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The Death of the Open House

I recently saw a report that showed that here in Las Vegas, we have over 31,000 houses for sale. This is a lot of homes for us. In fact, its a record. I also saw that 44% of these are vacant. Thats over 13,000 vacant homes. That is a lot as well.

I live in a very popular master-planned community in Las Vegas, called Summerlin. It was once the nation's top selling community.

When the market was hot, real estate agents would have to get to the hot corners to put up their open house signs the night before to make sure they got a spot.

Last weekend, I saw one open house sign as I drove around all weekend. One.

I looked in the newspaper. Of the 31,000 houses listed for sale, there were 30 ads for open houses. Less than 1 in a thousand.

I called one of my close agent friends with these "shocking" statistics and she told me, "Aaron, open houses are a waste of time."

Some of you know that I started in real estate in the mid 90's as an agent for a top national brand broker. I switched to mortgages a few years later.

Although I have some experience and training as a licensed agent, I am a dedicated mortgage professional, so I would never tell you how to run your business, but.....how can this be?

I know the market is soft and traffic cannot be good at these open houses, but 1 in every 1000?

I know that three of four people turn to the internet to view homes, but 30 total advertised?

I know many agents and sellers think open houses are a waste of time, or a security risk, but 999 of 1000?

According to the stats, in 2005, 51% of all sellers were using open houses. I would doubt those numbers are even close today.

If I were selling my home today, I think I would want to use every method in the world to help me sell it or at least convince me that my agent was doing everything possible in their power, including the open house on occasion.

If I were a listing agent today, I think I would want to do the things my competition wasn't doing.

It seems like an open house in a master-planned community that was once the nation's best-selling would be one of those things. There was one sign in my entire neighborhood.

I would bet that agent got traffic that day. Although the chances are he didn't get a buyer that day I would be very surprised if he didn't get an opportunity to meet a few potential prospects and pass out a few business cards.

If I were an agent today, with 31,000 homes for sale, I think I would be looking for creative ways to differentiate myself.

How about getting with the agents who have the other five listings in the same neighborhood and having one big neighborhood tour that you can jointly advertise or market?

The stale, old, unwanted, bothersome, boring, uncreative, no-good open house, may be one of the most best ways to help separate you today.

As far as I can tell, I am nearly alone in my opinion. Everyone else here in Vegas thinks its dead.

Posted by Aaron Gordon, Home Loan Consultant, Las Vegas, NV on 10/17/2007 06:38 PM

Comments (97)

open houses, marketing ideas

97 Comments on The Death of the Open House

OCT

2007

I think it's a very regional thing. Here in Annapolis Maryland the public rarely goes to open houses. You can spend $200 on a nice picture ad in the paper on Friday, Saturday and Sunday - put up directional signs, etc, and get only 1 or 2 uninterested couples through. I just had an open house this Saturday and no one came- and that's not unusual...

On the other hand, not too far away in the Washington DC suburbs, I hear it's a very common way to sell a house - apparently the public is much more willing to go to open houses there...

Go figure...

Well I hold open houses they arent always good. i will be holding one this Sunday, hopefully we will have a good turn out.

I think you are right Ginger. I just think the numbers in our city are so skewed that it makes sense. However, you are still doing them in hopes that it works out and I think thats the point. In our market, we have seemed to have given up on anything "too hard."

Good luck with that Vicki! Hopefully it will work out!!

Aaron,

I agree Ginger, they are local, as the saying goes, "All Real Estate Is Local". I have never advertised an open house, and I still get a few families or couples coming to see the home. They may be curious or they may actually want to buy. That's were good questions come in handy.

I also agree with you when you say we need to do what other agents don't do and think is a waste of time. Just like cold calling Expireds, and FSBO's. Anyway I wrote post on this subject, feel free to let me know what you think.

I agree with Ginger. I believe that Open House is a regional thing. Here in Oahu, there are TONS of Open Houses hosted by agents each Sunday afternoon. I have had luck in converting visitors into buyer clients and sellers - the key is to keep in touch.

Good luck!

Aaron, I agree to disagree. It depends on your market. I have held Open House the last three weekends. The open house are being held in St. Bernard Parish. If you recall they are still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina. Three open house dates and three contracts. It is a market of necessity. In other parts they are the same slow to very slow. So I guess it depends on location. We will continue to hold a wide range of open houses. It been working for me over twenty years now. All I need is one.

Ulises and June, I cannot agree with you more but I truly believe that the local Las Vegas market has the drive-by clients. I think we are missing the boat and have given up on this method today.

I think we had it so easy for so long that this method is now "too hard." I wish it was that we lived in a city where people didnt drive through neighborhoods and look at signs but I believe they do.

31,000 Houses for sale, with 13,000 vacant! That is an insane amount. In Salt Lake County we have 7,900 houses for sale and I feel like it's a ton, I can't imagine 4 times that amount.

I think as an agent you have to gauge the effectiveness of your marketing/advertising efforts & dollars. The reality right now is that a house needs to be priced right and it will have to sit before it sells. I have personally held a few open houses without a single soul walking through the door. This is a waste of my time & money, but I agree, I think it's very regional. If no one else is doing it and you can effectively produce buyers with advertising then it may be a niche to hit.

Frank, you actually aren't disagreeing with me. You are helping me make my point. My post was about my market primarily and others like it who have given up on the open house for no reason. I think that your point is excellent! All you need is one. Our market needs to read more comments like yours.

Aaron, my most successful open houses have been by doing just what you suggest...a progressive open house list in the same general area. Each agent has a list of the other houses open in the area and we encourage people to visit them all. I also send an email to my agent contact list with the open house details and invite them to send their clients, knowing that I will respect their buyer/broker relationships. These things don't always work, and I'm still not a big fan of the entire open house concept, but it makes the sellers happy and that is a part of my job.

Aaron, I was reading faster and thinking slower. I do believe in doing what the other guy does not want to do. That has always been my way.

