Another weekend and two open houses. This means that any other business I have must be squished into the mornings or evenings. I have yet to sell a home at an open house but I do them for a few reasons:
- I might get lucky and find the buyers for the home.....
- I might find a buyer for another home.....(more likely and has happened)
- It seems a thing real estate agents should do....
- It helps the sellers focus on getting ready to show their house....
- Gives the opportunity for the neighbors to find out about the house (without having to disturb my clients)
- Lets me observe what other people think of the house.....
Reasons I sometimes think that open houses our a waste of my time (and my sellers)
- The sellers need to find something to do during open house...
- I have yet to sell the house I have opened out of an open house....
- I can't be everywhere at once if the customers split up.......
- The viewers don't like to register......
- Sitting in an open house by myself can present security risks for me.....
- I could be showing houses (maybe even this one)......
- You have to put up signs and take them down.... A little tiring and a little dangerous for you and your car....
So what do I do....
- I run an open house early in the listing (as soon as the house is ready for show)...
- If people show up I do it again....(in a few weeks)
- I advertise the ________ out of it (expensive)....
- I let the customer decide whether they want another one (based on the attendance) (I figure 4 sets of people are good).
- I invite my friends and family to visit me (to fight boredom and for security)
- I get balloons....
- Sometimes I bake cookies (but I often have them even if store bought).
- I bring my computer and a good book to read.....
- I try to pass out flyers in the neighborhood that I am doing the open house in
- If there are other houses near mine I invite the other Realtor to have a open house to increase traffic...
This all said I keep thinking they are a good tool but I wonder about how many to run? I also wonder if more then 1 open house is useful?
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