Comments on: Should We Close the Door on Open Houses? http://hobokenrealestatenews.com/2008/05/22/should-we-close-the-door-on-open-houses/ What buyers and sellers need to know about Hoboken condos and real estate. Sat, 12 May 2012 19:15:20 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Michael Bergin - Your Realtor in Alexandria, VA http://hobokenrealestatenews.com/2008/05/22/should-we-close-the-door-on-open-houses/comment-page-1/#comment-177 Michael Bergin - Your Realtor in Alexandria, VA Mon, 26 May 2008 02:12:40 +0000 http://hobokenrealestatenews.com/2008/05/22/should-we-close-the-door-on-open-houses/#comment-177 Lori, You make excellent points about why open houses are still a staple of the buy/sell cycle - especially in today's market. And yes, working for both the buyer and the seller IS a conflict of interest. Michael Lori,

You make excellent points about why open houses are still a staple of the buy/sell cycle – especially in today’s market. And yes, working for both the buyer and the seller IS a conflict of interest.

Michael

]]> By: Lori Turoff http://hobokenrealestatenews.com/2008/05/22/should-we-close-the-door-on-open-houses/comment-page-1/#comment-161 Lori Turoff Fri, 23 May 2008 19:48:34 +0000 http://hobokenrealestatenews.com/2008/05/22/should-we-close-the-door-on-open-houses/#comment-161 R, You've brought up some interesting points. There are some less than full service real estate companies that will list a property for a seller for a reduced fee. With these type of companies, the savings comes from their reduced marketing on behalf of the seller. They do little other than listing the property on the MLS. The reduced fee has nothing to do with the buy side - any buyer's agent can show a reduced fee listing. Problem is, most agents are going to show 6% and 5% properties before they show the 2% property. That's just human nature. Foxton's was one example of a reduced fee brokerage. They went bankrupt. Any realtor sitting on an unsold property for 15 months doing open houses every Sunday must not be a very good realtor. For what ever lenght of time a listing is active (which averages 90 days in Hoboken right now, less in Manhattan), a good realtor will use that time for his or her advantage, as I explained above. 15 months? What's wrong with the unit? What's wrong with the realtor? You may have gotten a great deal. Your unit may have been sitting unsold for a long time. In your case, a realtor may not have added much value to the process. What often happens, however, is that a buyer is working with a realtor. A new listing comes on the market and it's a great property. Who do you think learns about that listing first? The person looking on their own or the loyal customer who immediately gets a text from the realtor saying "we have to go see this one right away"? Sure, there is more inventory on the market than last year but the good properties still go fast, often before an open house is even held. -Lori R,
You’ve brought up some interesting points.

There are some less than full service real estate companies that will list a property for a seller for a reduced fee. With these type of companies, the savings comes from their reduced marketing on behalf of the seller. They do little other than listing the property on the MLS. The reduced fee has nothing to do with the buy side – any buyer’s agent can show a reduced fee listing. Problem is, most agents are going to show 6% and 5% properties before they show the 2% property. That’s just human nature. Foxton’s was one example of a reduced fee brokerage. They went bankrupt.

Any realtor sitting on an unsold property for 15 months doing open houses every Sunday must not be a very good realtor. For what ever lenght of time a listing is active (which averages 90 days in Hoboken right now, less in Manhattan), a good realtor will use that time for his or her advantage, as I explained above. 15 months? What’s wrong with the unit? What’s wrong with the realtor?

You may have gotten a great deal. Your unit may have been sitting unsold for a long time. In your case, a realtor may not have added much value to the process. What often happens, however, is that a buyer is working with a realtor. A new listing comes on the market and it’s a great property. Who do you think learns about that listing first? The person looking on their own or the loyal customer who immediately gets a text from the realtor saying “we have to go see this one right away”? Sure, there is more inventory on the market than last year but the good properties still go fast, often before an open house is even held.

-Lori

]]> By: r http://hobokenrealestatenews.com/2008/05/22/should-we-close-the-door-on-open-houses/comment-page-1/#comment-160 r Fri, 23 May 2008 16:30:49 +0000 http://hobokenrealestatenews.com/2008/05/22/should-we-close-the-door-on-open-houses/#comment-160 What ever other services a Realtor might provide (negotiator, secretary, chauffeur), they are not getting a full 3% (or 2.5%) if they didn't find me the property. There are just too many Realtors at this point in the cycle willing to take a smaller cut for not being entirely involved in the process. Additionally, when a property sits unsold for 15 months, and the Realtor has ruined many of her own Sundays sitting in an empty kitchen at an open house - you can rest assured she is working extra hard to lower the expectations of the seller rather than trying the convince the buyer to bump up their bid. What ever other services a Realtor might provide (negotiator, secretary, chauffeur), they are not getting a full 3% (or 2.5%) if they didn’t find me the property. There are just too many Realtors at this point in the cycle willing to take a smaller cut for not being entirely involved in the process.

Additionally, when a property sits unsold for 15 months, and the Realtor has ruined many of her own Sundays sitting in an empty kitchen at an open house – you can rest assured she is working extra hard to lower the expectations of the seller rather than trying the convince the buyer to bump up their bid.

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