OCT

2007

Here in AZ, we have 57,435 homes for sale. I don't know the percentages of vacant, nor do I know the number of advertised open houses, but I do know that they may not be real productive, you should do them. I sit one of my listings twice a week, usually get 2 visits per open.

When I hear people do not sit open houses I wonder what they are doing. If I knew a better way, maybe I would not sit them either.

when I sit, I use the time to blog, catch up on reading, postcards etc.

Aaron,

Nice post! Lots of good points. Maybe thinking has been too 'out of the box' lately, and now we forget ways to sell the 'box'! Thanks, Fran

It's funny that you posted this because I was speaking with an agent I work with that still does open houses and he told me he does them for the seller NOT the potential buyers.

I am inspired by how the top agents in my market host open houses consistently.

The top agents.

Open houses say alot to the community about your work ethic, your connection to them as neighbors, and commitment to the game.

Aaron, you will want to get to know that agent you found doing open houses. He or she is on a success track! Thanks for posting.

Aaron, people DO locate their homes by driving around. They make note of signs, perhaps call a few, and end up hopefully finding an agent that gets them the home of their dreams. On the other hand, there are ALWAYS those in lesser numbers that will view an open house and want it. Regional or not, that possibility is there and can't be ignored. To do so IS eliminating an avenue that provides potential buyers. Obviously, I like them.

Hi, Aaron, a nice post.

I have few comments on the "Open House". When I first got my license I did a lot of open house for top agents in my office. I did great at that time. That was in late 99 till 2003. When we placed AD in local news paper, we got a lot of callers. We, though, not sure if they were qualified buyers. But since the internet becomes popular, we did not get a call from last 5 open houses I did. But, I still do the open house. There is a simple reason...I love my job.

I did sold my own listings few times at the open house from walk-in buyers. I even listed their old home in order for them to move in my "open house". They told me they liked the neighborhood. If I did not do the open house, they would call me anyway. But the key point for the open house is your agent might find more buyers for other homes, and your neighbors would come to see your home, for decoration purpose. I saw that a lot.

I love do open house for my sellers if I have time available. I sometimes hope I have two Sundays in one week. If your agent loves his or her job, he or she will do anything possibly to sell your home.

Yes! the open house is dead. However, the client expects it which gives rise to emplyment of assistants on the rise. The problem is that if assistants get some stipend, the current market means employing them as a loss leader.

Open houses have never been a valid means of selling a home. They are used to produce leads for the next opprtunity. Current unsold volume means no money to promote the next opportunity. If present sale volume supports it go do it, but if not you must wait for revenue to support the next open house.

It is definitely a regional thing. It also depends on the neighborhood as well. I have always thought open houses (1) were more something to generate leads for new buyers and sellers, and (2) to at least give the appearance to a seller that you are trying to market their home.

Aaron: Hi! Congrats on your star and a very nice post. I love it when a mortgage broker comments on how the Realtors are doing there job! Talk about a role reversal...you get a special gold star just from Janet for this one.

I must disqualify myself from this one. I ADORE going to open houses, LOVE talking to real estate agents, and thinking about each house and the hidden potential. I could do it all day, every day, I am that much of a geek. However, Aaron, when I was an agent I really did hate doing them, didn't you? I can think of much more productive ways to get buyers. I agree that open houses are mainly for sellers,

Interesting Post Aaron. I have one question. What if you gave a party and no-one came? How often would you throw a party? I have had a listing that is admittedly some distance in the country. On several occasions I held open houses with ZERO response. They were advertised in the paper, posted on the MLS and I had signs out in all directions:Nada.

I have another listing in a gated community, a fairly heavily populated, desirable residential community. In one out of three open houses I was doing another solo. It is discouraging.

I guess that I am just a little slow. I keep doing open houses in the hope that a potential client will show up. There is little likelihood that they will be interested in putting in an offer on the subject property but, hope springs eternal.

I have done them and some are good and some are bad.

Hi Aaron,

I live in upstate NY and open houses are very common on Sunday's. I've decided to think outside the box and starting next Monday, I will be holding open houses Mon - Sat from 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM. I will have a mortgage representative with me at each house so she will be able to pre-qualify any buyers that come in. I don't know if this concept will work but nobody is doing it and hopefully it will be a way to build my database with new buyers, as well as possibly selling homes along the way :). I've talked to other agents about possibly holding a "blitz" week and running several open houses during the week over the "lunch hour" to attract more buyers. Has anyone tried this concept before? If nothing else, I can still make phone calls and answer emails while at these homes - nothing ventured - nothing gained!

Are you kidding? I don't care what the market is, having an open house just ads value to "you" and what you have to offer.

I would have said things differently last year as well. I was gloom and doom and dreaded the open houses. I have changed my mindset and except to learn how to deal with people, polish my presentation skills and fine tune my services to my clients....the sellers.

I haven't sold anything as of an open house, but have made some great contacts. I will continue to do them and even on Sat. and Monday night. I live in Michigan, so bring it on!

Thanks for the great post!

Aaron,

For what it's worth; Your opening statement in this blog;

"I recently saw a report that showed that here in Las Vegas, we have over 31,000 houses for sale. This is a lot of homes for us. In fact, its a record. I also saw that 44% of these are vacant. Thats over 13,000 vacant homes. That is a lot as well.

answer's much of your question. In Las Vegas, you have lost at MINIMUM, 31000 potential home buyers who aren't much in the mood for an "open" house. Think about that for just a moment, and then think about the tightened lending, the forclosure's, the REO's, the short sales etc and it doesn't take a lot of thought to see that there is just not much of an audience. The piranahs that are trolling about looking at houses aren't interested either, they are looking for a steal, won't see them at an open house. I'm wondering just who would go to one. The competition is fierce from a marketing standpoint amoungst sellers and the internet is being used in a variety of ways hardly seen in the past...it wasn't needed. Sellers are tired of giving up weekends and spiffing the up the house week after week, especially if no one is coming to look.

