Recently on an Internet site, I answered a question whether open houses sell a house.  There are many schools of thought on this depending upon who you talk to.  Some agents swear by them and others not so much. In reading other Realtors’® blogs, most have addressed the open house at some point. 

In my years of selling real estate, going on 35 years, I have only sold 3 houses as a direct result of an open. Having said that, however, my marketing plan includes holding open houses almost every weekend for these reasons:

  • Many people search the Internet long before contacting an agent to help them.  There are tons of websites I advertise my open houses on.  If one person who would not have otherwise seen the house comes through and likes it, decides for whatever reasons it’s not for them, they could tell one more person about it, who will tell yet another person about it. Word-of-mouth advertising is powerful.  Years ago there was a commercial on TV where, after-awhile, there are faces of thousands of people on the TV screen who found out about the product through someone else telling them about it.

  • Typically I’ll hold open houses in neighborhoods where I am very active - where I have had lots of listings and sales. It gives me a chance to show the neighbors I am working in their neighborhood and they stop by to visit me (great PR).

  • Open houses keep me on my toes as to questions about the house I am selling, questions about the area/neighborhood or real estate in general. 

  • If I didn’t enjoy meeting people, I wouldn’t be selling real estate.  Open houses give me the opportunity to meet new people transferring to Portland or moving across town. It’s a good way to determine if my current marketing is working.  It’s also interesting to hear why they are moving.  It helps with my future marketing and has, at times, given me content for this blog.

  • Holding opens gives me a pulse on what is selling, who is buying, and which businesses are transferring employees into Portland, etc. 

  • Perhaps you’ve heard that the real reason Realtors® hold open houses is only to placate the seller.  In my opinion, that’s true.  I do want my sellers to see I am doing everything I can to sell their house - although an open house usually never sells it.  It is, however, one more way of marketing the home for sale.  Many Realtors® don’t believe it is worth their time and effort.  I agree there are better ways to spend your time for the most part.

  • Lastly, I believe in synergy. I feel if I put energy into something, it will result in more energy and hopefully produce the end result -  a sale of my clients’ home.

© Copyright 2008-2009 Betty Jung. All Rights Reserved. Use of this article, photos and images without permission is a violation of federal copyright laws.

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