All About Open Houses: Their Role and How Our Agents Market and Conduct Them Successfully

"Open Houses are especially important for properties that are 'not a drive by.' They are another tool for getting potential customers in the door. I recently had an Open House and almost every potential buyer said 'wow, this house is really nice and was deceiving from the outside.' For my Open House advertising, I use my web site’s Open House page, boston.com, and the Boston Herald. All of these have been very effective. Obviously signage is also important. If the property is large or unique, I have two agents present to control the flow of customers.

I give my sellers as much feedback as possible from the comments of potential buyers. I also provide my sellers with a list entitled 'how to prepare for an Open House'; these are tips and suggestions to make the exterior and interior of the home appealing to the buyers."

Judy Lima
Email: judithlima@comcast.net
Web Site: www.judylima.com
Phone: 978-535-6666

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"There are three types of Open Houses a Realtor can have and I have a different marketing strategy for each of them. The first type of Open House would be for the listing office, which in my case is the RE/MAX Advantage office. This Open House occurs within a few days of first listing the home. The RE/MAX office would take a tour through the home which is commonly known as a “caravan tour.” This allows the office agents to get familiar with the home and preview it for their buyer clients. Normally, I would send out a voicemail broadcast to the office announcing the new listing.

The second type of Open House would be what’s commonly called a “broker luncheon.” This Open House allows me to invite Realtors from across Cape Ann and multiple offices to enjoy a delicious lunch and to preview the home for their buyer clients. I have a database of real estate agent e-mail addresses and present a nice invitation and always cook my now famous Pasta al Forno. Because I’ve been consistent with this delicious meal, I can count on seeing a great turnout (simple strategy)!

The third type of Open House is the most common: a Sunday Open House where the public is invited to take a tour of the home. I use many different avenues of advertising including but not limited to: Realtor.com, Boston.com, the Multiple Listing Service, and of course my own web site GloucesterandRockporthomes.com. I also use print ads and target different newspapers depending on type of home and location as well as target audience. I also send out a broadcast e-mail to most Cape Ann Realtors making them aware of my Sunday Open House so they can send the info along to their buyer clients who may want to attend. Open Houses are a great way to expose a home to the market place!"

Lillian LoGrasso
Web Site: www.LillianLoGrasso.com
Email: lillianlograsso@remax.net
Phone: 978-479-2250

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"We believe Open Houses work very well for the seller and it also helps
prospective buyers make educated decisions. We still think that Sundays
between 12PM and 3:30PM works best. The Open House lasts for approximately 2 hours. We usually perform an Open House when the listing is new and then
perform an Open House on a price change or sometimes when we need to
jumpstart the listing if activity has been weak.

A couple of strategies we use for marketing an Open House are to 1) Promote the listing on Monday for the Open House on the following Sunday. 2) Promote the time of the Open House on your listing via different web sites such as: the MLS (multiple listings service), Realtor.com, Boston.com, your personal web site, and any other site you subscribe to. For instance, we think a great way to drive traffic to Open Houses is to place the time of the Open House on the comment section on MLS. We also place the time of the event as the headline on Realtor.com.

The promotions start on Monday and this helps create some buyer anxiety by the time Sunday comes along. If a potential buyer is interested in the property and sees the property on Tuesday and the property is viewed by 4 other prospective buyers during the week and then the same people come back to Sunday's Open House and also see 20 more prospective buyers in the home then there is a better chance of achieving a higher offer on the home by the time Sunday's Open House is completed because the prospective buyers are not sure who else might place a bid on the home. This process helps create a sense of urgency with the prospective buyer.

We do not make any buyer feel uncomfortable when viewing a home. We ask informal questions and let the prospective buyer dictate the conversation. By having a casual conversation, you can then make clear decisions on what type of buyer they are or are not. If the buyer is serious then we proceed with specific questions and provide market statistics which are derived from our web site. This is a great tool when educating prospective buyers. A couple of soft drinks and snacks never hurt when performing an Open House. Open Houses can be fun and can be very productive for both the seller and the buyer."

Mike and Mary Cotraro (Team Cotraro)
Web Site: www.teamcotraro.com
Email: cotraro@teamcotraro.com
Phone: 978-882-4425