How to Hold an Effective Open House Event
One of the simplest and most effective ways for an agent to tap into a neighborhood is through open house events. Open House Events are a necessary element to marketing the home for sale and giving it the optimal exposure it deserves! When open house events are properly deployed by hosts, it can be equally beneficial to the agent, seller and buyers.
…A brief video of cookie baking choices at an open house event (just for fun)
Keep reading for advice to anyone in the residential real estate sales profession, REALTORS, and open house hosts who would like to hold an effective open house event.
If you have 5 minutes to watch this YouTube video presentation featuring Tips from nationally acclaimed real estate professional development trainer, Dan Elzer, The Training Academy, it will jump-start your planning for your next open house event!
Click here: WATCH DAN ELZER NOW! (Time: Less than 5 minutes)
If you enjoyed this video, you may also be interested in more free professional tips. Check out Realty School 101’s FREE and low-cost professional development training videos for real estate professionals.
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…Back to Open House Tips!
Why hold an open house? What is an agent’s job at an open house? What are you supposed to do while you’re there? How do you know who the perfect buyer is versus the lookers coming into your open house?
Hopefully, you’ve already viewed Dan Elzer’s five minute video on how to hold an effective open house. One of our favorite tips from Dan is the “Greet & Release.” This is a great approach to consider using because it is professional and it allows the person to feel comfortable (aka not trapped or pressured) by the open house host.
The main reason you should host an open house event for your listings is….
TO SELL THE HOUSE!
And then, DATABASE GROWTH!….
Connect with more people. Retrieve their contact information.. Stay in touch!
It’s one thing to be able to secure the contact details for more than one person. It’s another to be able to use those contacts successfully. One idea you could try is to jot down something unique or memorable from the interactions you’ve had with each person in order to make your follow-up call or email message more personalized. The Gold is in the follow-up.
If you’ve been in the real estate business long enough, you already know that your open house traffic will be comprised of many people who are not in the market to buy the home you are trying to sell — or ANY HOME! — This doesn’t mean that you should regard these guests much differently than you would someone who seems more apt to make an offer. As an agent, your reputation is key. People will talk. Remember to make everyone feel welcome and express appreciation for their time to explore the property. Encourage them to share the details with their circle of friends or even create an easy way for them to share the property information on Social Media. Maybe create a hashtag suggestion. Why not set up a fun photo booth for inducing the share with your branding and the property information?!
Here are some more insights we would like to suggest for you:
PRO TIP: Label your Open House as an Open House Event in your advertisements. This suggests an experience to be had. You will likely receive more interest and guests walking through your open house.
Having a parade of people trekking through your open home is great for the one buyer in the sea of lookers that truly wants to make an offer to purchase. It’s social proof that your marketing is effective and that the word is getting out to everyone locally that this house is available for purchase. While it can be somewhat disappointing to receive far more lookers than bona fide buyers, the others can drive the value perception upward for the one person who may buy the house.
As an open house host, you may be reluctant to interact with anyone who has just revealed to you that they are just a looker. If there are other people coming through the home, it may be better to shift your focus to the opportunity of finding the “one” — which could mean that you will let go the rapport you’ve been building with the looker (who may be genuinely looking for another person).
It’s a good practice to require everyone to sign-in.
If you find it difficult to mandate a sign-in process, try taking the security-conscious approach. Let your guests know that this is something that the current owner requires that you do for security reasons. Many people will also take comfort in knowing that you will not be using their contact information to send them information that they did not ask for.
Realty School 101’s mission is to raise standards for real estate industry professionals. We offer multiple formats for fulfilling your real estate license requirements (1) self-paced online, (2) live streaming (3) Live classroom events; We presently offer each and every license course required by the state of Florida for both sales associates and brokers. Coming soon! We will be offering a self-paced system for obtaining a real estate license in the state of California.
Time for an unbiased book recommendation from our Instructors!..Your Key to Open House Success: Advanced Strategies for Real Estate Agents of All Levels. This book was written by Shannon Ensor, a real estate agent who was given the title Open House Queen in her brokerage office!
We “❤” this quote Shannon Ensor highlights in her book:
“The Purpose of an open house goes beyond simply opening a door and letting people in.”
Shannon reports that she’s observed how open houses ‘sway buyers’ who were on the fence about purchasing now or next year, because it allowed them to come into the home in a non- committal manner and fall in love with it…
Their decision went from wavering to “I gotta have it!”
Click here to Buy Now: Available on Amazon Kindle for $14.99 or printed version for $19.99
Book description:
Take the Guesswork Out of Open Houses and Use a Proven System to Propel Your Business!
Are open houses something you simply check off your to-do list with no regard to their true income potential? Do you repeatedly hold open houses without much success? Do you have a plan of action in place for when you do meet people at your open houses?
In this book, you will learn how open houses are an integral part of your income stream. Prepare, plan and profit from open houses using the day-by-day marketing guide in this book. Generate more leads, experience exponential database growth, and learn how to dominate a neighborhood by using the strategies in this book.
This book doesn’t stop at open houses — you’ll also learn how to enhance your neighborhood farm and generate more listings through FSBOs and expired listings through the use of open houses!
Another PRO TIP: Create a survey, attach it to several clipboards and ask your guests to provide their feedback as they tour the home. It tends to work because it gives the everyone a mission to provide you with their opinion on the home compared to others in the market which you can then pass along to your seller-client. Ask questions like “How likely are you to buy this home on a scale of 1 to 10?” You may also consider adding a place on the survey for their name, phone number and email as an alternative method for signing in your guests.
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