I guess what I'm saying is there just isn't an audience YET and may not be until prices bottom out or come down to where you hit a level where there are qualified buyers. I realize this isn't a pretty picture, but I've been through it before and saw the same thing. That was 20 some years ago, probably long before many agents now in the business were working. The bottom line is until you have interest the open house is not very attractive.

Kurt

Aaron, at the very least you have a good possibility of gaining a few buyers. You may not get one every time you host an open, however if you are consistent you will eventually be rewarded. Sounds like a lot of agents have given up.

Aaron,

I am still providing that service to my sellers. It seems most of the time to not be worth it but every other year I write up a sale at an open house. It's just part of our job.

Aaron, if I were an agent in your market place, I'd consider playing this up for all it was worth! How much more can you differeniate yourself as a listing agent than being willing to do what thousands of agents will not do to increase your clients prospects of selling. And... in the process meet potential future home sellers who will have a chance to observe your diligence without any of the competiton within shooting distance. :)

Open Houses are slow in Panama City BUT some sellers insist on them. I do them and actually had a good one three weeks ago, Still working with a buyer from that one, We are about to write an offer on another house, but I got them from an Open House that I had.

Open houses can work or not work depending on the location, the promotion, the day and time of the week, the property itself, competition with football games that are on, the weather, availability of realtors or assistants to sit in them, and attitude of the realtors towards them. They placate sellers but are mainly another avenue to network about the listing and meet others looking for product in the housing market. Plus, the neighbors get to see the inside of the house next door!

Another reason there could be for LESS open house signs is agents have a more highly productive activity to do with their valuable time. For some, unfortunately, it could be staying home and cleaning up their database.

You know what I found works, a "bank owned" or "foreclosure" rider, mid week, near schools when they are letting out.

Happy days are here again, huh?

I would still rather waste my time writing a sticky blog though :)

I held a open house about a month ago where I did not have one person show up. This property was in a community close to a heavily traveled road and I had lots of signs. IMO a open house is simply to please the seller. In the past a good open house for me has been 5 visitors.

Gosh, I cant remember the last time I had a Sunday off !! I have 2 open houses every Sunday and I am not the only one that does this in Southern Indiana.

Have I gotten buyers from open houses, YES.

Have I sold the listing from the open house, YES.

Have I listed a house from a open house, YES.

I am going to go beyond my goal this year. It hasnt been a bad year for me. Maybe because I am STILL doing "back to basic" business principles.

SELL, SELL, SELL !!!

The important thing is that you are doing it, Lisa. I really like the open house community idea. How can that be a bad idea??

I think its the key to success today, Frank....do what others are afraid to do.

I love it Jim!!! Take a laptop and catch up on your AR during the open house! Now that is being productive. Heck, two people per open house? Two new potential relationships? I dont see anything wrong with that at all.

What a great point, Fran! We spend so much time trying to be "different" in our marketing that we neglect the "tried and true."

Success in real estate or mortgages is not a guessing game. Thousands of people have done it before us. They have written books, articles and they coach. If we simply listen and do what they say, you can emulate their success. However, these methods can sometimes be very difficult and frustrating so people give up. That's what's happening in my market.

I don't do them as a rule but have an agent who was doing them quite regularly for a particular listing. Of the 4 open houses she had a total of maybe 2 people show up.

Maybe with gas prices being so high people don't even want to drive around and browse 'just for fun' anymore.

You are right on, Rey and so is your agent! As a seller, I would be freaked out today and want to know everything possible was being done to sell my house, including the no-one show open house.

I was thinking the very same thing when I blogged this, Gene. This weekend I am going to go visit the 1-2 people who put signs in my neighborhood. One, to show support and two, because you are 100% right....that guy is probably getting some business.

I can tell you are a big fan, Laurie. I am not buying all of this regional argument either. OK, maybe if you are in New York City, the open house is never going to work, but if you live anywhere where there are clusters of homes, I agree with you that people look at the signs and they drive by to get a closer look. Even if they can see it on the Internet, many times they want the closer look.

Hear, hear, Linda!!! Let's not fool ourselves. The real great thing about the open house is not to sell the home that weekend. Its nice when it does but that rarely happens. Its to show your seller you are doing everything you can, and even better, you get to meet potential buyers, who may also be sellers.

I am not sure I agree, David. Look at the comments above. I agree that its very difficult to sell the home at an open house. That's rare. However, regardless of the excess inventory, if we all just sit around waiting for it to absorb itself, we will increase the potential length of the time this absorption could have taken. How can it hurt to stay with the tried and true marketing methods of those who have had success before?

Aside from the regional thing, Rob, I agree with you 100%. To me the regional thing is an excuse. Just because an area has inflated inventory does not mean that the open house does not work to your benefit at all.

I decided to hold a builders-brokers open house for a spec home. Turns out that day was one of the rainiest & windiest day of the year. We expected no one to show up. Well 12 people showed up and 8 of those were interested in building their own home, not interested in buying. One of those couples is now a client starting to build later this month.

We tried it two more times after that first open house and no one showed up at those, go figure. My reasoning on open houses for real estate purposes is that serious buyers are going to look at the home anyways, whether you have a open house or not.

There is nothing more boring than sitting at an open house as an agent with no one there, Janet. I did it as an agent. Pure torture. Then again, that was before laptops and wireless internet. :) Thanks for the nice words and the " gold star."

Agents are not alone in this. As a mortgage guy, like I mentioned above, I think this is an opportunity for me too. I am going to head to some of these the next few weekends for sure.

Let me play devil's advocate here, Mike. You are talking to the wrong guy here...I LOVE parties!! I love parties so much that if I threw a party and no one showed up, it wouldnt make me never want to throw a party again, it would make me wonder why no one came, make sure I didnt make that mistake again, and throw an even bigger party the next week!

I am not sure an ad, a sign and an MLS listing are enough today to draw people to an open house.

Thank you, thank you, John! Yours has been the easiest comment to answer so far!! I appreciate it!! :)

I wish EVERYONE on here would read your comment, Kathy!! BRAVO!!!

