Open houses are like labor-they're painful and while you are going through it you say you will never do it again. After some time goes by, you say to yourself, that couldn't have been as bad as I thought and you hold another open house. Guess what? It's still just as painful!
You have to be an optimist to work in real estate and doing open houses is a prime example of that positive outlook. We advertise in papers, walk the neighborhood, promote to other realtors and put out signs. We have tried broker's open houses. We've done full lunches, desserts, breakfasts, wine and cheese with almost the same response as the public open house. Open houses are just not successful in our marketplace.
Why do we continue to do open houses if we feel this way? First of all, we will continue to do them because by holding them, we are showing the customer that we are doing everything possible to sell their home. Second, this is another way to keep our name out in front of the general public. Last but not least, being the eternal optimist, we will continue to hold open houses for the same reason we play the lottery-someday we may have a winner!
Saturday, I sat at an open house for two hours without one customer. My husband had the same response at the open house that he was holding. However, the day wasn't a complete waste of time. After all, I did write a blog!
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