A lot of homeowners would not want you in their house if they knew you were carrying a handgun. Especially if they knew you were leaving it unattended.

umm, the 38 special in the bathroom is probably not a good idea. i wouldn't want some potential buyers walking around the home with their 6 year old daughter and coming across a handgun after a fatal accident!

i would also think twice about serving wine or any alcohol at my open house. do you realize how much liability you could be in if someone leaves your open house and then crashes or even dies? i am not taking that risk, nevermind the fact that it's probably illegal and i could lose my license.

i guess i am pretty boring when it comes to doing open houses. i did my first one with my current company yesterday (saturday) on one of my listings. it actually turned out much better than i thought it would! i got a few potential leads from it. i always have people sign in my book just for my use. i then talk to them and start building a rapport. some might have an agent but i still make sure they realize that using me would be an intelligent move. i think i will probably do more open houses more often. i have some great ideas but only time will tell.

This topic has come up several times and I always have the same answer and suggestion: Please have two people at the open house. Have another agent with you, or a friend or family member. Two reasons: If it is an occupied house, you can guard the homeowner's possessions,and for safety reasons. Evildoers will probably not do anything if there are two people present. I don't think I am being overly cautious when I say that an open house is a perfect opportunity for anyone to walk in off the street and steal or attack.

Have you heard of any agents setting up miniature cameras to video rooms during an open house? I don't, but I can see why someone might do it to help guard against thefts, possibly i.d. an assailant, and capture comments about what buyers actually think about the house. I'm not sure if there is any legal issue, or whether a small sign at the door would be necessary: "for security purposes, premises are monitored"

As for food and drink, I used to put out a spread of food, offer regular and decaf coffee, tea and juice. Now I cut all that out. I put some bottled water next to the sign in sheet. If turnout is low, I can set them out at the next open house.

sandrac, there is a totally geek way to do this.

You can actually get little setups with wireless cameras that all feed the video to a central recorder.

I am just geeky enough to look into this.

As for the open house, you need to let your professional nose be your guide. Some houses will be worth doing something different.

We all know that the true value in an open house is NOT selling it. It is in getting buyers and increasing YOUR visibility in the neighborhood.

If I get a listing in an area I am trying to make inroads into, I do my open houses a bit differently.

I have done BBQs, live music, raffles, etc. I will send notices about the open house the entire local community, put an ad in the paper, ad online, sign up in front of home for week preceeding open house announcing it is coming, send out email to everyone on my email list.

Trust me, you do something out of the mold in an area with an open house and the whole area is going to know about it. If I do a BBQ or something like that which will tend to draw lots of folks, I do the following:

1) Coordinate with sellers. I need them to be on board with what I am doing. They need to make sure the house is clear of things that are breakable, valuable, irreplaceable, etc. If they object, it does not happen. This works way better with vacant homes.
2) Lay down floor protection. I buy a few rolls of that stuff that is sticky on one side - you know - the stuff they use on new carpets. Makes life easier.
3) Get backup. For events like this, you want at least 3 agents and one cook. Get an unlicensed person to do the cooking.
4) Bring extra toilet paper (don't ask.... just call it the voice of experience).
5) Visit all the immediate neighbors the day before to warn/invite them. Make sure they understand the plan, cuz parking might get tight.
6) Bring PLENTY of food. For what you do not use, donate it to the local homeless shelter. Buy a couple of tons of hot dogs from the CostCo, PriceClub, Sams...whatever the hell they call your brand of local warehouse place.
7) Assign areas to attending agents. Make sure they cover their zones.
8) Have plenty of fliers, cards, promo material, etc.
9) Keep the people moving. This can be hard. I find that if I do not provide drinks, the visitors will move along faster.
10) DO NOT do the cooking inside the house. Pick the yard that is the better of the two. For backyard, have the exit be via side fence, not back through home.

Doing things on the cheap can be easy. For the music, call the music department at the local college and ask instructors for a gifted student and ask what kind of fee they would like for a 4 hour gig.

Keep in mind that doing something big is not always appropriate. You have to use your own professional internal compass to gauge what you should do.

R

Cookies..............not to eat, but to cook a small batch to set the right aroma in the home to make it smell like a good home to cook in.

Think of how happy you were as a kid to walk into mom's house and smell fresh cookies, hard to find a bad experience there.

I have clients buy ready made cookie dough and cook a batch to set on the counter prior to leaving for a day if they know they have showings. The smell will remain and mask that garlic chicken from night before.............