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Open House: Getting Back In The Trenches

I just finished printing off materials for an Open House I am holding today. It will be my first one of the year. The first one I've done since last June, in fact. In all of 2006 I think I did three. Why don't I do more of them?

For starters, I'm a high D on the DISC profile. Waiting for someone to walk through a door, who may or may not be seriously looking is a very difficult thing for me. But when I started my real estate career in 2002 back in Tulsa, open houses were a great way for me to get out and "play" real estate since I didn't have too much going on. An open house would get me to talking to people in the market. That first year I had thirteen sides from open houses. (Mostly leads generated, I didn't actually sell an open house that I was holding.)

And the first house I sold when I returned to Kansas City was a direct result of an open house. In fact, I sold the house I held open. (What are the odds of that?)

Today, however, I just don't do them often. As I mentioned, I'm high D. I like to initiate rather than respond. Plus, I work very hard Monday through Saturday and Sundays are almost always reserved for my family. And I have found that I can generate more leads from properly written blogs about my investment real estate services in one week than I can from sitting in an open house for two hours.

But a couple of more disorganized thoughts about the whole open house issue:

It seems buyers are smarter than ever and already have their own buyer's agent when they walk through the door. So the amount of leads generated has fallen dramatically.
In opposition to the above point, I'm amazed that more newbies don't hold open houses every weekend. After all, it only takes one person to walk through the door. What else are you doing when you are getting started?
How many pointer signs are enough?

I would love to hear your opinions of open houses, who should do them and how they should be marketed. Won't you share?

Posted by Chris Lengquist, RIPS on 04/29/2007 02:46 PM

Comments (30)

open houses, real estate agent

30 Comments on Open House: Getting Back In The Trenches

APR

2007

I should do more open houses myself. Although they are not good tools for selling that particular house and they seldom lead to anything but gas from the doughnuts and such from time to time they do get results.

I feel to hold an effective open house you have to door knock with flyers, give away freebies, put ads in the newspaper, get those directional signs out and advertise on craigslist. A 2-3 hour open house really takes 6 or 7 hours of organizational planning and footwork. It does take an enormous amount of time, money and effort and I feel one good blog post that takes half the time to organize an open will generate more leads.

Just my humble opinion for what it's worth!

My open house today is allowing me to catch up on my blogging! Also a high D, I can't just sit here and wait, I need to stay busy!

I always help the agents with the open houses. Not only is it safer for the agent, but I also share the cost on any "goodies" & marketing materials. Get your loan officer involved to share the cost in the marketing materials & food, plus you will get to know him/her better. It is a win/win situation! Best of Luck...

Chris, I haven't done many open houses is the last few months for some of the same reasons. They are great for new agents to get started. I will also do open houses if I have new construction, it seems to work in this area. Good luck!

As a consumer, I only went to open houses so I would be better prepared to bid on a house I actually wanted. I have never heard of an agent selling a home from a lead that started with them showing up at an open house. To me an finding an open house is like finding a 'garage sale', I may stop, but I am only prepared to spend the change in my ash tray.

I agree, I dislike Open Houses. Most people are working with agents or don't give the correct information.

Occassionally I do get a good buyer, I use to get more buyers in the past. I usually read the newspaper and most people find them from the signs, not the advertising.

I do open houses almost every weekend. Why? Because I make them productive. Also, all it takes is one lead. Besides a lot of the old pros got lazy!

Open houses in the Fort Myers Florida area have not been too succesful the past year. Sellers do like to see that the agent is making an attempt to sell their home but market conditions do not make it a financially profitable.

I am holding an open house right now. It is sunny and beautiful outside. My family is out having fun. No one has showed up yet and I am bored to tears.

My experience with open houses has been mostly nosy neighbors wanting to see what they can get for their house or wanting to take a look at the listed houses decoration or updates.

I don't like to hold open houses,I think it is a big security issue of not knowing who is coming through the home. With more than one possible buyer in the house at a time you can not keep track of everyone. The money I would spend on marketing could just be used to get me a bigger ad in Sunday's paper that will turn more productive ad calls.

