How to Succeed with Open Houses

Question

Has anyone had bad experiences with open houses in Tampa Bay?  Any tips you'd share on how to improve traffic?  Marketing?  It seems like open houses are dying, even for the owner occupant buyers... change my mind!

Brett Deas · Answer

Well I am not in Tampa but I have done many open houses and I learned what truly works for me and what doesn't.

First you have to figure out your target client who will walk through that house, for me it was a lot of first time home buyers so I went into the best neighborhoods for those and started hosting the opens. It ebbs and flows a lot with regards to traffic but from my experience the FTHB's have a more consistent stream year round, hence why I really leaned into them. Another thing is the road signs, I know my old broker thought the traffic was all because of the signs and where you place them and basically the science behind it. I don't know how effective they are but they do help, and having lots of them certainly helps. People also go door knocking in the neighborhood and facebook ads and they try and market it as much as possible, in my opinion all of that marketing is pointless. 99% of the time home buyers find these open houses online because they are serious, and if someone sees a facebook ad but they aren't serious about buying they won't go. I do think one important thing for me was making my open houses an experience. I always bring either 1 or 2 other people (Lenders, solar panel guy, ETC.) and make it a party basically. Have some music going, flyers and food, very upbeat mood and my first time home buyer demographic loved that. Then I became well known for doing it and that word of mouth also brought in some traffic as well.

Stephen Dispensa · Answer

Dillon,

I'm an agent here in Tampa and have sold many a home at an open house. Here are the key factors:

1. Competition - You want to get AS MANY buyers and looky loos in the property at the same time. You want buyers to feel like everyone is in competition for the property. They'll feel like any one of these people might buy the house and they need to make an offer fast to not miss out.

2. Timing - You ideally want to launch your property as follows: On market Tuesday, Broker's Open/Caravan on Wednesday, Public Open House on Saturday. When your house hits the market on Tuesday, agents will generally call you that afternoon to ask questions. Tell them you're holding a brokers open on caravan on Wednesday, and tell them to come have some lunch. Bring any agents from your office that are available as well to fill in the broker's open. Let agent's show the house from Tuesday to Saturday, and then Saturday hit with the big Public Open. I recommend keeping the open house short, I personally like 11 am - 1 pm (although 10 am to 12 pm works fine too) I don't love later in the afternoon open houses because buyers have usually been out looking at houses all day and are a bit fatigued. Some may give up and not show. Remember the #1 thing is competition, you want them all there at the same time. Also be aware of sport schedules. On Saturdays in Tampa college football can be very big so get the schedules for teams that are big locally (Florida, Florida State, and USF to a lessor extent) and nationally (Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Notre Dame, etc.) and make sure your open house doesn't conflict with any marquee matchups or local games. I don't like Sundays for open houses. Too many people go to Church, and in the fall there's NFL to contend with.

3. Sign In Sheet/Follow Up - It's important to have all open house visitors sign in both for security purposes, and for marketing. I like to have a branded video tour of all my listings. I tell every visitor to my open house that I need to collect their email, because I know they're looking at a lot of houses and they all blend into one. But I'm going to send you a video tour of the property, feel free to share it with family and friends. I also promise them that this is the ONLY email they will ever receive from me. (We all hate spam, and let's face it most Realtors/Loan Officer's mailing lists don't really have anything interesting to say)

4. Refreshments - Keep it simple, but do put out some beverages and light food. If it's a morning open house coffee and pastrys/bagels is always great, maybe some fresh fruit. Always have some bottled water. (I know agents that put their contact info on water bottles but let's be honest, these are getting thrown out.)

5. Neighbors - Others have said it but I always door knock the entire block and invite them. Usually try to do this the day before but can be done the morning of. Try to get as many people there at the same time. Use the refreshments as a bribe "Come down have a cup of coffee and check out the house."

