Here is this weekend's open house lineup across Williamson, Jackson, Franklin and Union counties, and we are going to be straight with you about it: there are two.
Two open houses. Four counties. That is a quiet weekend by any measure — and it is worth understanding why, because the reason is good news if you are buying.
Williamson County
🏚 5721 Michael Ln, Carterville — $550,000
The all-brick ranch with the separate all-brick mother-in-law suite, and the only home on this list you can walk through on either day. An evening open house on Saturday is a smart move by the listing side — it catches people who spent the day at a ball game — and the Sunday afternoon session is the easier one if you want time to actually look. Four-car garage, and a genuine second living space rather than a converted basement. If multi-generational is what you are solving for, this is the rare one.
Jackson County
🏠 3201 Foxberry Cir, Carbondale — $440,000
Nearly 4,900 square feet at $440,000 works out to about $90 a foot, which is a lot of house for the money in Carbondale. The recent $10,000 reduction is the detail to pay attention to: a seller who has already moved once is usually a seller who will talk. Four bedrooms and four baths in a subdivision setting on half an acre. Go early — a 1:00 start on the only Saturday option in the county tends to draw whoever is out looking.
Franklin & Union Counties
Nothing scheduled in either county this weekend.
Worth the Short Drive
🚗 5820 E Copple Rd, Walnut Hill — $325,000
About an hour north of Marion, and the earliest start of the three — which means you could see this one and still make the Carbondale open house at 1:00 if you do not linger. Worth the drive if acreage north of the region is on your list.
Why Two? And Why It Does Not Matter Much
A thin open-house weekend in Southern Illinois usually means one of two things, and right now it is the second one. It is not that nothing is for sale — there are well over a hundred active listings in Marion alone. It is that in a market where homes are moving at last year's pace, sellers and their agents do not need to throw the doors open to find a buyer. Open houses are a tool for generating traffic. When the traffic is already there, fewer people bother.
Which brings us to the part most buyers never quite internalize: the open house is a convenience, not a gate. Every home on the market in Southern Illinois — ours, another brokerage's, the one you drove past Tuesday — can be shown to you privately, usually within a day or two, at a time that suits you. You do not need to wait for a Saturday. You do not need to shuffle through with eight other people. And frankly, you will look at a house more honestly when you are not standing in someone else's crowd.
That is the whole pitch, and it costs you nothing: tell us what you want to see and we will open it.
💰 Walking Into an Open House Without a Letter?
The buyer who can write the same afternoon is the one who gets the house. Free, no-pressure pre-qualification with Jarod Sanders, SIRE's in-house lender in Marion.Jarod Sanders · CrossCountry Mortgage · NMLS #2337228
Everything on the Market Across Our Four Counties
Live listings from Williamson, Jackson, Franklin and Union, newest first. See something? Say the word and we will get you in.
What Greg Holthaus Says About Open House Weekends
I like open houses. They are low pressure, they are a good way to calibrate what your money buys, and you can walk out without talking to anybody. But I have watched too many buyers organize their whole search around them, and that is backwards — you end up seeing whatever happened to be open instead of whatever is actually right. Use this weekend's two as reconnaissance if the price points fit. Then send us the three houses you really want to see, and we will get you into all three next week. And if you are anywhere close to writing an offer, talk to Jarod first. The person who can write the same afternoon is the person who gets the house, and that is true whether you found it at an open house or from your couch.
Open House FAQ
Are there open houses in Southern Illinois this weekend?
Do I need an appointment for an open house?
Can I see a house that is not having an open house?
Should I get pre-qualified before touring homes?
🔑 Skip the Crowd — We Will Open Any House for You
You do not have to wait for a Saturday. Tell us what you want to see and a SIRE broker will set up a private showing, any day, at any listing in Southern Illinois — ours or anyone else's.
📱 Got a Question About This Market? Text Greg.
Buying? Selling? Not sure where to start? Text Greg Holthaus directly — just tell him you saw his blog. He'll help you think through your decision, match you with the best broker for your situation, and point you in the right direction. He's open to a text any time.
Text Greg · 618.925.8654
Who is Greg Holthaus?
Greg Holthaus is the Owner and Designated Managing Broker of Southern Illinois Realty Experts, with 25+ years in Southern Illinois real estate and more than 10,000 transactions closed. He leads a full-service operation — home sales, mortgage, title, and property management under one roof — with offices in Marion, Herrin, and Carbondale. Meet Greg ›
About this list: Open house dates and times come from local MLS open-house data for Williamson, Jackson, Franklin and Union counties, retrieved the morning of September 10, 2026 for the weekend of September 12–13. Times are Central. Open houses are added, moved and cancelled at short notice — confirm before you drive, and if you are making a trip for one of these, call us at 618.925.8671 and we will verify it is still on. These homes are listed by various brokerages, including brokerages other than ours; we are listing them as a service to buyers, not representing them. Prices and details are as published by the listing brokerage and can change at any time. Nothing here is a loan offer or rate quote.