Who cares if it works or if it doesnt work?? Ar least you are trying something new that you believe in. And you know what? It probably has been tried before and some have probably succeeded and some have failed but they are not you and not in your business.

I used to be a marketing executive. We used to test idea after idea after idea until we found one that worked. In marketing most ideas fail but when one hits, it creates rain and the failures are then forgotten. I hope you find rain. With your attitude and creativity, I am confident you will.

Thats the inspriation we all need, Charlene! I am with you all of the way. When I was an agent, I hated the open house. Don't tell anyone but as a lender, I dread it when a good client asks me to sit with them thru one....but you know what? I do it and I make the best of it and when anyone walks thru that door they would believe there was no other place I would rather be. Good for you!!

I have to respectfully disagree with you here, Kurt. You give a great overview of the "excuses" that we can easily rely on to blame "the market" for our lack of success today. But thats all they are, excuses.

The 31,000+ houses in Las Vegas has little to do with demand a lot to do with investors who missed the stock craze of 2000 and tried to make Vegas and other ciites the Nasdaq of 2004. We have 9,000 new people a month moving here.

I just set my own personal record for loan applications in a month. My top referral agent just closed a $5,000,000 home transaction. He has done over $15M in transactions this year and just left for Hawaii for a month.

We have demand. We do have an overabundance of supply though. But we have a lot more personal excuses than supply.

Great post and shocking stats. I also know a lot of agents who feel that opens are a waste of time, I am not one of them. I always look at an open as a chance at new opportunity. I have had great success in the past and still do. In my market you will still find a bunch of signs out on sat & sun.

You are right Rob and KC too. The reasons to have one are the same as they have always been. My real estate coach in 1994, who was a very successful agent, didnt say, "Aaron, you should have an open house at least once every three weeks UNLESS the market sucks, then dont have one until it comes back."

If I didnt love my mortgage business so much and have so many great agent referral partners that would be livid if I competed with them Lola, I would activate my license and get out there and compete right now. There were 30 advertised open houses last week in a city of 1.7M. How do you not have 10 of them next week and capture 25% of all of the ones advertised?

Three hour open house, Scott and Jennifer, and a buyer making an offer. Who wouldnt make that trade off everyday?

Gary, I think you make some excellent points! If you are having a sunday open house here in Vegas from 10-1 during the NFL games, I am not sure thats the best idea. I would buy the "better business things to do argument" if it wasnt 30 total advertised.

We have over 25,000 agents in Vegas. The average agent will do less than two transactions this year. Two. I am not sure that many people with that little business are doing something business productive on a Sunday or the numbers would not be that skewed.

I love it Renee! I would much rather do my blog than work on my marketing or make my calls or do my loans for that matter. But until it becomes as profitable, I am stuck!! :) "Bank owned" and "Foreclosure" are great buzz words in our market today.

Sometimes people show, Ava, sometimes they dont. Sometimes they come later.

I remember sitting in a $270,000 open house in an age restricted neighborhood with one of my agents about a year ago. No one showed. We started to pack up and say our goodbyes when an elderly gentleman walked in. He lived next door. He talked our ear off for another hour. We were tired and so ready to go home. And finally we gave out our cards to him and we did.

About two months later, my agent friend got a call from this gentleman. His son was moving to Vegas and needed a home. It was a $1M + transaction.

Awesome, Julie, awesome. To me it comes down to this, real estate marketing methods are tried and true as I have written above.

You can argue them all you want but I guarantee you if you hire one of these guys who have millions in our business and now get paid $25,000+ a year to do one on one coaching, when they coach you every day, and you try to tell a single one of them that open houses are a "waste of time" they will send you back your $25K and say find another coach.

Excuses, excuses, Jennifer. I am sorry but thats what they are. To use my comments to Mike's line above, if you throw a party and no one shows up what does that say about the party-thrower?

No question, Charles, open houses are hit and miss, but all marketing is.

I used to be a marketing exec. Have you farmed a neighborhood and not gotten one call and then farmed it again and gotten three? The key ingredient in any marketing campaign is repetition. If you place an ad in the paper one time it will rarely work. Place that same ad 10 times and it may start to work.

The stats show that people need to see something 10-15 times before they trust it. Throwing a sign up on a Sunday, putting it in MLS and putting an ad in the paper one time, if you study marketing, should result in NO ONE showing up. Every one after that is gravy.

Aaron- Congrats on the feature and I hope you find it alright for me to disagree with you.

We work in a luxury home market and most of our homes are either in gated communities where you are not even allowed to have a sign much less a directional sign. Luxury home buyers use their own agent to find a home for them. They do not feel that going to open houses is the wisest and best use of their time. Our medium priced homes are mostly on acreage areas where it is not conducive to hold an open house. I have been licensed in 3 different states with a real estate career that spans over 25 years. I am a listing agent and 90% of my business is listings. In all 3 states across all brackets of home prices I can count on one hand the open houses that I have done and yet I am very very successful and have been most of my career. I have never had a seller complain that I did not do an open house for them.

You say that if you were the seller that you would want to know that your agent is doing everything possible to sell your home. It comes down to smart marketing. It is a decision of should you spend all that time preparing for and advertising to do an open house, all the time you add up putting up signs and taking them down, etc. If you add up all that time and equate it to other marketing activities it is not cost efficient or time efficient to do an open house nor for the seller to be inconvenienced with looky loos and people who are looking for decorating ideas or just want to see what a million dollar house looks like. It is not the wisest and best use of my time or the seller's time. I can take the same time and better effort working on getting the seller's private website viewed by way more people some of whom will be way more qualified and all across our globe. The time I spend blogging about my listings brings me way more buyers to set up a private showing for my listings.

Just as I no longer use print ads of listings for marketing. It is my job to be a consultant and a marketing expert for my sellers. My job is NOT to appease them by doing activities that are from the age of the dinosaurs doing such activities as wasting money and time on doing open houses or ads in the paper. It is my job to educate them to what is working to get buyers and what is not.

