Open Houses - What makes them work?

Hi Mitzi, I wrote a post on Open Houses if you want to pop over to my blog and read about it; I have also seen a few others posted as well.  Maybe if you search Open Houses, you'll see the posts as well.

It's always a hit or miss; but I think you can definitely sell a house at one and certainly get a buyer or two over time.  I know when I started in the business, that is how I built my transactions.

 glass half empty....

I think that you did everything right... and guess what it was a waste of time and energy.

glass half full

maybe a neighbor will tell another neighbor  etc, etc, and your home will sell. 

I used to bake cookies during my opens- of course with permission.  This made the house sell good and let the potential buyers remember me...

Hi Mitzi,

Here are a few things you could try, which may help you bring some interested buyers:

• Use more signs (start where the majority of the traffic starts).  Direct them into the neighborhood and through the streets to your house.
• Let your peers know.  Contact local agents and let them know the house is being held open.  Give some brief details about the house.
• Tell the neighbors.  They are going to come over anyway and/or steal your flyers.  Why not invite them in and ask them to help sell the home.  They have an opportunity to pick their neighbor.  Perhaps a friend, family member, or co-worker.  I suggest sending out small invites.  They can be hand delivered during the week when you put up the signs.
• Utilize the newspaper.  Yes, this is an old way of doing things, but it still works.  Want a bigger add and for it to stand out??  Maybe get together with another Realtor (or two) in the area.  Share the expense for a larger add and all of you have the Open House on the same Sunday.  Perhaps even have flyers for each others homes.  Sound crazy?  Maybe.  The point it to being people in the door.
• Finally, market to your SOI.  Let them know what is out there.
• One more idea... have a pre-party/open house.  What is this?  Well, you have a get together during the week with the sellers friends and co-workers.  Ask for their assistance in spreading the word about the open house.  They help their friend sell their home quickly, which obviously helps you as well.

Please forgive me, but I have written a great series on Open House Strategies - here is the link if you are interested Open House  Although many find them to be a waste of time, they aren't.  Pick any weekend and you find dozens of open houses.  Why?  Because they still work (if done properly and with the right attitude).  Don't go into it as a way to 'satisfy the client'.

Let me know if I can offer any additional tips.  :-)

John Cannata

Also remember that some prospective buyers don't want to be bothered by a Realtor's "hard sell," so they'll commonly say that they are "neighbors who are just curious."

Back when I was a Realtor in Houston many decades ago, I almost always had people tell me that they were just curious neighbors. That was when the Texas oil boom was going bust, creating a market like we have right now. There were too many neighbors, so one weekend I hired a bunch of college students to follow home those who left my open house. Less than half lived in the neighborhood. After that I treated everyone, absolutely everyone, as a prospective Client, just curious or not.