6. Engage - Try to engage everyone who comes through, but try to not make it be about the house. Ask them what they're up to this morning, if they have kids with them talk about that, if they're new to the area find out where they're from/what brought them here. People love to talk about themselves, give them the opportunity to tell you what they want/need without directly asking. You'll often find buyers here. Also, while talking to the neighbors that came to take a look, you may find sellers as well. I had an open house a few years ago where a neighbor came by and I got three deals out of it. She let me list her house, her boyfriend's condo, and sell them the new house they bought together. And now her sister is going to buy a house with me too. Don't discount anyone you meet, open houses are a huge opportunity to expand your business.

Bottom line, open houses are great. Before the pandemic, my entire business model was based on flipping houses with investors, and then meeting the surrounding neighbors at the open house. The pandemic REALLY put a hurt on my real estate business because of the inability to hold true open houses for a while. (I switched majority of my business to multifamily value add after that but still take the time to do listings and open houses today when they come to me). Put the time into it and you'll do well.

Erik Estrada · Answer

Get your LO and host it together and split the marketing costs. Most people are coming from online websites such as Redfin/Zillow. You could capture more by using social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, and Tok Tok. That's the new way of getting people to come in.

Cold calling, door knocking, still work but it requires ALOT of knocks and calls. Versus creating a 15 second video to capture 100s of people. Social media is much more scalable.

Think about it. We wouldn't even be on here if it weren't for the BP podcast...

Taylor Dasch · Answer

I still vote for door knocking before the open house and inviting all of the neighbors. I feel like a face to face connection matters more than them seeing a 15 second video online. But you will obviously get more impressions with the video. I found that the amount of signs I put out does matter. Each time someone walks in I ask them how they found out about the open house and about 20% of the time, they just said they saw my signs in front of the neighborhood.

Other than that, I am very non- pushy when they walk in the door. I will walk them through the property and explain all of the high points then leave them alone. I always try to add value, ask the FORD questions, and find ways I can help them out. I try and get the email / phone # with just about everyone - but I dont use a sign in sheet.

Also, a huge tip that I have recently discovered is to do open houses in either the median price range of the market or a very unique property.  You will get about triple the amount of contacts when compared to a listing in a higher price point ( at least in my experience).

Hope this helps.

Melissa Haworth · Answer

@Matt 'Roar' Gardner is a great source of Tampa information!

Kristina Kuba · Answer

@Dillon Cook

I think something that was left out was old school door knocking.  It has worked for me to sell many listings over the years.

I’ll door knock 10 houses to the left, 10 to the right  and 10 across and hand out information about my upcoming open house.  While it may seem counterintuitive to advertise the open house to homeowners who already live in the area, there are two reasons why I do this:

Local residents could have family or friends who are looking for a home, and they can help me spread the word.

People will see how dedicated I am to selling homes in the neighborhood and be more inclined to work with me if and when they move. (especially if I am farming the neighborhood).

Dillon Cook · Answer

Thanks everyone for your input.

@Eliott Elias, where and when do you post these flyers?

Eliott Elias · Answer

There is a sequence you need to follow, you attract attention every day of the week leading up to the open house. Get 10 signs minimum and make flyers online.

Mohammed Rahman · Answer

Hey @Dillon Cook - there are a lot of factors to consider before scheduling the open houses in terms of pricing and how long the property has already been on the market too. Here in NYC, the open houses that get the most visitors are the ones that are priced around 10-15% under market, and haven't done any public showings until the actual open house (to generate more demand for a few days leading up to OH).

I like the concept of a party at an open house so I might steal that idea for my next one!

Dillon Cook · Answer

Good points @Brett Deas, @Erik Estrada

Perhaps I've lacked in the marketing department.  The experience is a big thing, I agree, but what if no one shows up?  The way I see it is the first time homebuyers are constantly looking online for properties.  Seeing one listed on zillow (and the 10 other top websites) and seeing the "open house this XX day at XX time, they may choose to come or not.  I agree 100% that most activity comes from online sources.

I think pricing is also very important?  I've had one listing where in hindsight, we were overpriced by maybe 10k (not that much of a bridge to gap at the 300k price point) and had 0 turn up for two open houses.  The last thing I want to do is split marketing costs with a lender and 0 people turn up again!  Perhaps I was just unlucky

How to Succeed with Open Houses

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