Open houses in certain parts of our country are great for new agents to get buyers as you stated but that is not benefiting the seller, that is benefiting the agent. So if the agent wants to do open houses than that is their decision if they want to put that in their marketing plan. But it not for one to say that just because an agent does not hold open houses he or she is not doing everything they can for the seller, that simply is not the case. Katerina

In my experience Joe, the agents who primarily think open houses are a waste of time are the same mortgage lenders who dont know how to market their database today. They got into the business when it was raining so they dont know how to create rain.

Over the past 7 years of my real estate career I have sold over 2 million in just doing open houses. 2 million on the grand scale of sales is not a lot, but when you do not have appointments on Saturday do an Open House. Bring busy work that you need to get caught up on. Put directionals out. You may just pick up a buyer or a seller and you will always earn bonus points with the seller by doing an Open House. My point is if you don't have any business that day anyway are you really wasting your time?

I agree 100% Katerina!!! You are not disagreeing with me. In fact let me put an asterisk on this post. If you are working the luxury gated-home angle, open houses can be a bad idea as they can bring much trouble and the neighbors will also get upset.

If you do them, you probably want to limit them to the existing neighbors only.

I do a lot of business in the upper high-end as well. This year alone I have closed loans for $1.4M, $2.2M, $2.5M, and $5.1M. I can assure you NONE of those people would allow anyone in their home without an appointment, an agent close by, and without being pre-qualified by THEIR lender and not your own.

Thats a great topic for a blog. You should write that!

I agree with you about doing everything you can to get the house sold...you never know when someone will walk in and buy.

Condition and price matter of course, but what good is a diamond house at a great price if it is a secret?

Right on! Rebecca! Right on! Two million in open houses. That's tough to argue with. In today's tech age of laptops and wireless internet, you are so right. Turn the client's home into your office for the day. If I was an agent today, that's exactly what I would do too.

The sellers want it Gail and I just don't see how it can hurt to do it. Maybe I am wrong but unless you are spending those hours doing something else productive for your business why not do it? What do you have to lose?

Aaron ~ My Broker is a firm believer in Open Houses and thinks every agent should be doing them. In fact, he tells every new agent they should do an Open (or two) every week their first year if for no other reason than to market themselves. It's a huge committment but I don't know anyone it hasn't paid off for!

I have commented about it many times here in the comments section Joddie, tried and true marketing methods.

I know a very busy agent. She has been a top producer year after year. She loves to tell the story about how she was 18 when she first became an agent. Her broker was an older man about to retire.

She was determined to be successful in this business so she asked him, "how can I guarantee success in this business?"

He told her, "Every week, go knock on 200 doors and introduce yourself to the homeowner. You will be successful."

She was too young, too green and didn't know enough to challenge him so she went out and did it...every week for a year. 200 doors minimum. She never had to do it again. She is one of the top agents I know and is successful year after year. She said that year still pays dividends.

How many agents or mortgage guys do you know that would do that to "guarantee" success?

OCT

2007

It's a regional and seasonal thing. While other parts of the country may have less success in the winter when its blowing snow, raining and freezing cold, we in Arizona do better in winter than summer. In summer it's 110+, when in other parts of the country it is extremely pleasant. In this current market the "lookers" often times are not really buyers it seems however regardless. They may be looking but many of them have not been able to ge the home they have sold. So it all varies.

Would the smart agent be the one to do regular open houses then? Seems that you might catch that one or two buyers that might be out on a Sunday. I'm shocked at the number of vacant homes you have on the market and hope 2008 will bring a kinder real estate environment to your city.

If no one else is doing them, then they may be succesful. In Atlanta, they are still very popular.

Here in Michigan we have an incredible inventory of houses on the market. I hold an open house almost every Sunday--when I am not showing houses to buyers. I tell my sellers that it is not likely that their house will sell at on open house, but that i am willing to spend the time and energy to do the open house if they want that. I explain the potential problems and some of them decide that they don't want all the neighbors and a bunch of strangers coming through. Others decide that they do want to take advantage of that opportunity. Of course, I can always benefit from an open house by meeting potential buyer clients,. In addition to a professional color highlight sheet to provide to the lookers, I have another hand out for them to read at home about buying a house, the pitfalls and mistakes they might want to watch for when they buy, etc. Of course, my business card is predominant on that hand out. In addition, I have recently picked up two listings from sellers in the same neighborhood who came through my open house and called me when their listing expired since they saw how hard I was working for my sellers.

In my experience, it is a roll of the dice when it comes to holding open houses. Two years ago when the market was hot, I held an OH in a centrally located older neighborhood. For the first held in mid-September, not one person showed up even thought the house had been on the market for just a week or so. The second OH was about 3 weeks later - the house was filled with people the whole time and two offers were presented within 24 hrs. Who can predict?

Today, with the market here in Charlottesville Virginia very quiet in most of the outlying counties, I've held open houses for my sellers and often not one person shows up. Depends on location, price, condition, etc., I know but I'd rather be helping out at the local animal shelter than be sitting for two or three hours waiting for no one to show up. I continue to do the occasional OH to make my sellers feel as though everything is being done. In some cases, though, they end up feeling worse when they hear that no one showed up.

They really don't work to sell a home but a good place to find prospects.

As a Home Stager what upsets me more than a realtor NOT doing Open Houses is a realtor who DOES NOT do a Brokers Open House. This is the time to show off that great Staged House to all other brokers to let them know what a gem you have for their potential buyers. I work with one company that ALWAYS does a Brokers Open House with food and they usually sell within the first 2 weeks.

I say you be the DIFFERENT ONE and do those Open Houses for Buyers and Brokers, and always remember to have the listing STAGED. Stage it, Price it right and market it well....they will sell

The OCCASIONAL (stress occasional) Open House is a good thing for a listing. I don't think it is a waste of time. The worst things that could happen are: an agent might meet potential buyers for another listing, get some good first hand feedback about the house to pass on to the sellers or meet other neighbors that are potential sellers.

I don't ever look at an open house as a way to sell the particular house being held open, although that does OCCASIONALLY Happen!