Well I don't like open houses.....in fact, I hate them! But I have had neighbors come by who have homes to sell so that is always a golden moment. Good luck----hope it is very successful.

I had an open house today from 1 to 3.It was a nice sunny afternoon. Only one couple came at 3 pm, when I was getting ready to leave, and they are working with an agent.I hope the sellers are pleased that I advertised the open house and spent 2 hours waiting for buyers.
I feel obligated to have a few open houses to try to get people to look, as the market is slow and I am not getting many showings.I always tell sellers, we need only one buyer.

I have noticed fewere people come to open houses after the price of gas went up.Now we have more serious buyers than before.I also advertise in mls so other agents can send their buyers.

As a newer agent I was told the first and best thing to do (after sending an initial letter to my sphere) was to do Open Houses, every weekend. I did for a while but wasted a lot of time & money. If anyone did show up they either were nosey neighbors or were already working with agents. One lady came because someone from my office was doing an Open House at her house and she didn't have anywhere to go! On the flip side, an agent from my office gets buyers from his Opens consistently. I've tried all price ranges and areas - I just decided they are probably not for me.

I often offer my listings to other newer agents or agents that need to generate some leads in my company as a way to "freshen" the Open House and as an opportunity to get another perspective into the sales process. I do agree that doing open houses, too often on one listing is not a good idea. The listing then gets stale or the market thinks that the house....or seller...is getting anxious. I really think it also depends on the price point of the listing as well. Higher-end or luxury listings tend to get a lot of lookers or people that are curious --- to see what is inside --- if it is a luxury property. Those sellers want more privacy and an air of exclusivity and prefer not to have people in their home that are not qualified to make the purchase. ;) P

I just came home from holding an Open House. It was not my listing but a nice home that had a steady group of traffice. I agree with you, many of the buyers are already working with an agent or have someone they know in mind. Out of all the people that came through today, only one couple was not working with an agent. BUT they are in a lease that won't expire till next year. I did spend several hours on preparing for this open house. I can also post a blog and haven't seen much come from them either. Sure wish I knew or was doing what several of the people on AR do so I could get effective leads. I must be doing something wrong?!?!?!?!?!

I'm not a huge fan of open houses. But, every house I list I give a shot to see how they do traffic wise. I specialize in a Cul-da-sac neighborhood...so drive by traffic just doesn't happen here. I'm lucky most days if I even have 1 person...I as well am a high D....open houses to me are AGONIZING!! I'd rather prospect FSBO's or Expireds.

I've not done an open house in 2 years. I used to do all the flyers, door knocking, and 30-40 directionals. It got alot of traffice, but didn't generate enough business to make it worth the effort.

Thank you to everyone who has taken the time to respond thus far. It seems as though most of the responders are like myself, not a big fan and would rather not do them. It also seems as though many of will occasionally do them out of obligation, or desperation or whatever. I still maintain that if you have no other business going on it's a great way to get out there.

Cynthia - I generally don't do posts like this one. Most all of my posts are written so that they will read good on localism. I generate good leads from both my blogs (see BBQCapitial) because they are geared towards educating the consumer. Many AR postings are realtor to realtor subjects that Joe and Mary Homebuyer really won't care too much about. That isn't a bad thing. I just spend most of my efforts trying to generate leads. Also, blogs are perfect for niche marketing. So get specific and consumer orientated and see if that doesn't help you. Good luck and let me know how it goes.

Sadly enough i have to agree with the negatism about open houses...I spend on average $50.00-100.00 (flowers, food, printers fees) as well as 3-4 hours prep time (flyers, cleaningand decorating the house, etc...), then our opens are usually from 11:00-3:00 or longer so it effectively blows the whole day...so, we are looking at up to $100.00 and 8-10 hours...what could i be doing to more effectively market that property and myself for the same cost and time expended? WOW...so many things come to mind! And yes it drives me crazy to sit a open...i think we all must be Type D's or we wouldn't be REALTORS.

BUT...sometimes nothing else will make the seller happy...you just have to place the print add (no matter that you have stats showing how ineffective they are) and host a open house...the only good I have had from an open has been our consumer response cards that the guests fill out with what they would change or do differently, and even these work better with a REALTOR caravan (now thats a powerful "tool"), but at least you can show the cards to the seller and encourage they paint the porch or drop the price, etc...

