My approach to Open Houses

One of the things I found really interesting about searching for a home was how to approach open house and why do every day people attend open houses? I landed on these reasons:

To explore - to see how it feels to house hunt; to get a feel for it. Basically, the “I’m just looking” crowd.
To research - to answer a set of pre-determined questions by viewing homes through the Open House model, often done early in the buying process.
To make an offer - to get into the house first thing, confirm they like it (or can at least work with it) and make an offer very quickly.

Agents schedule Open Houses to market the home they have listed and to jump start the buying process. They want to get a bunch of people into a home at one time.
Makes sense. In a buyer’s market or a neutral market, there might be 10-20 couples who attend in a two-hour period, with at least a couple potential buyers. A few other people attending the Open House may set up an appointment to view and tour on their own (with their agent) following the Open House.

In a Seller’s market (the current market climate as of the writing of this blog post) the number might look more like 40-60 couples through a house with a line of cars down the street. It can feel like a party not to be missed.

One important thing to know in a seller’s market is that there are usually a few offers on the house heading into the Open House. So, it’s always good to ask the hosting agent if the house has any offers, so you know how urgently you have to move.

This time around, in June of 2021, I fell into the “research” category.

I wasn’t sure I was going to begin looking right away. I’d just been on the seller’s side and knew about the bidding wars, the offers before the open house, the appraisal guarantees, and that only one buyer wins in each sale. I was really uninterested in participating in that on the buyer’s side.

So, I started going to Open Houses just to explore how things felt.

What did houses in the Ann Arbor/Ypsi area look like?
What did they feel like? What were the neighborhoods like?
What amount of square footage did I want this time around?
What is the value of the house compared to the list price?

I was adamant about not putting an offer in on any house that had just come onto the market. I was intent on finding a way to create my own mini “buyer’s market” in the midst of a crazy seller’s market.

So, I was relaxed and curious for my open house experiences. I loved looking at all the homes, bigger than I’d buy, smaller than I’d buy, fixer-uppers or beautifully renovated, garages / no garages, and I drove and walked through all the neighborhoods. I asked for the stories of the owners, the history of the houses, and the reasons behind renovation work. It was just plain fun, and it did the trick. After my 15th Open House, I had a VERY good idea of what I wanted.

A four-bedroom home ☑️
1,600-2,200 square feet ☑️ (2,200)
That could be easily split into two separate spaces without much renovation. ☑️
In a city or township that allowed for vacation rentals ☑️
With no association or neighborhood watch group ☑️
Ypsilanti over Ann Arbor ☑️
Preferably an older home with character ☑️
Needing some renovations, but not a fixer-upper ☑️
Preferably with a garage and basement ❌❌

How do you approach Open Houses? Got any fun stories? Share this post on you social media profile along with your story!