I don't think anyone mentioned this but many sellers are unwilling to have their homes open on a Sunday! They want to relax, they have laundry to do, homework to attend to, family members they want to have over for dinner. They don't want to have to leave their homes for a good chunk of the day on one of their only 2 days off work. The sellers are always disappointed when they've given up their time and no one shows up. Sometimes when you do an open house and no one shows up, the seller decides it's not worth it and asks you not to do any more.

You are right, you can meet potential clients at open houses. I wouldn't count them out totally. I do not like doing them, but I line one up just about every other week to see if I can find some good buyers.

I always felt open houses were just a ploy by Realtors that knew the house would not sell but that they could get leads.

The regional argument, I will accept, Bob and Carolin, is that of climate. Those 120 degree days here in Vegas are not condusive to open houses. However, right now, when its 78 everyday and there are no signs and no ads, is no excuse.

My point exactly, Diane and Al! If 30 out of 31,000 houses are being advertised for open houses, and 2200+ new people per week moving here, wouldnt some one agree that having one be a decent idea?

The point you make Gary is excellent. You got two new listings from sellers in the same neighborhood whose listings had expired and they see how "hard" you work just because you had an open house. Its probable those agents were bummed to lose their listings to you. Seems like a simple, open house may have saved the deal for them.

All marketing, in all forms, in all industries, Peg, is hit and miss. Newspaper ads, magazine ads, farming, cold calls, newsletters, you name it. Do any work 100% everytime and not sometimes feel like a waste of time? The open house is no different.

Marketing success is defined as the business it produces either today or tomorrow or a year from now, Todd. I agree with you. If you have an open house this weekend, and one guy shows up, and he ends up buying a house from you two years from now, was that not a successful open house?

I love your idea, Phyllis. I wrote a very popular newsletter about staging last year. I sold an investment property of mine in 3 days when the average selling time was more than 60 because of how my agent and I staged it. I am a huge fan of staging.

You are right, Debbie! OCCASSIONALLY its a great idea!!

Now, that is a great point, Kelly! A lot of people dont want others in their homes, especially on the weekend, but in my market that number is not 999 out of 1000 and not when nearly half the homes are vacant.

The reasons to do them Stacey are the same they have always been...sell the home, show the sellers some activity, meet new potential buyers, meet the neighbors, prospect, etc.

And JR, what would exactly be wrong with that? I am not sure I like the word "ploy" to describe it but getting new leads are certainly one of the best reasons to have one. You have to create business by getting leads and this is one way that has been tried and true for decades.

Open Houses are a must! It is what we get paid for... Like it or not.

I hold an open about 2-3 times per month on a Sunday afternoon. And there are always variables that determine whether people show up or not ...

But, sometimes they are not the ones that people think. Last winter we had a freak snow squall in Ohio on a Saturday. One of those "yucky" days that no one wants to be outside. I dressed casual thinking "no one wants to be out in this" and had 10 prospects through the house. Why? I can't tell you.

I enjoy open houses. It is a great place to work on your scripts with buyers and working hard to get to the bottom of your problems.

Had a nice house open last Sunday and it drew a dozen prospects. Will they all work with me? No. But that's a dozen more contacts than I had a week ago. Right now, I've heard from the mortgage folks that at least three of them have called them on my reccomendation to get pre-approved for a mortgage. So if we work together 2 hours of my time could yield me 4 closings. I can handle that.

Sure, I've shutouts before. We all have. Roll with it and move on.

Toby

"I always felt open houses were just a ploy by Realtors that knew the house would not sell but that they could get leads."

Ploy? That makes it sound like a dirty little secret. I tell my clients up front. Ther percentages are not good that we'll sell your house today thanks to this open house. But, here is the deal. We get more bodies in the house, that can never be a bad thing, and I'll get the chance to try and land some new clients.

They know and love the idea. I had one object that I was going to try and sell other listings in her open house. I assured her that was not the case; so she sent her sister in to "secret shop" me and was amazed at how I handled the questions.

It's all about communication and everyone knowing where we stand in this poker game.

Aaron, when it comes to sales techniques, most agents are fighting the last war instead of the present one. I personally hated doing open houses, having done well over 100 of them and only gotten 6 transactions for my efforts. Having said that, when times get tough, it may again be a useful way to get scared buyers looking at houses...

Aaron,

Excuses, reality, or perception, it is what it is and the cream will rise to the top. I'm not an agent as you know, but someone familiar with the industry. If I were, I would spend my time looking at a hundred houses a month, taking notes and mapping it out. I would bury myself in familiarizing my self with every single peice of property I could. I would expect to run into as many or more people doing that than I would at an open house. Think of it as you would a cop walking the beat, exposing your self, gaining a lot of knowledge of your area's and when the time is right, you will be steps ahead.

I looked at a number of houses in a recent trip, the agent I used had gone out the day before and looked at 10 that met my requirements. She rated each one on a 1-5 scale in condition, value, neighborhood etc. This was a tremendous help in narrowing it down and not wasting time. As an out of state buyer, this stands out.

There is a normal market buried in all the doom and gloom, and although you can't re-invent the wheel, you can polish it up a bit whether it be open houses, creative marketing, or wearing out a few pairs of shoes, it will pay off at some point. So, I applaud your positive attitude and your positive thinking, yet I think there are better ways to spend while this shakes out.

Regards

Kurt

With 31,000 homes on the market, Open Houses may seem a waste of time to those agents who have used them to no avail. But, with that many houses for sale, I'd say why aren't you doing more Open Houses? They are pretty big here in Charleston, although some listing agents don't bother and will say that openly right up front. I get in contact with lots of buyers this way, and welcome the opportunity to do them from time to time. You may not sell that particular property, but you are coming face to face with potential client's.

I blogged about this the other day. I find the differing views interesting to say the least. We had our own little discussion which readers might find interesting, so with apologies in advance, here is the link: Closing the door on Open Houses?

