An open house is a designated time when potential buyers can tour a home without scheduling a private showing. It gives them a chance to imagine themselves living in a space in a relaxed setting.
While an open house might not necessarily close a deal by itself, what it does do is generate interest by putting a home in front of buyers who might not have otherwise given it a second thought online – so it’s worth understanding what an open house actually does and if it’s the right strategy for your home sale.
What’s the point of an open house?
“Open houses are an essential part of the homebuying and selling process,” says Jo Chavez, a Redfin Premier agent in Kansas City, MO. “They give buyers a chance to experience a home in person, help sellers get more eyes on their listing, and create a sense of urgency when multiple buyers show up at once.”
Sellers already have two primary tools for reaching buyers: listing photos online, and private, scheduled tours. An open house sits between them, and it earns its place by doing a few things neither of the others can:
- Cuts down on scheduling mishaps: Instead of coordinating ten separate appointments across ten calendars, buyers show up whenever suits them during a fixed window.
- Puts several buyers in the home at once: This can create a sense of competition, which can push offers up or help them come in more quickly.
- Lets buyers trust their own read of the home: While online listing photos are curated first impressions, an open house lets buyers experience the property on their own terms. They can knock on a wall, open a closet, stand in the kitchen, get a feel for how noise travels, and decide for themselves whether it works.
- Surfaces problems faster: If something’s off – like the price, staging, a smell, or a room that isn’t presenting as well as expected – an open house can reveal that feedback right away while there’s still time to fix it before the next showing, instead of piecing together information from agent notes during private showings.
“An open house helps both parties by giving buyers a low-pressure way to explore a home while giving sellers valuable feedback about what’s working and what isn’t,” Chavez says.
An open house might still be accompanied by private showings. Buyers who want a more personal look, without a crowd of strangers wandering the same rooms, should still be able to book one. An open house widens the potential buyer pool instead of limiting it to those that can take the time for a private showing.
Do homes with open houses sell faster or for more money?
There is some evidence that open houses can help homes sell faster and for more money. A Redfin analysis of homes listed with a first-weekend open house found they sold, on average, for more and moved faster than comparable homes that skipped one.
It’s important to note that homes chosen for open houses tend to be homes agents already expect to perform well, and those results likely say as much about the property and its marketing as they do about the open house itself.
An open house doesn’t manufacture demand out of nothing, but instead acts more like an amplifier: If a home is priced right, shows well, and sits in a market with active buyers, an open house gives that demand a place to show up all at once. If none of those things are true, an open house probably won’t fix the larger issues at play.
Is an open house worth it for your home?
While many homes see success holding open houses, a few conditions tend to tip the decision one way or the other.
An open house might be worth it if:
- It’s the first weekend on the market: Interest is naturally highest right when a listing goes live, so this is when an open house tends to draw the most attention with the least amount of extra promotion needed.
- Showing requests are already coming in: If several buyers are asking to see the home individually, an open house can consolidate that demand into one window instead of a week of separate appointments.
- The home has a feature that’s hard to judge from photos: A layout that flows well and has natural light, a view, unique features, or a renovation that translates better in person than online are all times where an in-person visit can change a buyer’s impression.
- The home is fully show-ready: Open houses tend to perform best when the home is staged, decluttered, and photographed well enough to have already generated online interest. They are often a next step after the listing is already drawing attention, not necessarily as a way to generate that attention from scratch.
- The seller wants agent-facilitated feedback: Some listing agents are specifically trying to understand what’s landing and what isn’t before adjusting price or presentation, and an open house is one of the more efficient ways to get that feedback.
You might think twice about holding an open house if:
- The home is already popular or has an offer: If there’s already a deal in motion, an open house can create confusion or pressure a seller doesn’t need.
- HOA, condo board, or building rules restrict public access: Some buildings require approvals, security check-ins, or don’t allow open houses at all.
- The neighborhood or building has safety or access concerns: Restricted entry, security desks, or a location where an unsupervised public walkthrough feels risky or potentially dangerous for the seller or agent.
- The home isn’t fully show-ready: Ongoing repairs, renovation, or clutter that can’t be resolved in time might hurt more than not opening up the home to the public at all.
- It’s a luxury or high-profile property: Higher-end homes might use vetted, by-appointment showings rather than an open public walkthrough, partly for privacy and partly because the buyer pool can be smaller and more targeted anyway.
- The seller wants to keep the sale low-key: For a variety of reasons, some homeowners don’t want their listing to appear publicly at all. Private showings are likely the better route for these sellers. This is one reason some sellers today are choosing to list privately to a small group of buyers before or in place of going public.
Do open houses work in a buyer’s market?
The purpose of an open house can shift with the market. In a seller’s market where buyers are competing for a limited number of homes, an open house is mostly about creating urgency – getting several buyers in the same room so the pressure is on to act fast.
In a buyer’s market — the market most of the country is in right now – that strategy tends to flip. Redfin recently reported the strongest buyer’s market on record, which means the job of an open house is less about manufacturing urgency and more about generating interest and feedback. The typical home takes nearly two months to sell; an open house may help bring that timeline down.
“In today’s market, where concessions are common and sales are low, my clients often feel hesitant to make a move,” Chavez says. In that environment, an open house isn’t a guarantee of an offer, but it’s one of the few ways to get sidelined buyers into a home.
What are the downsides of holding an open house?
An open house costs something, even when there’s no outright fee to pay.
There’s the prep and the several hours you spend out of the house on a weekend, which isn’t a small ask if you’re still living in the home full-time. There’s the traffic that isn’t really traffic: neighbors curious about your renovation, buyers who are months away from being ready, or even people killing an hour on a Sunday. There’s also the privacy trade-off of letting strangers walk freely through rooms if your belongings are still there. And there’s still the possibility that the whole event produces a full guest book and no offer.
How to have a successful open house
A handful of decisions separate an open house that generates actual leads from one that just creates foot traffic.
- Timing: The first weekend on the market draws far more attention than a third or fourth attempt after interest has cooled.
- Promotion: A listing pushed out to agents and buyers in advance can draw in a different crowd than one advertised with a sign on the corner that morning.
- Readiness: Homeowners should declutter, clean, and stage their home in a way that photographs well, since many buyers decide whether to walk in based on what they saw online first.
Private showings should keep running in parallel the whole time. An open house is an addition to your marketing, not a replacement for it.
How do you know if an open house worked?
While counting the number of people that walked through the door is the easiest thing to track, it can also be the least useful one. A packed open house with no follow-up generally means less than a small one with committed buyers.
A few better signals to know if an open house worked include: whether inquiries picked up in the days after the event, whether anyone asked to come back for a private second look, and whether an offer showed up.
If none of that happens, that’s information too. Before scheduling another open house and hoping for a better turn out, look again at price, photos, condition, and what else is out there competing for the same buyers.
“I always encourage my sellers to think of an open house as one piece of a larger strategy,” Chavez says. “The more qualified buyers we can get through the door, the better chance we have of finding the right buyer and getting a stronger offer.”
An open house that isn’t working on its own can be a sign of something else that’s off in the strategy, not proof that open houses don’t work.
The bottom line
Selling a home rarely comes down to just one marketing decision. An open house is a small piece of a much bigger strategy that includes pricing, presentation, and timing. Whether it helps the home sell faster or for more money can largely depend on how well those other pieces are already working and the market you’re selling in.
The post Do Open Houses Sell Homes? Here’s What Actually Helps a Sale appeared first on Redfin | Real Estate Tips for Home Buying, Selling & More.