There’s a big (figurative) fence dividing two camps of agents: the ones who like open houses and the ones who don’t. There are arguments on both sides and without getting into them, we’ll tell you we are pro open house and here’s why: the results from a National Association of Realtors survey show that

6% of homes are sold by friends, family and neighbours.

That’s not a huge number, but it’s too big to ignore. Traditional open houses cover the neighbours piece of that 6%. They always come. We are expecting them (and hey, neighbours, it’s okay! You don’t need to make up some excuse to drop in, it’s an open house for a reason!). An added bonus is they will also attract agents who just so happen to be out with their clients checking out properties. Your home might not have been on their list but exposure in any way is good. I dropped by a house yesterday with a client because they were having an open house down the road from a place we were seeing. Now there are two more people who know the property.

Tapping into your friends and family on the Internet is the way to go. On Facebook? So are we (check out our page NickAndHilary!) and while we promote your property through our network it’s really your friends and family that the statistic is referring to. Here’s a tip: create a virtual album with photos of your home all ready for sale. Share it on Facebook with a personal line or two about your place: “Junior took his first steps here and now he’s ready to walk into our new forever home. Hope our starter becomes the home for another new family just finding their feet.” We can help you write it. It’s like a virtual open house and with one of our video trailers your friends and family can get a tour without leaving their desk!

Sure, 95% of buyers start their search online these days, but we still think the traditional open house brings much value to the selling process. We get a ton of traffic at open houses from members of the public who found the property online, either on Realtor.ca or our website. And augmenting it with a social media approach to target your friends and family only enhances your odds of being one of those 6 sellers out of a 100.