In my market area an open house without advanced marketing can be a waste of time. One of the things I have been doing to increase my traffic is to send out postcards to the neighborhood advertising the event. I ask them to invite their friends and relatives. This makes my seller happy and allows me to meet the neighbors and collect names for my data base as well as be in front of potential home buyers and sellers. I think this is more productive than floor time.

And the debate lives on...open house or no open house. I personally have had success with open houses from either a buyer walking through the door or even a possible future seller. Sure, most times they don't turn into anything but it's certainly worth a shot. You'll meet the curious neighbors and if you're lucky make some new friends. It's not too hard to timeblock just 2-3 hours a week for 1 open house if you don't have any weekend appointments already set up. I know an agent who received a call from a buyer who evenutally did buy a house just a few weeks later. The agent asked how they had heard of him and it turned out they had stopped by an open house 5 years earlier!

There are numerous ways to market a property - open house being one of them. When I have a new listing, I do two Open Houses. The first is one held for the neighbors. I send/give them an invitation to an Open House held just for them. Not open to the public. Usually held on a Saturday afternoon. From those neighbors, I learn more about the neighborhood and usually something about the house I am selling. It gives the neighbors a chance to meet and visit with one another. At these open houses, I remind them this is their opportunity to pick their new neighbor. I give them marketing materials - bookmarks, flyers, etc. to take with them and, hopefully, distribute. Then the next day, Sunday, I host an open house for the public. Sure sometimes I have no visitors and sometimes only a few. But, then it only takes one person to purchase. When there are no visitors, I always bring things to do, always these are real estate related. I would not want someone to come thru the door and find me reading "People Magazine". I take this down time to write keep in touch notes to past clients, send thank you notes, or make to-do lists. I will continue to do open houses because it is a visible marketing tool to the Seller. If no one comes, then the Seller is aware the agent tried with no response from the public. I always provide at least bottled water at open houses, usually more, especially if around a holiday. Yes, the open house costs can get up there, but, in my opinion, these costs are minimized by the potential for future business.

Pat in Reno, Nevada www.patriciajewett.com

Hi, Pat, I agree with you. A lot of agents give up the open house for many reasons. There is a so called top agent in our market and he advertised on radio says "if you are a seller wants me to do a lonely Sunday open house for you, I am not the agent for you....then he goes he uses the market proven tech to sell your home quick.....etc."

I am a person who believe the basics. I also believe we are in the business pick our own clients to work with. I don't take every listing. But if I take a listing I will work hard and work smart to get that listing sold. Some suggestings to do in the open house 2 to 3 hours time:

1. Meet your potential buyer or seller and always let them fill out the registration. Email is a must.

2.Give somethig free at the open house: Lottery tickets, refreshment, water, and your business card.

3. Chat with neighbors. They could be your potential sellers!

4. Bring your Laptop computer if you have one. You can put a new listing in, send emails to follow up, or even wirte a nice blog on AR to gain you some points.

Oh, boy! Is it 5 pm up?

Linda, you have some great points in your response. It seems in my area that the realtors are scaling back from 2 hours to 1.5 hours. Several realtors then run off to the next open house. As a loan officer I try to hit the local opens every other Sunday. It's a great opportunity to meet the people needing my services and also to answer questions. I do find that many lookers don't want to give much information and desire to stay under the radar

That's an interesting theory, Troy. But I agree. Most successful agents I know would tell you its part of the job.

That is a very successful open house, Toby! I will go back to my marketing analogies because they are what I know best. I once joined a golf club and knew many of the members.

I had just come off a marketing campaign that was very successful for me where I did a free mortgage check up for all of my previous clients. The response was incredible. So I offered the same free mortgage check up to the 800 members of my golf club. This campaign cost a lot. I did not get one response. Marketing is hit and miss unless you only focus on permission based marketing which is blog for another time.

Back to basics is the theme today, Brian. I have a close friend of mine who was a successful mortgage broker who does nearly all refi business. He got in the game when the market was hot. Well, today, his business is dried up and he is dying. I am coaching him on how to get some purchase business and we are starting with lesson one even though he has five years expereince.

I appreciate your commentary nonetheless Kurt. I don't disagree with you. It takes a well rounded comprehensive strategy. It sounds like you have an amazing agent who did that much work for you. I hope you signed an exclusive buyer's agreement with her because it sounds like she has certainly earned it. Hard work pays dividends. Always has.

I don't think we are so technologically driven yet Bruce to where many sellers don't expect an open house on occassion. I am not sure I would ever be brave enough in a listing appointment to say I absolutely dont do them. That would definitely open the door to the competition, like you, who does them.

I like Kathy's theory about the lunch hour blitz. Anything you can do differently than the competition is great! Think about the folks who don't work and can come out b/c the kids are now in school. On the weekends it's tough dragging those little angels around from one open to another. In a community near my home, they do not do open houses b/c of the rural setting. However, this spring and at the end of the summer, all the agencies got together and had opens in the same area. They all served snacks and some had beverages. It was like a block party. Again, do something different to get differnt results

Simon, I will definitely check that out. Quite a debate has been sparked here. I would never have guessed it when I wrote this. I may have to make it the topic of my local newsletter.

You hit the nail right on the head, Mary!!! I am pretty shocked at the agents who say "I put up a sign, I put an ad in Sunday's paper, and I can't believe no one showed up." Based on my background, I would be shocked if anyone did show up. Any event where you want people to come needs to be advertised in advance to the target market you seek.

Let's say I have a listing in Section 9 of Podunk, Miss and I am planning an open house for Sunday Nov. 19.

Now lets say I know that Section 9 is popular for people moving up the street from Section 8, does it make sense for me to put an small classified ad to the whole town in the paper on Sunday November 19 only and throw up a sign on the corner? Or does it make more sense to do a comprehensive marketing plan to farm Section 8 in the weeks prior with info about this home, then stats on the neighborhood and schools, and finally a special invitation to attend? I bet it would be cheaper than the ad and so much more effective.

We all get so caught up in "not wanting to lose anyone" than target marketing. From experience, I can tell you that target marketinig is much more effective.

