Are open houses outdated? Real estate agents who sit in the houses Sunday after Sunday afternoon could certainly tell you where they’d rather be. Will open houses soon be remembered as fondly as home milk delivery and telephones with dials?

It seems so.

According to a recently article published by RISMedia, ”Open houses have been declining in attendance for several years – they’re a relic,” so says Rudy Mayer, a Realtor of ERA The Masiello Group of Nashua, NH.

“With a record number of properties on the market, record gas prices and easier access to multiple photos and virtual tours online, buyers are less inclined to go out and drive around to traditional open houses,” Mayer says.

360 Virtual Home Tours create the 24/7 open house. It is more convenient for everyone, from the home seller, home buyer, and the agent that is representing the property.

“Since attendance is down (or non-existent) at most open houses, many buyers are also weary of being the only open house visitor and being made uncomfortable by a potentially hungry agent following them from room to room,” Mayer said.

The article explains how a webcast is going to create the virtual open house. This is truly experimental. It probably will take some time to refine and format. In the meantime, agents can create virtual open houses for all their listings, and take Sunday afternoons off, just by offering virtual tours on all their listings.

I am doing virtual tours in Lancaster, PA and I am waiting to see the first Sunday newspaper add that says something like, “Our Open Houses are always open because we always use virtual tours.”

George Sheldon
VirtualToursCompany.com
Lancaster Virtual Tours
www.virtualtourscompany.com
Virtual Tours – 800-681-5095