great from my point of view at getting new business, from both unrepresented buyers or from neighbors who are considering selling, but as we all know, not so effective at selling an actual listing.

When you can get agents to your listing through a Brokers Open, then you are effectively reaching their buyers, who should be, for the most part, motivated and qualified.

I have had 3 listings lately which were under contract after the Brokers Open and before the public open...so I am a big fan of the Brokers Opens. In fact, I have a listing coming up for a couple who do not want their house held open to the public, but do want a brokers open.

Hi Realty Fox.

I am in the Toronto area and agent open houses are very important for many reasons.

Going to the open houses are a great way to keep on top of market values and available inventory. When you get a call from a potential buyer and they tell you what they are looking for and you have a number of properties that you have seen recently on the top of your head, they will be very impressed.

If you look on your mls board site you will see the agent open house schedule for the upcoming days. Each area will have the open houses on a certain day each week. Standard times are between 10am and 12noon.

How do you advertise a broker open house? Do you offer lunch? Do you include this as listing benefit for your clients? Is this primarily done on more upscale homes or does it matter?

In our area, agent open houses are usually for upsale houses or for new subdivisions. Lunch is usually provided along with door prizes. I just hosted one because the seller requested it. I usually don't do them on resales because the turn out is usually low unless the house is something unusual.

I think it definitely varies by market. We have a couple of services that will copy and distribute your flyer to thousands of agents throughout the areas you select. And we do them on any listing, regardless of price. They are very popular here and yes, are something you can promote to your client.

Most people offer lunch, so I usually offer "dessert and coffee" in the winter or dessert and lemonade in the summer...it is VERY popular because as we all know, if someone else provides it, there are no calories or fat in dessert!

You know I think that is what neighbor had done to sell his home. The home had been on the market for about 1 month. Then oneday we noticed the balloons at his house with a bunch of cars. Some had real estate signs on them. The homeowner was a chef and they say he barbecued for the agents. Within 3 days it had a sold sign in front of it.