Email Elizabethopen houses
Super Bowl Sunday 2014 and Sacramento Open Houses
Home buyers in Sacramento were out in droves over the weekend, attending open houses, touring new listings and writing offers. This was the one weekend in January to do it because we got a break in those football games. Granted, I am not a person who watches football. I am probably in the minority but football doesn’t interest me. Not even if I imagine the team players as short sale negotiators at various banks — oh look, Bank of America just swiped the ball from Green Tree, and Wells Fargo bashed PNC in the head. Nope, still doesn’t do it for me.
Next weekend, of course, will be Super Bowl Sunday 2014, and it’s just not a good weekend for an open house. Oh, sure, there are Super Bowl widows and widowers who will be out and about, but the bulk of Americans will be focused on who will win the Super Bowl. Big Super Bowl parties everywhere except at my house. I’m not even sure who is playing, I think Denver and . . . After we get past this next weekend, it should be clear sailing through spring into summer for Sacramento real estate.
A negotiator at SLS called me this morning to ask when we would record on a short sale scheduled for closing. I told her it would be tomorrow. But what TIME, she persisted, almost in a whiny voice. Well, Sacramento has 5 recording times — it will be one of those, I offered. One of those 5 times. Don’t know which one. She probably would have smacked me if we were sitting across the table from each other.
But then I’d throw a football into her face and break her nose.
Who Benefits From Sacramento Open Houses?
I am a big proponent of open houses in Sacramento in certain neighborhoods and locations, don’t get me wrong. As a successful Sacramento real estate agent, part of my business benefits greatly from open houses, and so do some of my sellers. However, many sellers falsely believe that an open house is solely for the seller’s benefit, and it is not. We primarily hold open houses because our sellers ask us to and because it’s good for future business.
We get to talk to homeowners in the neighborhood who have no intention of buying the home but want to find out how much their home might sell for and to inquire whether we will list it for them. Holding a home open also tends to stop the phone inquiries from neighbors wondering how much the home is listed at, so it’s kind of a preventative measure, too.
We get to talk to home buyers who are not working with a real estate agent and want to find an agent to help them to buy a home. Many buyers don’t know how to get started buying a home, and they think going to open houses is a step in the right direction. They also might not know any real estate agents.
Buyer’s agents love open houses because they don’t have to call ahead and schedule an appointment to show their buyers the home. They can just come on over with the buyer in tow and feel assured that no other agents will try to snatch their buyer away. It makes showing a little bit easier for them.
The public adore open houses. In fact, in California, it’s like the state motto and state-wide pastime. Got nothing to do on a Sunday afternoon? Why not go tour open houses and see how other people live? It doesn’t matter if you’re not in the market to buy a home.
First-time home buyers are often directionless for the first few weeks of home shopping. Open houses in Sacramento help first-time home buyers figure out what type of home in which neighborhood they might want to buy. They can spend a lot of time in the home, picking it apart and finding things wrong with it. Most of them are not buyers for that particular home.
Then we come to the sellers. The sellers who often insist on an open house because they are hopeful it will sell the house. An open house will do a lot of things for a lot of people, but it doesn’t necessarily sell the house that day. A buyer might come back on another day to buy. You don’t always see the results immediately.
