John Varano

When you have something to sell, half the battle is getting it in front of the people who'll want to buy it. No matter what you're selling – or how great it is – if no one knows it's for sale, you're not going to have much success. This, of course, is also true when you're trying to sell a house. Even in a seller's market, you're going to get the best results if your home is accessible to as many home shoppers as possible. Proof of this is found in a recent analysis that looked at homes listed last year to determine the effectiveness of open houses. The analysis found that homes that had an open house within their first week on the market sold for more money and in fewer days than homes that didn't have one at all. Of course, like everything else, the benefits of having an open house depended on location. And it's also true that, in a lot of cases, homes that had open houses were the ones that were already attractive to home buyers. But, in the end, it makes sense. Getting more buyers to your home increases your odds of selling it quickly and having multiple offers.