Broker’s open houses happen nearly every week of the year Wednesdays in Southern Marin and Novato, and Thursdays in Central and West Marin, except when those days fall on holidays. Hours can vary, but they generally fall within the range of 10am-2pm except in Novato where it’s 9:30am- noon. If a house is not occupied it will often have ‘non-hosted’ broker’s opens all day from 9am-5pm until it’s sold.
The first broker’s open is always the most important. Broker’s opens are not exclusively to Realtors, and I’ve always felt it was a great sign when we got at least one buyer coming through the broker’s open. Things changed dramatically with the pandemic, and it became more normal to see more buyers coming through broker’s opens as their workfrom-home schedules opened up and allowed them to go out during the middle of a weekday. Sometimes serious buyers can get first mover advantage by going to a broker’s open, and if a seller is agreeable they’ll look at an offer presented right away. Other times agents will be told to hold off on presenting offers until sometime after the first open house, typically before the next week’s broker’s open.
In multiple offer situations, I personally prefer to look at offers on Tuesdays. That gives buyers Monday to get their ducks in a row, and they can present their offer before looking at the next week’s crop of new inventory at the next round of broker’s opens. Depending on market conditions sometimes it’s better not to wait and look at offers as they are presented, even before the first weekend open. Some sellers will wait for two weekends of open houses before looking at offers, but I’ve seen that backfire. I’ve seen a buyer say they were going to write on a house but were told to wait. The next weekend another house came on the market and they bought that instead of the first house.
Communication among Realtors at broker’s opens is vital. If a Realtor has a potential buyer for the property but they couldn’t get them to come to the broker’s open they need to let the seller’s agent know. If the seller’s agent doesn’t know and they get an offer from someone else, they might just go with that and the buyer who couldn’t come out will miss out. Then again, I’ve seen agents oversell their buyer’s interest in a property only to have them not make an offer.
In our current market if a seller gets a good offer after a broker’s open, they should strongly consider it. We aren’t seeing as many multiple offer situations as we have in the past few years. There are fewer buyers in the market, and you don’t want to let a good one slip away. Over the years I’ve sold lots of houses as the result of broker’s opens, in every type of market.
My advice to buyers in today’s market is to try to go to broker’s opens. If they are interested in the house they shouldn’t wait around until the next week to make their offer and potentially be in competition with other buyers who come over the weekend. Write a strong offer and force the seller’s hand. A seller’s agent should know after the broker’s open if buyers are going to be lined up to make offers, or if they’ll just be looking for one good one. In today’s market, looking at one good offer can be a great thing.