Marketing is powerful and works on many levels. I’m sure you’ve heard CBC Under the Influence with Terry O’Reilly. He calls it the age of persuasion. Advertising pushes people who have made up their minds and it pushes people who have not. It even pushes people who want to visit open houses to visit them when one is not planned. Human nature is fascinating!
Recall the scowl on Churchill’s face when Joseph Karsh took the cigar from him and then snapped his famous photo. People don’t like to have what they own taken from them and this is the power of the open market. There is always the possibility someone else might want to launch an offer before I submit and offer. It provokes fear of loss.
An open house is a valuable tool to attract people and to persuade those who have already visited to hurry and make an offer. That is human nature. There is nothing about an open houses that suggests perpetual or desperation. I’d say it suggests: we are on the market and for sale. The seller is serious. Make an offer, Hurry! An open House is the most effective way to market and sell a house.
I believe you want as many people as possible to casually walk into your house and be surprised at the good value. They tell their friends. You want to create a feeling of celebration and timeliness just like the auction format.