Before the Internet was around Home Buyers usually would spend a few hours on the weekend driving around local neighborhoods they wish to live. In hopes of spotting an Open House sign that they could "walk-through" (view) without having an appointment.
Now websites are available to help Home Buyers find an inventory of Open House's to tour. However, pay attention because I noticed on OpenHouse.com in the Resources section of the site that the inventory of Open Homes displayed are only from Coldwell Banker, ERA, Sothebys Realty, and Centry 21. A Home Buyer will not see Open Homes from other brokerages such as RE/MAX, Intero Realty, Independant Brokers, Alain Pinel, For Sale By Owner, Help-U-Sell, Redfin, Buy Side Realty, and more.
OpenHouse.com 's registrant is NRT Inc. according to the Whois Record. So you may ask - Why do they limit the internet home buyers view of available open homes to tour on the weekend at OpenHouse.com?
UPDATE: David Linger, RE/MAX founder and chairman told an audience at the Inman ConnectSF conference that "On Dec.5th of 1998, RE/MAX went live with 100% of listings that Realtor.com had -- it created a firestorm overnight. We had RE/MAX listings and every other listing that was on Realtor.com. Other companies complained about the fact that RE/MAX was displaying all of the listings and Realtor.com asked RE/MAX to stop the practice." Then in August of 2005 RE/MAX announced the same plan to list 100% of the listings from all Real Estate Brokerages -- "..this time without the Firestorm." Linger's quotes are from an Inman News article by Glenn "Fireball" Roberts called "Internet is Overvalued, says RE/MAX founder"
Related: OpenHouses.com Article
Too Little Too Late (2007)
OpenHouse.com (2008)
Could it be because OpenHouse.com is owned by NRT, which is owned and operated by the same company whose sites show open houses? But then you knew that I suppose?
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