Its better to take an ad out in the LA Times that says you are the best agent in Marina Del Rey than you are the best agent is Los Angeles. You will get way more calls. And the same can be said city by city, town by town.

Like all marketing, John, the goal of a great marketing strategy is to get business, not get business today. Of your expectation is that marketing must pay off quickly, you will be disappointed quite often.

Those are awesome ideas Pat. I would love to see the data on how much you have earned from these dual open house vs. what you have spent. I would imagine you are way ahead.

Keep in mind, many companies believe that you are not effectively marketing the growth of your business if you don't spend at least 20-30% of your gross on marketing. Is anyone in our business even coming close to this and failing?

I love the top 5 tips, Linda! I have written them down to share with others.

Finally, another loan officer chimes in Kevin!! I cannot tell you how many new loan officers say, "Aaron is it a good idea to go to real estate offices and bring in donuts? Will that get me deals?"

Forget the surprise office visit. The best agents don't spend a lot of time in their offices. Take the donuts to an open house.

If you want to get in the purchase game and meet agents, the first step is to get out to the open houses and start hanging with some of these great agents who care about their business and will appreciate you showing up.

In fact, because of the response of this blog, I am going to follow my own advice and head out to a few next weekend just to thank those that are still doing it here in Vegas.

OCT

2007

i love open houses. As a buyers agent I do not take listings so I work opens for other agents and I try for two every weekend. I do manage to connect with buyers and over the past few weeks the total trafic count is up. So I am bullish on them.

I'm kinda in a rush at the moment or I would do this more in-depth, but there have been several good articles on open houses on Broker Agent News and here at AR.

The thing you have to accept is that open houses rarely result in selling that house--the open house is really more an opportunity for the Realtor to network. And, like so much in today's market, doing open houses the "old' way of putting an ad in the newspaper and a sign at the end of the road simply will not cut it.

Just a few idea:

*Pick the house you want to host a couple of weeks before hand, go to the tax records and download the addresses and names of all the homeowners in the neighborhood. Using this and, if appropriate, your SOI list, send them a postcard through www.expresscopy.com or some other postcard manufacturer.

*Host the open house at an unusual time--Saturdays or such.

*Have small drinks there.

*Bring your laptop (wifi, hopefully) and be prepared with a lot of information about not only the home's neighborhood, but similar homes on the market. Any lookers you receive might not buy THAT house in THAT neighborhood, but they might be interested elsewhere.

*With your laptop, have a good PowerPoint presentation about real estate.

*Probably most important, advertise your website to any and all visitors as a resource for their homebuying needs.

In other words, do something DIFFERENT. Create some excitement about your open houses. Don't simply put an ad in the paper and a sign at the end of the street (though why someone would put an ad in the paper any more is beyond me......).

As with most things that we do in our business. it is definitely regional, but as with anything we do in life we are the one held responsible for the outcome. You can do an open house every weekend 6 hrs if you like and if how you hold them is just by spending alot of money putting signs up going in the home shuting the door behind you turning on the t.v. and basically just hanging out no they are not going to be productive. try not running the add put some signs out bring some usefull info a good attitude. leave the door open and hang out on the front porch basically inviting passer-bys in with a wave hello and a smile you will probably have a bit more traffic and probably meet a friend. Most folks feel weird just walking up to a closed home when they don't see any one outside. Being a new agent all of my sales have been from open houses and not all of them have had a bunch of traffic. you just have to make the best out of the traffic you do get. Have an Awesome weekend

I have tried organizing "Neighborhood Showcases" with other agents with listings in the same neighborhoods as mine and I could not get them off the ground. And, believe me, I thought of some really great stuff to get potential buyers and out of area agents to this community with a large second home and retirement population.

I too notice very few open houses in my area. I drive around looking for them on weekends and can't find any. It's crazy. Those agents that go back to the basics are the ones that will survive this market!

My opinion is this:

I think alot of realtors have bad attitudes right now. If they think no one will come they won't. I think you need to put out a lot of signs and advertise well in advance. I know realtors that put out up to 50 signs for open house and get a good turn out.

I alos think alot realtors remember when the markets were good when they didn't have to do open houses so they won't do them now.

OCT

2007

Our area still holds many Open Houses each week. We all accept that the Open House rarely sells the home, but sellers like them and we do pick up buyers now and then. I think I only have had one closing this year as a direct result of an Open House, but every closing puts a smile on my face and when I break down the two hours, every other week or so, it's not a bad per hour return. I was listing a home this Summer and I was telling the seller and his girlfriend (who was also considering putting her home on the market) about how we can do Open Houses, but that it is rare to get a buyer that way. Funny thing was they both told me that they had each purchased their homes directly from seeing them during Open Houses. You never know:)

OCT

2007

Aaron, I haven't read all the comments on your blog but I will refer you to the blog article I wrote on 10-8-07 for AR titles Is holding open houses worthwhile?

I have had 2 more weekends of open houses since I wrote this and I have sold and closed another listing from an open house. Oh, yeah, and it was my sale, too. I figure I am currently at about $300 per hour even though no one showed up this past weekend. (It was a gorgeous day for Michigan) I am not bragging. I did this exercise because I was wondering, is this really a good use of my time?

Now, we are not exactly having a booming market here either. It is plugging along at our normal pace, we just have lots and lots of listings, FSBOs, and foreclosures on the market along with our marketable listings.

Sooo, a big NO, open houses are not dead!

Service your clients and hold open houses is my unsolicited advice

OCT

2007

Maybe it's because people aren't showing up. My neighbor just did one and they didn't have a single person come and look at it. Not one!

Ok, I did stop by but that doesn't count as I just went over to try to sell the Realtor on my internet based greeting card service that I sell. I had plenty of time to make a great presentation!

Hey Aaron

I appreciate your open access, tips and generally positive attitude. Lending here in the Seattle area is a positive experience at present and we hope it stays that way. The issue of increasing home's for sale inventories...where do you think that will take us?

Jeremy in Seattle

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