Selling
Open houses, block viewings and one buyer at a time
How viewings are scheduled changes what buyers see, what they infer and how quickly they decide.
Both approaches to viewing arrangements work. What differs is what they cost you, and the cost is what this sets out.
The difference in one place
- Visible competition accelerates decisions and can raise offers.
- Block viewings compress disruption into a single window.
- Individual viewings suit properties that need explaining.
What each format does
An open house puts many buyers through in one window, making interest visible to everyone present. Block viewings space appointments closely so buyers overlap briefly on the doorstep without a crowd. Individual viewings give each buyer time and attention, and reveal nothing about competition.
The formats differ in what they signal, not just in how they use your Saturday.
Visible competition changes behaviour
Buyers who see other buyers move faster, ask for second viewings sooner and offer more decisively. The effect depends on genuinely having interest; a poorly attended open house signals the opposite and is difficult to recover from. This is why agents usually want a fortnight of accumulated interest before scheduling one.
Put simply, manufacturing the appearance of competition that does not exist damages credibility once buyers compare notes.
The costs of the open format
Buyers get less time, cannot ask detailed questions and may leave without the information that would have produced an offer. Security is a practical consideration, and valuables and documents should be removed regardless of format. Unusual properties, or ones with a complicated story, are poorly served by a format that allows no explanation.
A property with obvious defects is also better shown individually, where they can be put in context.
Who should conduct the viewing
Agents are practised at handling objections and at asking buyers about their position, which is information you need. Owners know the property, the neighbours and the history, which buyers value and agents cannot fake. Owners also tend to oversell, follow buyers from room to room and answer questions nobody asked.
A reasonable compromise is the agent conducting, with the owner available for specific questions and otherwise absent.
Feedback is the point of the exercise
Every viewing should produce written feedback: what they liked, what they did not, and where the property sits against others they have seen. Consistent feedback about the same feature is the market telling you something specific and actionable.
On an ordinary week, feedback that is uniformly polite and vague usually means the agent is not asking properly. Ask for it in writing after every viewing, since a pattern across ten viewings is far more useful than a summary.
Practical preparation
Heat the property before a winter viewing, open curtains, and make sure every light works, because buyers read cold and dark as neglect. Remove the clutter that makes rooms read smaller and put pets and valuables somewhere else.
Have the paperwork folder available for anyone who asks a detailed question about consents or servicing. None of this changes the property, and all of it changes what buyers believe about how it has been looked after.
Side by side
| Consideration | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| What each format does | Visible competition accelerates decisions and can raise offers. |
| Visible competition changes behaviour | Block viewings compress disruption into a single window. |
| The costs of the open format | Individual viewings suit properties that need explaining. |
The takeaway
Match the format to the property, and insist on written feedback from every single viewing.
Pick the one that costs you least, and let the rest wait.
Questions readers ask
Should I be present at viewings?
It depends on the property and on you. Owners add history and context; they also talk too much. If you attend, answer questions and otherwise stay out of the way.
Do open houses actually raise the price?
They can, where genuine competing interest exists, by compressing decisions. Where interest is thin, they advertise that fact, so the timing matters more than the format.
