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Do Open Houses Work? What's a Public Open House?

This the second in a series on open houses. You can read the first, on broker open houses, here.

There are two kinds of open houses, one for brokers and one for the public. In a public open house, members of the general public have the opportunity to tour your home. Public open houses attract neighbors, buyers who have already seen the house as well as new potential buyers. Remember that neighbors are not necessarily being nosy. They may have friends interested in moving to they neighborhood.

Buyers who come for a second visit are the people you ideally want to attend your public open house. A second visit means they liked the house. This does not necessarily mean they will make an offer, but the public open house gives them an opportunity to revisit your home.

Be prepared for people who are just curious or “kicking the tires,” but the mix of attendees usually contains enough serious buyers to make it worth the effort. The listing agent will be there to answer questions and demonstrate the key features of the home and neighborhood. She or he is also there for security purposes. 

Your home must be in top showing condition for the open house. Your agent should have a full listing sheet available, as well as a color brochure, floor plans and a property feature sheet. I create individual property quick response, or QR, codes for each of my listings. QR codes are square barcodes that contain information that most smart phones can read. Buyers and agents can take a picture of the QR code and the property's website will appear on their phone and they can save it to view it later.

When done properly, broker and public open houses are effective ways to generate traffic of qualified buyers to your home. These are, of course, only one part of the overall marketing plan for a home.

To obtain a copy of my marketing plan please check my website.

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