Open Season

There's a slight chance a visitor will want to buy the house.

And there's an outside chance that a thief will walk off with some of the seller's possessions.

The age-old debate over the value of real-estate open houses continues. Some people love them. Others shun them.

Among agents?
"It's probably about half and half," said Brad Bennett, president of the Columbus Board of REALTORS®.

Among home buyers?

"Forty-seven percent of all home buyers go to open houses," said Walter Molony, a spokesman for the National Association of RREALTORS®, citing a 2006 survey of buyers.

"When we asked them about the usefulness of open houses, 22 percent said `very useful;' 30 percent said, `somewhat useful;' and 48 percent said `not useful.'

"When you ask about where they learned about the house they bought, the open-house number goes away."

An earlier survey indicated that just 2 percent of open houses produce a sale.

Molony and Bennett say they have seen no numbers to prove it, but they think that agents are holding more open houses these days because of sluggish sales.

In one such effort, agents from a mix of real-estate companies in Clintonville, Downtown and Worthington are scheduling open houses on the third Thursday of each month through October in an effort to attract potential buyers who have other obligations on Sundays.

Even though open houses don't historically produce buyers, some homeowners push their agents to hold them, said Bruce Dooley, broker of Dooley & Co. Downtown.

"There are some sellers that think it will be the lifesaver," Dooley said. "I don't know that that's necessarily true."

An open house also shows a seller that the agent is working, Bennett said.

Other homeowners, especially those who live in crime-prone neighborhoods, don't want to open their house to just anyone who might walk through the door, said Joanne Bango, an HER Real Living agent in Bexley.

They want their homes viewed only by people who make appointments and are escorted by the agent.

Bennett said people who make appointments are more likely to be serious and qualified buyers for that property. Many people walk into an open house with no idea of the home's asking price, he said.

Often, during an open house, several buyers might be in the home at the same time. The agent can't keep an eye on everyone. For their own safety, agents also are encouraged to station themselves near the front door.

"The difficulty is, there is a security risk for the homeowner. There is a security risk for the agent," Bennett said. "In Columbus we have not had many security problems. But there have been some."

The Columbus Board of REALTORS® and the National Association of REALTORS® frequently warn agents about the potential danger of robbery, sexual assault and murder while working alone at an open house. Dozens of attacks have been reported nationally in the past decade. An agent in McKinney, Texas, was murdered during an open house in a model home last summer.

"People walking in have you in a very private place," Bennett said.

He said he knows of no assaults of Columbus-area agents in recent years.

But during a recent open house in Dublin, an agent's purse and two wallets from the owner's family were stolen, Bennett said. A week ater, the family's car was stolen. The thief apparently had taken the keys during the open house.

"We have had other cases where it's been jewelry, valuables, and keys to the house," Bennett said. "Prescription drugs are big."

"It has happened, and it will certainly happen again," said Hilliard Police detective Tom Thress.

Thress recalled one pair of professional thieves who were caught in 1997 and later convicted of stealing items from 30 or 40 central Ohio homes.

"They made a practice of going to open houses. One would distract the agent and the other would take small items ? cameras, jewelry and weapons," he said.

Open houses have been the primary shopping tool for house hunter Pat Badgero of the North Side. She spends Sunday afternoons scouting open-house signs in the Clintonville area.

"I've been looking for about a month," she said. "I have a Cape Cod. I'm looking for a ranch. I don't look online. I usually drive around and look for the open-house signs and the for-sale signs.

"I think open houses are a nice way to do things," Badgero said. "You don't have to tie yourself to a REALTOR®."

Badgero dropped in on an open house that Bango conducted recently at a Clintonville ranch.

"Our job is to give the house exposure," Bango said. "The open house is one way to do that. A lot of people don't want to pick up the phone and schedule an appointment. They want to look on their own."

Some buyers see a for-sale sign and call to ask when an open house will be conducted at that property, she said.

Dooley noted that a disadvantage of open houses is that the agent might not have the opportunity to discuss with the potential buyer remedies for sticking points.

A buyer who thinks the master bedroom is too small might not realize that the room is crowded with oversized furniture, Dooley said.

Buyers also might be influenced by disparaging comments made by other visitors, even though those observations might be invalid.

Christopher Anderson, a RE/MAX Premier Choice agent in Dublin, frequently conducts open houses for clients.

"It's a real opportunity to showcase a home," Anderson said. "It's one of a variety of things that can be done to expose the house to buyers. It really helps."

The eventual buyer might have learned about the house from a friend or neighbor who visited the open house, he said.

Open houses also offer a firsthand look to buyers who have seen online photos of a house.

"A lot of time other REALTORS® send their buyers through an open house I'm having," Anderson said. "They may not be free, but they can send a client to an open house."

Anderson said he has had as many as 60 visitors during a two-hour showing.

"A lot of times I will have one couple or nobody."

Many agents stage open houses because it gives them the opportunity to meet new buyers that they hope to represent, said Bennett, the board president.

"It is a good way for the agent and the customer to meet on an informal basis," Bennett said. "Often, it is an opportunity for the buyers to express their needs. The agent can go out and find another house that might meet those needs."

Bennett has that goal in mind when he decides to hold an open house. He chooses a home with good curb appeal and a convenient location to attract a fair number of visitors.

"I would rather be in that house trying to meet buyers who might buy a house down the street and around the corner that I might have on the market," he said. "I might have a better chance of selling a different property if I carefully choose the open house."