This week, I want to discuss why it’s so important for you to choose the right house for your open house. It’s not just a matter holding an open house because one of your sellers wants you to. I want you to avoid doing that!  Instead of letting the house choose you, you need to choose the house! And I’m going to tell you exactly how to do that.

First and foremost, not all houses are great candidates for an open house. If a house is in a rural area, or in a physical location that presents challenges, you’ll spend a lot of money on marketing and a lot of wasted time sitting by yourself waiting for buyers to find you. That is not the best use of your resources.

However, when you pick the right house – for the right reasons – you’ll find that your success rate in generating new prospects and clients will increase substantially.

Here are the categories for houses that are great candidates for your next open:

1. New listings: New listings attract lots of traffic! People love to see what’s new on the market, and they love to be the first one through so they’ve got ‘insider information’ to share with their friends and family. You’ll also get a lot of neighbors who will come by … not only are they just curious about the house, they may be secretly interviewing agents prior to putting their house on the market.
2. Well-priced listings: You will be amazed at the traffic you will generate when you hold open a well-priced listing. Buyers are amazingly savvy today, and they’re very aware of what constitutes good value. Well-priced listings can bring them out of the woodwork! Savvy buyers will not take the time to visit open houses where the listing price is out of line with the market. (Note: If you have listings that are overpriced, this is a terrific reason to have a serious ‘price-reduction’ conversation with your overly-optimistic sellers.)
3. Easy-to find-listings: These listings offer a wonderful way to market yourself – and your name – by giving you lots of opportunities for signage. Imagine the marketing impact you’ll have when you place your personalized open house signs in numerous strategic locations. There’s a cumulative benefit to this when you hold open houses on a regular basis, and those houses are on well-traveled routes.
4. In-demand listings: Do you know what style and price of house is the hottest seller in your market? You will if you search your MLS and track the most recent pendings. One of my coaching clients recently did this and then called me up the next day to say, “I thought I knew my market, Denise. But I clearly didn’t. What I thought was selling well now was actually selling well 6 months ago. But it’s not now! In my market – right now – one-level homes in the $279,000-$299,000 price range are hot. I had no idea!” It’s critically important that you do your research. Find out what’s in demand right now – and take advantage of that knowledge.
5. Well-advertised listings: It goes without saying that listings that are advertised well will attract buyers. But listings that are really advertised well — online, in print, and with targeted print mailing — are great candidates for an open house. There is already a buzz about them, so take advantage of that.
6. Listings with great curb appeal: I call this the “irresistible factor”. Who can’t help but want to go into a house that looks absolutely wonderful from the outside? Yes, we’re agents and we’re predisposed to appreciating fabulous curb appeal. But everyone else appreciates it too! When you’re doing research on the right kinds of homes to hold open, do not forget listings that are intriguing from the outside. When a house has ‘wow-factor’ curb appeal, you’ll generate significantly more traffic – which in turn can generate more potential clients.
7. ‘Where fish are biting’ listings: These homes are the fastest-selling homes in you market. How do you determine this? Again – by doing some targeted MLS research. Find out what the days-on-market statistics are for a particular neighborhood, or within your community. Is there a correlation between a low days-on-market number and a particular price point or style of house? When you can connect these dots, you’ll have a very good idea of which homes are getting buyers to get off the fence and into the market.

Now that you know which houses are the best candidates for an open house, you need to determine how to attract potential buyers (and future sellers) to your open house.

Here are my “Top 5 Traffic Generators”

• Online marketing: The key here is consistency. To build strong traffic, your open house needs to be posted anywhere that open houses in your market are posted – including your personal website and your company website. Additionally, spread your social media net as wide as possible through Facebook and other social media sites. Remember to confirm with your sellers that they are comfortable having you advertise your open houses via social media.
• Offline marketing: While many agents turn their noses up at print marketing these days, I do not. This can be a very effective method of building open house traffic. There are lots of options based on your market, including newspapers, magazines, trade publications, and community or neighborhood newsletters.
• Immediate neighbors marketing: You’re missing a real opportunity if you’re not targeting the neighbors! If you normally hold your open house from 1pm-4pm, invite the neighbors over at 12:15pm for a special “neighbors-only” open house. Create an invitation that provides a reason for them to stop by. These could include getting current information on their neighborhood’s 10-year appreciation rate, or perhaps sales ratios and days-on-market statistics. For the neighbors, it’s not about the house as much as it’s about providing them with market knowledge. It’s about articulating your expertise.
• Move-up buyer ‘radius’ marketing: This is a great way to generate traffic. Choose neighborhoods where the homeowners’ next move up (or down!) would likely be in the price range of your open house.
• Database marketing: Never forget the value of the people who already know you and trust you – and support your career. List your open houses in your monthly newsletters. Send out an open house schedule via email, with a link to your website’s open house page. (Don’t forget to update this page each week!)

Lastly, I want you to think about open house options – those “outside the box” option that can generate additional traffic.

1. Saturday versus Sunday open houses: For many people, Sunday is their ‘stay-at-home’ day. They have family activities, laundry, and yard work as priorities. Saturdays often will provide you with much better traffic, since people are already out and about doing errands. With ample signage you can attract a lot of traffic! Try this idea – test it for two or three months to see if that’s the case in your market.
2. Condensed open houses: Consider holding two homes open on the same day. It could look like this: House #1 (123 A St) is open from 9am-10am and then again from 1pm-2pm. House #2 (123 B St) is open from 11am-noon and then again from 3pm-4pm. Essentially, you’re increasing your opportunities to get a lot of people through in a short amount of time.
3. Multi-property open house tour: Pick several houses that meet a particular niche and hold each one open for one hour. You could pick first-time buyer homes. Or waterfront homes. Or equestrian properties. Done strategically, you’ll quickly establish yourself as an expert in that particular niche.
4. Multi-agent or entire office open house blitz: There’s power in numbers! Gather together a group of agents – or your whole office – and build an open house event.
5. After-work weekday open house: This is a terrific idea for homes that are on commuter routes, or in neighborhoods that are close to bus stops. Hold an open house at approximately the same time as these folks are headed home. You’d be surprised at how many will stop in for a few minutes.

I’ve just given you a lot of ideas — and things to think about. What I want you to do now is toss your preconceived notions about open houses out the window and start thinking outside the box. Open houses can be an amazingly successful strategy for you — if you pick the right houses, determine how to build traffic, and schedule them to maximize your reach

In case you missed any of the posts from this series, you can view the full list below:

• Throw Open the Doors!
• Put on Your Thinking Cap
• Open House Preparation
• The Final Keys to a Successful Open House

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