Who Said Open Houses Don't Work?
Well, Debe Maxwell has proven that open houses do work. Read below to see why. In my area open houses are not well attended. .... so now I am thinking about my $1 million listing and will be following Debe's advice this Spring when I do another open house Debe's way..... treat it like an event.
Who Said Open Houses Don't Work?
Reading online discussions about open houses, inevitably the majority of the discussions go to the negative viewpoint: "They don't work in my area," "Open houses are a complete waste of my time," "I'm not looking for buyers, I'm trying to sell my listing!" Yes, naysayers will be naysayers!
It's hit or miss in our area as I'm sure it is in other areas - I've figured out what causes the 'hits' and what causes the misses! The misses are typically impromptu open houses - no forewarning; a time-frame that just doesn't allow for time for marketing - or if they're planned for the wrong time of day...or the wrong day altogether.
First of all, Open Houses are events - treat them as such! Make a big deal of them - let everyone know with your marketing and your voice. Advertise, advertise, advertise them! Let the neighbors know about them; let your sphere and everyone in your social media realm know about this upcoming event. Again, if you take nothing away from this, remember Open Houses are events and should be planned as such.
Set them at times that are not going to interfere with other major events in your area. Here, open houses planned on Carolina Panther game days are always a bust, without fail! And, heaven forbid you try hosting one in the Uptown area near the stadium on game day - anytime on game day! Tailgating begins early in the morning and even with 1:00 games ending at 4PM, traffic is a bear until 6PM and by that time, it's dark and no one really wants to attend an open house. This timing, my friends, would be a 'bust' time for an Open House!
I wanted to share a recent story that happened at an open house in one of our high-end communities, SouthPark.
I had a $1M property that simply wasn't getting the traffic that I thought it should and sadly, the feedback for the property was all positive. I say sadly because we like to address the negative feedback, as correcting the negatives typically turn the property into a sale. With this one, the only 'negative' was that the property was too big!
So, we decided to turn this 'big' townhome into a 'big' event and host an open house, filling the property to the gills with potential buyers...and we did. The turn-out was great and the feedback was all positive - not a soul complained about the size!
Because $1M buyers in our market tend to take a bit of time to make a decision, we were fairly certain that we weren't going to sell the home at the open house. But, we did keep in touch with those attendees and agents (who brought or sent their buyers), following up and answering questions they had about the property.
About 4 weeks later and a second visit to the home by an interested buyer, we received our first Offer. We notified all of the potential buyers' agents that we had an Offer. A second Offer came in that same day. After the agent calls, I reached out to the Open House buyers. I had in my notes that one of the Open House buyers, who lived in that same community, had been considering a larger unit. That buyer was not working with an agent and guess what? They came in with the 3rd Offer!
Quite frankly, the Offer that I presented on behalf of the 3rd buyer would not have been my choice as it was lower (and I told my seller just that!) but, the terms of the Offer were exactly the terms that the seller wanted. Both the buyer and seller agreed to the cash purchase with absolutely zero repairs to be made and the sellers' Closing date to be an extended one of his choice. As I don't typically do dual agency, the deal could not have been a better for a dual sale - the buyer inspected the property from top to bottom (which thankfully was fairly issue-free). The buyer and the seller were also in constant contact, working out personal property arrangements, etc.
Both parties were thrilled with the outcome of the transaction and quite honestly, it was one of the smoothest transactions I've ever had. Not having to worry about inspection issues and two wonderful clients working together, I couldn't have asked for a better transaction.
But, WAIT! There's more! My buyers had a smaller unit that another Open House attendee was really in the market for so, I listed and sold that unit to the other Open House buyers! Another wonderful transaction that sits atop two of my smoothest transactions - ever!
But, WAIT! There's even more! - I will be listing the buyers' home who purchased the smaller unit as well! ALL of this from ONE OPEN HOUSE EVENT!
If done correctly, open houses CAN be successful. SO, when you hear the open house naysayers speak, DON'T LISTEN!
If you're thinking of selling your Charlotte home, I would be happy to meet with you to share our ideas of open house events for your home, as well as the our personal marketing strategy that gets the job DONE for you as well! Visit www.ListMyCharlotteHome.com, call or text (704) 491-3310 or email me at DebeM@remax.net.
Hiring the RIGHT Charlotte Realtor® is critical to your home selling success!
© Debe Maxwell | The Maxwell House Group | CharlotteBroker@icloud.com | Who Said Open Houses Don't Work?
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Charlotte NC Real Estate Agents
Debe Maxwell, Realtor®/Broker/CRS
CharlotteBroker@icloud.com
Direct: (704) 491-3310
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