I've had a few instances where an unrepresented buyer came in on an open house and put an offer in (although not the norm).  The more typical situation is that a represented buyer waits until the open house to see it (so that they don't bother their agent) and then they call their agent afterwards to put an offer in.

I do not think it can hurt.  I think it is a mistake to attribute a sale to any one factor.  Some one may see your open house, tell a friend about it, who then goes on line to find it.  They contact another agent and go to see it, then buy it.  You have no idea that it is the Open House that started the buzz.  Multiple approaches work best.

Usually no. They better drop price as much as possible, and consider offering incentives. Once they do that, having an Open House right afterwards might attract some new interest from buyers.

I have seen homes sell through open houses quite a few times.  Though fairly rarely the home being held open.

I could only speak for myself but I have had great successes with open houses.

I'm going to blog about one particular situation but in short, I sold this one house on the last day of the contract through an open house.

Never give up, never surrender!

If 'Open House' refers to an event similar to what real estate agents engaged in in 1972, and 1982 and 1992 you just might get exactly the same result they did. Which means the home owner went to the mall, the agent read a book and someone thought they did something productive.

Today's effective open house has a REAL purpose. That purpose can be:
1. Sell the place
2. Get listings
3. Find buyer
4.Branding
5. Identity
6. Preface to follow-up event

What ever the purpose, there must be a supporting plan. Let's assume #1, Sell the home IS the purpose. (Note: if you think you can do them all, the reality will be none will be accomplished)

What's the plan? How has the seller empowered you to sell the home?

The plan, at the embryonic stage quantifies the obstacles to purchasing this home then creating/identifying the solutions.

Next comes making the real buyer predisposed to liking THIS house.

This is followed by creating the opportunity for the real buyer to indicate their preference and obstacle without saying a word.

Finally, your team must be thoroughly knowledgeable and rehearsed in intercepting the needs of the open house visitor at the EXIT.

You can be very successful selling a house at an open house if you have a plan, the seller has empowered you, and the environment is rich with self-selection opportunities.

Not all homes are open house candidates. Seven turns into the bowels of a gated community is an example of an invalid candidate.

Choose carefully, implement fully, have a real plan.

If done properly they can drive a serious amount of potential buyers to the home, must be marketed correctly, one strategy I have seen is to hold 3 open houses, over ten days, one on the first saturday, which will promote the "Free slider/bbq/taco etc., night" the following Wednesday followed up by one more the following Sunday, each open house feeds to the next, please note that all offers will be reviewed on the Monday after the 3 open houses, get your lender involved and bring a couple other new agents, you should have plenty of traffic, just keep in mind that if it is not priced correctly, none of this will sell the home!

I've sold many homes from open houses.

I agree.  I've never seen an open house sell a home, but you might get a lead or two.  I think Jeff's strategy is dead on.

Depends who you talk to. In 23+ years in this business I've never sold a home off of an open house. I have picked up some buyer and seller clients, but sell a home... not so much.

In this market - YES!

Price property to attract attention, limit your hours of the open house, Saturday and Sunday and receive all offers at the end of the day.  Call back the motivated buyers and encourage them to resubmit offer otherwise house will be sold. 

When an open house attracts a lot of buyers, people get excited. Buyers will submit an offer higher than the asking price if the property is suitable, thus creating a bidding process to own.  Think about it.

Will it work, no, if you don't implement an open house plan to sell the property? You plan to achieve your goal, not to fail, regardless, without a plan you plan to fail, don't you? 

Price it right and it will sell. I don't do open houses anymore. A serious buyer is already looking on the internet and probably has chosen a realtor. In the old days open houses were ways to pick up buyer and seller leads.

They work well in high traffic areas to get increased traffic which can increase your odds, however it may bring more clients but not speed up the sale. Price it right and it will sell

Sometimes- if the property is in perfect condition- then yes- you can get a rush of people and they may get into a bidding frenzy- these properties are far and few between!  So my typical answer is no- pricing correctly is the best bet to sell quickly!

Oh you are going to get a lot of opinions on this one! Here is what I say: the answer is NO unless you do one. You never know. I have had only 1 home sell because of an open house, but it was a big listing and I was sure glad I did it. It was just 3 hours out of my day and it made my sellers happy. Plus, at the end of the listing I could honestly say I did all I could do. 

Open houses helps selling and building your Data base 

I`m a firm believer in them 

You never know someone may walk in and just have to have that home.

I have had great success with open houses! I have found that if the property is in an area that's not off the beaten path, people will come through...and of course you just never know! I do open houses at odd ball times as well. Be creative!! Good luck!!

I sold two homes off an open house, both fell through because the buyer didn't qualify. One hadn't ever been pre-qualified, the other knew he couldn't qualify but thought he could pull one over on us. Fortunately in both cases (both offers written at the open house) I gave a very short time limit to bring us a mortgage approval.

Price is the most important factor for selling a home Dinah BuPane . I had a beautiful listing in an excellent neighborhood - however only 2 people showed up for the open house because the buyers did not feel comfortable with the price!

I found that the only way to speed up the chances of an offer on a house for a seller who is in a bind is to lower the price.  Sometimes offering a buyer's agent bonus for an executed contract before a certain date can help to encourage realtors to show the house, but if a buyer is serious and the house fits their needs, then they are going to see it witout an open house.  The main purpose of open houses is either to farm for new buyer clients for the agent, or to make the seller feel good about doing "something". If they need to sell right now, they need to lower the price, sorry.

No, & I haven't sold any from open houses. Tell all my sellers it's a waste of time & most agree.

Not usually. But I have sold  a few homes over the years that the buyer saw during the open house.  My feeling is that we owe it to our clients to use all the tools we have to move their property.

In this market, yes.

Every bit of exposure helps, but few are sold directly from an open house.

It helps agents meet buyers

I agree with many of the posts.  I have sold three houses by hosting an open house.  As an agent and property stager, I know if the house is clean, free of clutter and priced correctly, you will receive offers.

Good luck!

I have not SOLD a home from an Open House. In my opinion, having the home priced correctly or approximately 10-15% below the competion should make the home more desireable.  I would also discuss the commission that is being offered to a selling agent.  I had a home that needed to be sold in 30 days.  The home was priced correctly and the commission was taken a bit higher than the average, The home SOLD in less than 30 days.