There is data. The data says fewer than 3% of homes sell to an open-house visitor. That’s not a DUFFY statistic — that’s the National Association of Realtors. Their own data. The trade group whose members run open houses.

If you’re a seller, that number should make you stop and ask: who is the open house actually for?

The 3% Statistic (and What It Means)

NAR’s annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers consistently puts the percentage of buyers who found their eventual home at an open house in the low single digits. It bounces between 2% and 4% depending on the year, with the long-term average sitting just under 3%.

Compare that to the 51% who found it through their agent, the 28% who found it on the internet, and the 6% who found it from a yard sign. Open houses are barely beating word-of-mouth from a friend.

And those are just the closes. The number of buyers who make a serious offer on the same day they walked into an open house is a rounding error. Nobody walks into a stranger’s living room on a Sunday afternoon and writes a check. They walk in, they walk out, and if they liked it, they call their agent on Monday — at which point the open house was just a delivery mechanism for a private showing.

Who Actually Shows Up at Open Houses

We’ve staffed thousands of open houses across metro Atlanta. The visitor mix is consistent enough that we can predict it before the sign goes in the yard.

About 40% are neighbors. They want to see what your house looks like compared to theirs. They want to know what you’re asking. They are not buyers.

About 25% are not-yet-serious buyers. They like looking at houses on weekends. They might buy in 9 months. Maybe a year. Maybe never.

About 20% are agents from other brokerages, scoping comps and looking for FSBO leads in the neighborhood.

About 10% are unrepresented lookers — the people the listing agent will try to convert into their next buyer client.

Which leaves about 5% who are actual buyers, with an actual agent, actively in the market — and those buyers were going to schedule a private showing anyway. They came to the open house because it was Sunday and they were already in the area.

What Agents Get From Them (The Real Math)

Here’s where it gets honest. The open house is a phenomenal lead-generation tool — for the agent. The sign-in sheet captures names and email addresses. The agent now has a list of 25 neighbors who think your house is overpriced (potential future listings), 12 not-quite-buyers (potential future clients), and 3 unrepresented buyers (potential conversions on the spot).

From an agent-business standpoint, an open house pays for itself even if your house never sells from it. From a seller standpoint, you just hosted a free networking event for your listing agent and rearranged your Sunday.

This isn’t a conspiracy. It’s incentive math. If the agent gets value from open houses regardless of whether your house sells, and you only get value if your house sells, the agent will recommend more open houses than is good for you. That’s not corruption. That’s economics.

When an Open House Actually Makes Sense

There are three situations where the math flips and the open house is worth doing.

1. The listing has been on the market 30+ days with low private-showing volume.

If buyers aren’t booking private showings, you have a marketing problem (price, photos, exposure). An open house is a way to flush out the why. If 40 people show up and nobody offers, the price is wrong. If 6 people show up, your marketing is wrong. Either way, you’ve learned something.

2. The price band is dense and competitive.

In neighborhoods where there are 8 similar homes for sale, an open house can be a tie-breaker. Buyers comparing 4 listings at once may pop into the open house just to confirm a feeling. Density rewards visibility. Sparse markets don’t.

3. The property has unique features that don’t photograph well.

Vaulted ceilings. Long views. Acoustics in a music room. The vibe of an old house with character. These don’t translate to a Zillow gallery. An open house lets buyers feel the property, and that’s worth the Sunday.

Outside those three cases, the open house is theater.

The DUFFY Alternative

We don’t refuse open houses. We just don’t lead with them. The DUFFY default is high-volume private showings, accessible scheduling (we’ve made it laughably easy for buyer agents to book a tour), and aggressive online exposure. That’s where the actual buyers live in 2026 — not on the sidewalk passing your sign.

If after 30 days the showing volume tells us we need an open house, we run one. We staff it. We follow up on every lead. But we don’t run them on day three because that’s what the marketing plan says. We run them because the data says they’ll do something. The difference between the two is whether your Sundays — and your privacy — are being spent on your sale or someone else’s pipeline.

Quick Answers

(These are formatted as FAQPage schema in JSON-LD on the live page.)

Do open houses actually sell homes?

Rarely. According to NAR’s annual Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, fewer than 3% of homes sell directly to a buyer who first encountered the property at an open house. Most buyers find their eventual home through their agent or online. Open houses generate awareness and capture neighborhood interest, but they are not a primary sales mechanism — they’re a marketing supplement.

Should I have an open house?

Maybe — but not on day three of your listing. Open houses are most useful when (1) your listing has been active 30+ days with low private-showing volume and you’re trying to flush out the issue, (2) the price band is dense with similar competing homes, or (3) the property has features that don’t translate well in photos. Outside those situations, an open house mainly benefits the listing agent’s lead pipeline rather than the seller’s sale.

What’s the point of an open house?

The honest answer: open houses primarily serve agents, not sellers. They generate leads (sign-in sheets capture neighbors, future buyers, and unrepresented prospects), build the agent’s neighborhood presence, and create marketing content. From the seller’s standpoint, they offer broad exposure but rarely produce direct buyers. The decision should be made based on listing-specific data, not as a default checklist item.

PRODUCTION NOTES

Image concept: Illustration: open house sign with a small ‘3%’ badge and a stream of people labeled ‘neighbors, agents, lookers’ flowing in

Internal links to insert: /how-your-sale-is-managed-at-duffy/ | /duffy-lists-and-sells-for-1-listing-commission/

Schema to deploy: FAQPage • Article • RealEstateAgent • Statistic markup (for the 3% figure)