Are Open Houses for weekends only? Absolutely not! Saturdays and Sundays are the conventional days for open houses. That makes sense. After all most, although not all, people are freer on the weekends. Again, most, although not all, work Monday through Friday leaving the weekends available to house shop.
I'd like to relay a lesson learned back in the 1980s when I was a new agent. Another new agent and I had a listing, a large colonial home in a very desirable neighborhood. We had several typical open houses on the weekends. Yes, we did have visitors but some seemed to be simply driving by, saw the sign, and decided they wanted to take a look. Of course we gained a couple of good prospects to work with but not a buyer for that particular home.
We were at our wits end. This was a divorce and both parties wanted to move on to buy other homes. This house had to sell for them to achieve that goal.
One day as we brainstormed we got thinking about what a great place it would be for someone working in the area but living a distance away. Decision was made to try to capture someone on their way home that really wanted to be much closer and wanted to possibly move up to a more expensive home.
We picked 4:00 to 7:00 on a Thursday evening.
Eager to see what would happen we were all set when 4:00 came...and went. Five o'clock came and went. Six o'clock came and went. Not one visitor. We began to think our brilliant idea was not so shiny bright after all. With mere minutes to go before we would begin to call it quits a man pulled up and came in.
Our one and only visitor had arrived. He worked in a bank just a couple of blocks away, saw the well placed directional signs on his way home and that was it. He liked what he saw. In fact he liked it very much. He asked if we would wait while he went to pick up his wife from the Metro station and bring her to see the house. Of course we said yes.
Listing sold. Other transactions happened as a result. When there's a brick wall in front of you...knock it down.
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