Open House Ideas and the Next Generation of Home Buyers? (new agent, commission)

[cary_nc]

I am interested to hear from agents about what innovative methods they have used to get potential buyers through the doors of open houses. Also, what successes have you seen (if any) from holiding open houses? Finally, has the advent of the information age (e.g., access to all sorts of property data online) improved your opportunities for actually sales resulting from open houses because more people (Gen Xers and Yers) are doing research themselves and showing up at open houses unrepresented? As access to information becomes more and more easily accessible, I am interested in taking advantage of every opportunity to take hold of the next generation of homebuyers. Any thoughts?

[mainebrokerman]

i'm seeing more and more incentives at open-houses, food, gift certificates, etc, we have to be careful tho, and target to the market looking for houses, and not the general public, looking for a free meal in someone elses house.
i do open houses a-lot, and i decided to let the house sell its-self (with me pushing it, of course) i use to buy , deli-platters, coffee, donuts, etc, ,,,and i got a messy house, or if no one showed up, alot of dried up food, for the dog.

[jdhall1]

I am in the 'next generation of buyers' and an agent so I have good ideas. The age thing doesn't really bother anyone, because they like to work with someone that 'doesn't remind them of their mom or dad'. I have my open houses adverstised on my companys website and well as on realtor dot com , craigslist, the properties site on wall street journal and the ny times real estate section. They are also marketed on 2 websites devoted to open houses as well as the traditional 1/2 page weekly ad in the newspaper. Sometimes I send cards to major apartment rental complexs and to people in the neighborhood if I think the property warrents it.

At the open houses, I have them enter a raffle for an Ikea giftcard that I draw from every month (but don't include people working with other agents). I made about 10 custom packets for my open house properties. I include the MLS Public Handout,a flyer with just photos, a sheet on estimated payments by my favorite mortgage officer, A summary of the other Units for sale in the condo complex, other units for sale in the area as well as in that properties price range with my business cards stapled to the top corner of the first page. I also keep a few copies of a summary of properties that are higher and lower than the house. The packages are complete success because they not only have gotten plenty of buyers or sellers in the area which were impressed with all the hard work I done.

[cary_nc]

Do you find the time involved in doing open houses worth it? What sort of "return" to you see on your time investment?

[jdhall1]

It is worth the time. Each one I do I get at least 1 very qualified buyer or seller. The last one I did got my a listing, a outgoing referral (easy money) as well as 2 buyers.

[sunsprit]

what jdhall1 is saying ... and it's been my experience, too ...

an open house is not for a seller's benefit ... it's for the realtor's benefit.

IMO, an "open house" is just a "feel good" tactic for a realtor to show a seller that he's doing something to market the property.

[Torn2pieces]

My own agent said that Open Houses don't usually bring buyers. More like Lookie loo's. It does benefit the agent more so. I' know some have luck with open houses with a potential buyer, but it's not that high of a percentage.

[brenhooven]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

what jdhall1 is saying ... and it's been my experience, too ...

an open house is not for a seller's benefit ... it's for the realtor's benefit.

IMO, an "open house" is just a "feel good" tactic for a realtor to show a seller that he's doing something to market the property.

I don't really think a realtor wants to waste their time and money sitting at an open house just to "look good" for a seller. We, as realtors, must do everything in our power to try to sell a home for a seller. The costs are high for us also. We do not get paid until the sale closes, therefore, the expense of advertising, our time, etc. is out of our pockets until that house sells and closes. We do not get paid hourly-it is commission only. We work very hard. We also must go through school, training, continuing education courses yearly,pay dues, etc. not to mention all of the legalities that could land us fined or imprisoned-so yes-we are trying to sell that house-by an open house or whatever means necessary that is ethical. Not only for ourselves-but for all people that have the right to own a peace of land. I don't mean to tell anyone off here, but I am a little tired of people forming an opinion when they do not have all of the facts. Yes-there are "bad" realtors out there, but not all of us are bad!

[shellytc]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

what jdhall1 is saying ... and it's been my experience, too ...

an open house is not for a seller's benefit ... it's for the realtor's benefit.

IMO, an "open house" is just a "feel good" tactic for a realtor to show a seller that he's doing something to market the property.

Funny Sunsprit: I feel that open houses are a feel good tactic for the sellers!! Frankly, I hate doing open houses. They rarely sell the house I am sitting open, although I can pick up buyer clients. They are time consuming and costly if advertised correctly. And a pain in the rear. If I get a weekend off, the last thing I want to do is sit for hours in an empty house and pray a qualified buyer will walk through the door and fall in love!!! Most sellers though, can't see all the other advertising and will insist, my neighbors had 3 open houses, why can't I have one?

and they inconvenience the homeowner tremendously...

So Sun, I would love to be your agent, as we would agree: NO OPEN HOUSES!! LOL : )

Shelly

[GregTraub]

UGH, open house, I can't even stand that word anymore.

As a policy in this market I don't do them! I can get more exposure for a home driving to other agents' open houses and talking them up about the neighborhood and my listing.

I was just suckered into doing an open house this weekend on a home in my own neighborhood. Got a call from another realtor that wanted to put together a neighborhood open, so we had 12 homes open this sunday all at once, several different brokerages, TON'S of advertising, and a billion signs out. Results? ZERO, ZIP, NADA, NO people came by. Granted it started pouring 60 minutes into the open, but I mean c'mon ZERO leads? Open houses in today's market are HUGE wastes of time. I will only do them on my listings if a new agent in my office wants to sit them, and will do them consistently for a few weeks.