The Open House Manifesto

   One thing I have learned, is that for every 30 open houses, you will get one client to work with. How did I come up with that number? Easy.... after 60 open houses, I had two clients that I had helped to buy properties. One came during the first 30, and the other during the second 30. I am on track to do 32 open houses from the start of July through the end of August, so if all holds true, I will have a new client from an open house by then. One of those clients, I met at an open house on a lake during the 12-1:30 time slot, and they came to the other lake open house for the 2:30-4 time slot. They wrote an offer right there and bought the second house.

   Some agents will have snacks out at the open houses. I have tried cookies and hershey kisses before. The cookies where a hit (thanks Kim), and the kisses left me a mess to clean up. Kids are great, but when they grab a dozen kisses and toss the wrappers throughout the house as they walk around, not so much. I don't put anything out right now but I am debating the matter still. I am working on a plan and I am trying to determine the best way to bring that plan together. You see, I want people to come to my open houses, and when they leave, I want them to talk about how great that open house was. Whether they like the house or want to buy the house or not, I want them to say "That Fred just hosted the best damn open house I have ever been to!" I want them talking about that open house with their friends, family and co-workers. That's right, on Monday morning when they get to work I want them to tell people about it, because it was that good.

   Regardless of what MSN has posted in their article section, an open house is in fact meant to help sell the house that is open. However, if 10 people show up, not all 10 will like the house or even be able to buy the house. They will still have a need or want to buy a house though. So an honest and sincere impression does help the agent. And you never know if one of those visitors has a friend or family member that may be looking for a home. They will often tell others about it and sometimes that is in fact a key ingredient that gets the house sold.

   I like doing open houses, but open house preparation is a LOT of work. It's not like you slap up a sign as you pull in the driveway and then hang out for a few hours reading a book. I have an entire eight hour day dedicated to open house prep, and it's called Thursday. I hold two open houses on Sunday, one Wednesday and sometimes one on Saturday. So every Thursday, for the upcoming three to four open houses, I create and print high quality quick facts flyers to hand out as quests enter the home, print out the MLS data sheets, sign up the open houses for the following Sunday then go place signs. I also stock my open house kit with sign in sheets, shoe covers and free magazines. The only time I think an open house sucks is when no one shows. Sometimes you only get one person, but that is better than none at all. When no one shows you feel like you just wasted a lot of time and money. Yes $$. Not just the gas to get there but the gas to put out the signs and the cost to print the flyers and other sheets. So when someone invites you to an open house, show up.
   I may be doing a couple of open houses that are four hours long and involve beer tasting. I am sure that will bring someone in to hang out with me for the day. Maybe that's how I will get to the point that I have the best, most talked about open houses in Southwest Michigan.