just wondering if anyone has any different ideas on holding open houses.. food? handouts? is there anything that would help me stand out from other agents?
thanks

I seldom do open houses, but I never have food excepting perhaps some mints, candy, etc.

Have your color personal brochure available with ample business cards and then use your verbal skills to get the clients.

The first thing to get is a canister of pepper spray in your shirt pocket. I carry the pen-looking type, but you can get them that look like a lipstick tube, etc.

I also put my 38 special in a hall bath high in a shelf so that if there is any danger from a visitor, I run to the bath, lock the door and sit there with my 28.

We had a REaltor killed last month in Dallas at an Open House.

Be careful.

Have information on other homes for sale in the neighborhood available. If the one you have open does not fit, maybe you can sell them another.

I would not bother with food or drink. Like the others have mentioned, having a packet of information containing other listings can be useful. If you package it up nicely it can be impressive to buyers. Make sure you have a sign-in sheet so you can gather contact information. Send a thank you card afterwards, that will make you stand out. Also, try dropping off flyers to the neighbors inviting them to the open house. Typically the ones that come are thinking of selling in the future and if you have their contact information you've got a potential lead. Good Luck.

I also have a DVD "commercial" made of the home as a handout, along with color brochures. It stands out a little around here and helps people remember the house (and me, hopefully) a little better.

Invite all the neighbors. Knock there doors with a nice brochure the day before. I recommend about 30 doors. A large majority of the traffic attending are neighbors tire kicking. Inviting them over helps begin a relationship for when they begin the sales process.

When I sold Residential I Rarely did Open Houses other than Broker Opens except on my new construction.

I left the open houses for the new agents.

In my opinion open houses are a waste of time as it is very rare that you will sell the house to one of your open house suspects unless it is a new construction buyer.

My marketing and referrals generated better results than open houses.

JMHO based on my experience in my area. Mileage may vary in different areas.

I just had an open house and I sent out postcards to the large subdivision adjacent to the street the house was on. (I'd been advised that many people exiting the subdivision by that street had stopped to talk to the owners when they were working in the yard and talk to them about the house.)

Usual open house around here has very little traffic. I had about 75 people, and a couple of people that came by as I was walking out to my vehicle after packing up, one set of latecomers, one someone who'd come earlier bringing her friend from out of town who was considering moving here to see the house.

I did have munchies - just a fruit tray and some cookies, some sweet tea and lemonade, plus a bowl of dark chocolate Hershey's kisses in their pretty purple foil - and they were well received.

Also had a "house book" (which stays at the house for showings) that had the MLS sheet, the Seller's Disclosure, the plat, deed restrictions, a story of the house written by the current owners (big hit, that one), and other information. Ended up a couple of times with multiple visitors reading the book together. This besides the usual flyers and business cards to take with.

I'm thinking of making up handouts instead of just flyers for my next open house that have things like a copy of the house story and the basic info on the house to keep the "warm fuzzies" going after they leave.

Gotta disagree with you on this one. while they may be a long shot for selling the property, it is a great way to meet folks in the buying mode who are not represented.

Gee you must have missed that last part about mileage will vary by area!

If open houses work for you that is great. I had better results in other areas.

So have you bothered to keep any metrics of those you meet at open houses?
Total Number per year attending your open houses
Total number per year not already working with or under contract with an agent.
Total Number per year already working with another agent
Total Number your have added to your pipleline per year
Total number of yearly sales to clients you met at an open house

I looked at those numbers years back and decided it was not worth my time. Have you actually looked at the numbers or are you just guessing?

Some agents get good results at open houses and others do not. My point is that you should determined if the numbers are worth your Sunday afternoons? If yes then keep doing it if no concentrate your efforts elsewhere.

Relax Paul. No need to get worked up. We can agree to disagree.
As a matter of fact, I do keep a running metrics to let me know if my efforts are paying off. Right now in my market, these are paying off. I am closing on a 350k sale next week from a client I met a month ago at an open house.
I agree wholheartedly that what works for some may not work for others.
I did not intend to get you in a dander.

Why is it when I add a disclaimer at the end of a post and then point that out to someone that just did a cut and past of only part of my post
you say relax?????????????????????

Just making comment that I had indeed Already stated that what works for one may not work for others.

I asked about the numbers because I have seen far too many agents state something does or does not work for them and they keep no records or track any metrics. I asked one agent why he advertised in a particular paper and his answer was other agents advertise there. I asked what kind of response he got from the add and he said he did not know!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was only making the point to track your numbers. This is for Everyone and not just you.

Tell me just what is a dander?????? And how does one get worked up into one????????

ok then.. just trying to get some ideas.. i am newer at this, but i do send out invitations and have always have bottled water with me due to the excessive heat and power outages here in stl.. ive always heard of cookies/finger foods but thats too cute for me.. haha Open houses do work for me at getting buyers, just seems like i waste so much time on the people who arent telling the truth..

I don't have food at my open house but with the heat you can buy small bottle of water put your information on it you can print sticker on it and place it in the cooler or refig.

If you have extra money have a chance to win in a draw or some gift card if visitors register at your open home.

Lately I have seen bigger community open house. Where all the Realtors who have listings in a particular subdivision decide on the date, day and time and have a big open house. All the homes are advertise in local newspaper, flyers are available in local grocery store with teh event information.
At all home they have information about the other listings in the neighborhood.

Personally I am not a big fan of open house but I have seen few agents made their career off the open house.

Good Luck

For me it all depends on the home. I like to do "wine" parties for the neighbors so I can show off the home to the neighborhood in higher end neighborhoods. Sometimes I get the neighbors to tell me about their "friend" that is looking for a new home, or they talk about selling their home. As for lower end homes, this is a good way to see what the buyers think of the home and the lay out. I usually try to serve a punch, coffee, or tea but, I don't use paper cups. If buyers can't take the cup with, they will stand there and talk to me. So... wine and such for high end homes so show off the property. Punch, coffee and tea in regular cups to find feed back to give my client. We also have sheets that people sign in on to show our clients who was in their home. Many times we will send a nice thank you note. I usually put a magnetic business card in the note nothing more.

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.............