I'll say it again: Open houses are great!
As often as I have gained clients and sales from open houses (both buyers and sellers as well as buyers of the open house), I still have other agents tell me that they don't work. In order to make them work, you have to make them work! There have been many posts by agents who love open houses. But there have been a few posts on Active Rain by agents who don't like open houses.
As I think you know if you have read many of my posts, I am a big fan of open houses. And although I don't use "bright yellow" balloons or signs, I do whatever 
I can to get the attention of consumers. I put out lots of directional signs, and many of my signs have bright red flapping pennants on them to help catch the eye. A couple of times I did use a few balloons in the Century 21 colors of black and gold, but the red flags work just fine and it takes less time to set up. After all, I do take about 2 hours to prepare for my open houses as it is, including flyers, advertising, invitations, and preparing a current market report.
You can't have a successful open house unless people come to it, and to get people to the open house, you have to get their attention. That may take some advertising and inviting all of the people you can, and making them fun to attend, in addition to getting the attention of drive-by folks. For some ideas, see, for example, my post: More reasons for Doing Open Houses and Ways to Make Them Fun!
Patricia Kennedy is another who strongly believes in open houses. If you have read her posts on the subject, you will see why. For example, see her most recent post: Everything I Know About Open Houses I Learned from Jim Weichert, in which she discusses the bright yellow balloons mentioned above.
I stumbled upon an open house last weekend when I was on my way to a showing. The agent had a small blue sign in the front yard that was nearly invisible, and he claimed that there was a sign at the end of the street, but I didn't see it on the way into the neighborhood. I checked on my way home and I saw that it was several blocks from the open house, was another light blue sign about 8"x10", and it sat right next to and was partially blocked by a telephone pole!
Not surprisingly, he said that I was the only person other than 2 neighbors who had come. He said he hadn't advertised it because he had gotten busy with family stuff and hadn't had time. He will probably be one of those who complains that open houses don't work.
But I'll say it again: Open houses are great!
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Full time real estate services in Fair Oaks CA, with friendly professionalism, 20+ years experience. I work hard to give my buyer or seller a low-stress transaction.
"Happy clients make me happy."
For all your real estate needs or questions, call me at (916)705-8951 or visit my website at www.SusanNealFineProperties.com.
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