The Big Debate Over the Value of Throwing Open Houses
by Gerri Leventhal of FIND NJ HOUSE (Realtor and Author)
The value of having an open house to sell a home has always been debated by Realtors. Time is money and since stats show that very rarely will a house be sold at its open house event, you always have realtors that consider doing all the work to throw an open house, is a waste of a realtor’s time and resources.
On the other hand, if you use the open house as a marketing tool for getting the message out to a small neighborhood about your realty services then you can benefit whether you sell the house or not during its open house event. You surely can pass out biz cards to all who attend your open house. You can greet and showoff your knowledge of real estate and especially the local realty scene by conversing during the open house and giving tours of the property.
You collect people’s names, cell phone numbers, email addresses and learn a little about each person’s situation. Now you can keep in touch and further market your services to them at a future date.
The thing about setting an open house date is that it gets your client motivated to put their property into tip top shape quickly by the open house date. Let’s face it you need your seller client’s cooperation to sell their property. The house has to be cleaned up. Some repairs or painting may need to be done. Carpets might have to be steam cleaned. Clutter needs to be removed, maybe packed up and moved into off property storage.
Another reason to have an open house is simply because most clients expect you to have at least one open house. It shows clients that you are trying hard to sell their home. You are going to market the surrounding neighborhood heavily the week before the open house weekend. Just because you are not expecting to sell the listing at an open house does not mean that everyone who comes in contact with your promotional material is not judging you and your services.
Potential clients can be impressed by your clever marketing tactics and promotional campaign; some will remember your name and hire you when they need a realtor or recommend you when someone asks if they know a good local realtor. You also will meet potential local business networking partners when you go into their businesses to ask if they will post your open house poster or flier.
So, is throwing an open house a waste of time? Not if it is used as a marketing and business promotional tool. View open houses as real estate lead gathering machines. You may not sell the home you are stuck at as the host for a few hours on a weekend but if you can land just one new client, your time and money was very well spent!
Remember when a buyer does not like your open house listing; for instance because the price is too high or they don’t like climbing so many stairs or the back yard is not big enough… You should be trying to set up an appointment to show them some other homes that are on the market that would better suit their needs and purposes.
Prepare for your open houses; you are on stage and being judged by the visitors as much as the houses are!
What are your open house throwing tips? Do you go the extra mile to stage the home with a theme to impress a specific type of buyer? Do you supply refreshments; donuts, cupcakes, sodas and bottled water?
New realtors; are you offering to help out your co-realtors in your brokerage who have a few listings, with throwing, planning and promoting their open houses? Even if a colleague has already thrown an open house for a listing, if the home has not sold yet then most realtors would welcome a new agent offering to throw an additional open house for them. You should do all the pre-open-house leg work and you should even split some of the buyer leads you get with the listing agent, yes, even if they do not work the open house with you!
Any time that a new agent gets to spend with an experience agent is golden and usually very valuable. You have to connect with and make friends with the successful agents in your office because there will be times when you need to ask for their advice.
Anyone have any open house throwing tips?
On the other hand, if you use the open house as a marketing tool for getting the message out to a small neighborhood about your realty services then you can benefit whether you sell the house or not during its open house event. You surely can pass out biz cards to all who attend your open house. You can greet and showoff your knowledge of real estate and especially the local realty scene by conversing during the open house and giving tours of the property.
You collect people’s names, cell phone numbers, email addresses and learn a little about each person’s situation. Now you can keep in touch and further market your services to them at a future date.
The thing about setting an open house date is that it gets your client motivated to put their property into tip top shape quickly by the open house date. Let’s face it you need your seller client’s cooperation to sell their property. The house has to be cleaned up. Some repairs or painting may need to be done. Carpets might have to be steam cleaned. Clutter needs to be removed, maybe packed up and moved into off property storage.
Another reason to have an open house is simply because most clients expect you to have at least one open house. It shows clients that you are trying hard to sell their home. You are going to market the surrounding neighborhood heavily the week before the open house weekend. Just because you are not expecting to sell the listing at an open house does not mean that everyone who comes in contact with your promotional material is not judging you and your services.
Potential clients can be impressed by your clever marketing tactics and promotional campaign; some will remember your name and hire you when they need a realtor or recommend you when someone asks if they know a good local realtor. You also will meet potential local business networking partners when you go into their businesses to ask if they will post your open house poster or flier.
So, is throwing an open house a waste of time? Not if it is used as a marketing and business promotional tool. View open houses as real estate lead gathering machines. You may not sell the home you are stuck at as the host for a few hours on a weekend but if you can land just one new client, your time and money was very well spent!
Remember when a buyer does not like your open house listing; for instance because the price is too high or they don’t like climbing so many stairs or the back yard is not big enough… You should be trying to set up an appointment to show them some other homes that are on the market that would better suit their needs and purposes.
Prepare for your open houses; you are on stage and being judged by the visitors as much as the houses are!
What are your open house throwing tips? Do you go the extra mile to stage the home with a theme to impress a specific type of buyer? Do you supply refreshments; donuts, cupcakes, sodas and bottled water?
New realtors; are you offering to help out your co-realtors in your brokerage who have a few listings, with throwing, planning and promoting their open houses? Even if a colleague has already thrown an open house for a listing, if the home has not sold yet then most realtors would welcome a new agent offering to throw an additional open house for them. You should do all the pre-open-house leg work and you should even split some of the buyer leads you get with the listing agent, yes, even if they do not work the open house with you!
Any time that a new agent gets to spend with an experience agent is golden and usually very valuable. You have to connect with and make friends with the successful agents in your office because there will be times when you need to ask for their advice.
Anyone have any open house throwing tips?
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