Hi everyone -

I am going to be holding my first open house this Saturday.

First off - does anyone have any major suggestions? I would really appreciate them. The home is probably not the best for an OH but, I have no plans on Saturday and would really like some experience and the opportunity to "get my name out there" and meet some people.

Second - I had an idea of doing a prize giveaway. It would either be one big prize that would be won, probably delivered the next day (or whenever worked best for the winner) or (this would greatly depend on how many people I had show up) giving a prize to everyone who came. Maybe a gift basket? (Small and handmade but something cute and related to the holidays) Or I could say it was a giveaway and just give one to each person and let them pretend they were the sole winners and be excited.

If anyone has any opinions on this, or tips, advice, or suggestions, I would really appreciate it. Thank you in advance.

I think if you do a quick search using "open house" as your search criterion (including the quotes), you'll discover quite a few ideas from prior discussions on this subject.

Many will tell you that they are a waste of tim, but I for one, like OHs.

About your prize- I give one prize away (usually a gift card) to the registered attendants (Somehow my wife always wins (Thats a joke)). I generlly do opens with a lender, if nothing else its company if we have a slow day. The lender usually splits the prize cost with me.Last time we did it was a 50 dollar gas card. The lender gets a copy of the sign in sheet and I get a copy of it.

As far as traffic- Kink of hit and miss. If you can get other agents in the area to hold their properties open at the same time and split the advertising costs, that is helpful.

You really are planning this out too late for this Saturday. Ideally, you should have already sent out postcards to the neighbors, made phone calls, put up flyers....

At this point having a door prize as an incentive is almost worthless because how will anyone know about it?

Plus my opinion on door prizes is that it will bring a lot of people who want to win the prize...

I remember going around to places offering this prize or that prize and putting my name and number in the basket just in hopes of winning the prize, not out of any interest at all in doing business with whoever it was.

It might be too late for this time, but how about getting some promotional items made like key chains, pens, magnetic buttons, or even small calculators that have your name or website address printed on them and give one to each visitor, that should make them all feel like winners and they’ll be able to remember your name and website easier later on. IMO


PS: It would be great if you use a web address (domain name) that includes your city name. There are still a lot of good domain names available to register (I just registered NewYorkCityOpenHouse.com today). You can have many different domains all forwarded to your main website and each domain name will act as a portal to bring you new leads. IMO

Put together some market statistics and information on other available homes in the neighborhood. The registering for a gift makes it easier to get people to sign in....plus you might get their REAL address. I would go with the one gift and then possibly send a personal thank you note/card to each person that signed in.
I represent 2 residential developments and open houses are a way of life for me.

My old office did a big OH deal where we held a bunch of opens the same day, had maps to the other opens we were holding, and offered a nice GC to a local restaurant. We got ZERO business from this, the only people that showed up were looky-loos and people that wanted the GC. The couple that won would not even pick up the GC, made us mail it to them.

A complete waste of time and money.

I hold OHs, but keep it low key. I have some of my promotional items to give away, but I don't do the "prize." The only time I would do a prize is for an agent's open.

Just become an expert on that neighborhood and area, as well as the home. Nobody's coming to an open house for a prize, and if they are, they're not real clients.

Be professional, don't try to be too cutesy, and come across as the expert.

Don't overthink it.