An open house consists of opening the house for sale to the public in a relaxed atmosphere, visitors are even entertained with some snacks , to capture their attention and achieve a purchase offer. All very simple, but for an open house to be successful, a few steps must be followed in its organization.
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Announce the event in advance
Improvisation has no place in the organization of an open house . It is essential to have an action plan to avoid mistakes . “The main thing when organizing this open day is to have a good schedule to be clear about what needs to be done at all times and the public we want to reach”.
Fifteen days before, you have to start an advertising campaign in traditional media, neighborhood businesses and the Internet. The most common means are, real estate websites, social networks, press advertisements, posters, brochures, databases and telemarketing” .
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Prepare the house
It is necessary to prepare the house to receive visitors and decorate it with a party atmosphere, with good catering and merchandising for visitors. This conditioning contemplates from the cleaning of the house to the recreation of a home environment that captivates visitors to transmit the image of a house in conditions to enter to live.
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invest in media
Agencies must invest in signs indicating where the house is , in publicity for the flats, invitations to clients, hostesses to distribute brochures and company gifts if they want to succeed when organizing an open house. “Many real estate agencies carry out open house without means, they do not invest and they fail”. For the real estate agent, Open houses make an agent visible to the community. They get to put up their signs and it gives people the notion they are busy.
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Have a team to serve visitors
The agency’s team of agents must be prepared to answer all the visitors’ questions and capture their interest in the home in order to follow up with the clients later . “At Re/Max we invite all the real estate agents in our network and the collaborating agents that are included in the MLS, and we even extend the invitation to all the real estate agencies in the housing area”, clarifies Lourdes Sánchez.
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Organize the day outside the usual schedule
One of the advantages of the open house is the schedule. It is intended to be extensive and outside of business hours so that potential buyers can attend without problems. Perhaps that is why weekends are the most suitable days.
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Make a difference with the traditional visit
The main difference between an open house and an arranged visit is found in the results, because it is possible to increase the number of visits in less time . “A house that has had three visits in a month on an open house day can have more than 20 visits”, who has organized more than 350 days with “very good results.”
This increase in visits does not translate into the sale of the home that day, but “it does manage to increase the number of people interested in the property in the following weeks,” they comment from Re/Max. “It also allows other colleagues in the sector to get to know the house so that it can be offered to potential buyers.” The objective is to make the home known to the largest number of people in the shortest time.
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Offer a competitive product
To achieve success in an open house , the seller must offer ” a house that can be sold at a price that is competitive in the market,”. It is no use taking the trouble to prepare and advertise the house, if later the price does not correspond to the reality of the market.
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Suitable for second-hand homes
Although experts recognize that it is an effective technique in both second-hand and new housing, it is used more in the first case. In both cases , it is essential to have the collaboration of an agency that knows how to carry out the entire process, because it is not a technique that the private seller can manage.
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Change the mindset of buyers
This marketing technique requires a change of mentality in buyers and sellers because it is something that we are not used to, although “people value it very positively”, according to Lourdes Sánchez. Faced with the initial surprise of staging an open house , “clients realize that the real estate agency is working to sell the flat”. In addition, commercial agents must be well trained to know how to transform visits into subsequent negotiations, because it is not easy for purchase offers to be made at an open house .
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Technique for times of crisis
Despite being a little used technique, it has been trying to open a gap in the market for some time. The problem is that with the crisis the agencies have less economic resources and if it is done with few means it is a failure . “The market has changed and needs professionals who know how to carry out the necessary actions to achieve success in the sale of each property according to its characteristics, which favors the application of various marketing techniques”, they clarify in Re/Max that performs open house in its entire network of agencies. Perhaps in the future there will be television channels specialized in open house all over the world, as is the case in the United States.