Think about why you got out of them Chris...if those reasons are still valid why are you changing your mind? Maybe there is something else you can do to proove that you are not a Lazy Old Pro, and improve your business to boot. Good Luck...let us know how things go...

Trevella - thanks for the response. Today was more of an anomoly. The house has been on the market for too long, even in this market. I wanted to hear from John Q Public themselves what they are thinking. And truth be told, I work mostly with investment properties. So every once in a while I still try to snag a "regular" home buyer for fun...

I am new to the industry and am loving open houses. I just finished my 2nd one today and find that they are great experiences for me and with each one I am fine tuning my own system.

I used to do Open Houses a lot, and found them successful since I did them primarily in my farm where I had lots of information to add for visitors. Now I think serious buyers are doing their screening on the web rather than at Open Houses. When they see what they like, they make an appointment that's convenient for them.

This week some excellent clients of ours reduced their list price by $50,000 and asked us to hold an Open House this weekend. Just to please them, I did. Result: two couples came in. One asked for a flyer, looked at the price, and left without looking at the house. The others were unfamiliar with the neighborhood, seemed to like the house, but did not want to leave contact information. I'm glad our good sellers were pleased, because it was not a good use of my time.

Sharon - you seem so right. When I farmed in Tulsa and did an open house there it always had better results.

By the way everyone today's result were:

1 self-admitted nosey neighbor
1 couple from 6 blocks away who just bought a house 6 months ago and wanted to see this one
1 real estate agent escorted buyer who seemed to be seeing this house to make up his mind about one he saw yesterday
1 family member of the seller
1 lady looking for a floor plan that may not exsist on this earth priced under $1,000,000 - but has a sister who has a friend who is married to a real estate agent (I'm not making this up)

Was it worth my time?

APR

2007

Oh Chris...its so great that you have such a good sense of humor about it! I really like your "floor plan" lady...somewhere out there is a real estate agent that doesn't know what is coming but can thank his wifes friends sister for it! Better luck next time and hey, you never know...maybe you won over another seller...

In my area open houses are still done quite frequently, but I can't understand why.

Our cities have gotten so strict about signage. Its a wonder when someone actually finds the open house. Yesterday I had 4 pointer signs placed out at 11am. I returned at 12:45 to open the house and 3 were gone. The only one left was the one in the front yard. The city inspectors patrol on weekends for the sole purpose of looking for signs to remove.

A couple of weekends ago we had balloons on the sign in the yard and were told that was a violation also.

So frustrating, but regardless this weekend's open produced a serious buyer. So the costs of 2.5 hrs. of my time and 3 signs may just be worth it after all.

Open Houses are a necessary part of a marketing plan. Most Sellers still believe they are another way to expose their home and they would be correct. Not every activity produces a result but collectively they do! Thanks for your post - good reading.

I feel that open houses are pretty much a waste of time when it comes to selling that particular house. That said, it makes the sellers feel like something is being done. Also, lighting can strike every once in a while, so what does it hurt. I usually bring the Sunday paper and if I'm unlucky I'll get it read all the way through...pretty much the only time I get to read uninterupted!

Also, doesn't hurt to circulate and peculate for buyers.

Bob

I believe the internet has taken the place of the open house..Back in the old days.. when a buyer was just starting their search the only way to see a house was to physically go there.. Now most agents post lots of pictures on their listings.. Buyers can tour a home without leaving home..

Chris, thanks for sharing your thoughts. I posted a few lengthy blogs a while back in regard to open houses. OHs are what got me started in the business. If it weren't for them, I wouldn't have made it. I agree that once you're established in the business, there are better things you can do with your time, but if new agents are doing OHs EVERY weekend, they're just plain missing out and they're greatly decreasing their chances of ever making it in this business. My first year, I closed 23 sides, all generated by leads made at OHs. The numbers don't lie and if my business ever slows down, you can bet that I'll be getting back to the basics and OHs are at the center of those basics.

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