In this age of the Internet, when home shoppers can learn pretty much everything about a property at the click of a button, the concept of an open house might seem passé.

But while some real estate agents have significantly reduced the number of open houses they hold each Sunday afternoon, opting instead to post virtual tours online, Elisa Luckey of the Ken Garland Co. finds them extremely beneficial for her practice.

Of course, it helps that Luckey concentrates primarily on Mud Island, where the housing density allows viewers to hit half a dozen properties during the traditional 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday time frame.

“It seems like a valuable tool for [real estate agents] down there to use because a lot of us have them, and we know there’s going to be more than one open house,” Luckey said.

Luckey said open houses afford real estate agents the opportunity to meet new clients if visitors aren’t working with an agent, and the chances to network far outweigh the fact that there likely won’t be an offer made at the event.

“It’s a good tool for [real estate agents] to pick up buyers, maybe not for that particular property, but most people that are at open houses don’t have an agent,” she said. “On the weekends you have buyers that are down there without agents. They may not be interested in the house you’re sitting in, but you can tell them about some other ones you have.”

Michael Green, broker at John Green & Co. Realtors and a director of the Memphis Area Association of Realtors, also finds open houses beneficial.

“Open houses can still be part of an effective marketing strategy, as long as the sellers have realistic expectations and won’t be disappointed,” Green said. “The biggest thing is that buyers are searching for open houses differently than they did before the Internet.”

Instead, buyers are doing a lot more research on homes, perusing virtual tours and other photos, even studying comparable sales before making a decision to drive to an open house.

Green said open houses tend to yield better results when sales are strong, as they were a few years ago.

“My experience is that open houses are more valuable in a sellers’ market,” Green said. “Back in 2005 and 2006, back when we were blowing and going, that house may only be on the market for a short period of time. If the agent were to put a house on the market on the weekend and kick it off with an open house, that would be a very effective marketing strategy.”

Mostly, though, the characteristics and types of homes should be considered before deciding to have an open house for a particular property, Green noted.

“Is the home on a busy road? Is it in a busy subdivision with homes that get a lot of open house traffic?” Green asked. “If a house is located in the middle of a cove in the middle of a subdivision, it’s probably not a good tool for that house.”

Debbie Sowell, principal broker at Revid Realty, has an agent who finds a lot of value in open houses, but not necessarily as a sales mechanism. Instead, they work better as a networking opportunity, gaining access to buyers who might not be working with an agent.

Sowell admitted that she has not had good luck with open houses, which she tends to use only if a listing doesn’t get a fair share of traffic during the first few weeks it’s on the market.

The way she sees it, open houses are an invitation to bring people into the homes who aren’t looking to buy. They might be neighbors who are just seeing what the house down the street looks like, or even folks casing the house or looking to steal valuables.

“It has a downside to it as well,” she said.

Sowell agrees that technology has played an important role in moving some brokers away from open houses. Sowell uses virtual tours for her listings, and with some of them she makes a short video that can be uploaded to the Internet, a more eco-friendly way to market homes.

That way, potential buyers can get a good idea of the property without having to drive to the open house on a Sunday afternoon. Then, they can choose to have a private showing at their convenience.

“The chances of actually selling your listing on an open house are kind of slim,” Sowell said. “They’re less valuable than they used to be before the age of digital cameras.”