Open House Success in Sammamish. I’ve been an advocate of holding Open House’s for our listings for a long time. When we don’t have any active listings, we often hold them for other agents in our office. I see them as a great way to
1. Present the House. This is the foremost reason to do one. Know the house, present the house, sell the house, talk about the house and build up the value of the house to the prospective buyers. As a listing agent, I know it well.
2. Meet the neighbors. Yes, I want to earn more business through doing an open house. I want to let the neighbors know we are an engaged team who doesn’t sit on a couch and tell people to “look around and let me know if you have any questions.”
3. Meet new buyers. Yes, I want to earn more business by being where the buyers are, in Open Houses. Often a buyer arrives and has a legitimate reason not to pursue this listing, wrong room count, wrong school, not their preferred style, etc. When I know the market for similar homes I’m prepared to discuss with that buyer alternatives that may fit what they are looking for. If they are not represented by someone else, it’s a perfect opportunity to assist them.
I freely admit all of the above information and motivation to my sellers and the buyer’s that I meet. I’m there to do business for my client first and myself second.
In order to have a successful open house we put the following practices into place.
1. Advertise it on the MLS as soon as we know we are doing it. It may take a day or two to syndicate to all the other sites, so a Sunday open house should be uploaded by Thursday to ensure buyers can find it online and plan. I’d guess that 90% of the buyer’s I’ve asked tell me they came because they found it online.
2. I advertise my Open House on Active Rain, Trulia, Zillow and other sites. This takes specific steps because in my area Trulia & Zillow are not fed directly from our MLS and we must either syndicate our listings or load them directly. I do both.
3. I advertise my Open House’s on Facebook. My friends, family and clients will see my postings and potentially tell others about the great house we have open.
4. Signs are important. I have 6 of my own and 3 I’ve inherited. Depending on the location I use at least 6 and all 9 if necessary.
5. On the For Sale sign, I hang a rider that reads, “Open Sunday 1-4” to announce to the neighborhood and driveby’s when they can see the house.
6. Talk, talk, talk, talk… I tell people what I’m planning and where I’ll be. I tell other agents, friends, neighbors, people at church, the grocery store etc. “I’m doing an open house today and need to have this flat of water for my guests.”
Our greatest success happens when we first list a home. One recent listing had close to 200 people through on Saturday and 80 (we actually counted) on Sunday. The house was under contract for well over list price on Wednesday morning.
I believe that through our open house’s we’ve helped our sellers’ get better offers, faster and with more committed buyers than if we didn’t do them. I can confirm that a high percentage of our sold listings have been directly through our efforts. In most cases, another agent writes the offer, but not always. In either event, the traffic generated through our open house creates excitement, demand and a more committed buyer who has had the home presented to them by the listing agents, who know the house better than a buyer’s agent could.
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