Are you inviting the right people to your open house?

Many agents will tell their sellers that open houses are an ineffective way to market the seller’s home. Some believe that the agent is the only one who benefits from holding an open house reasoning that the agent will pick up new clients. It would seem to me that this is a great reason agents would want to increase the open houses they hold but then that is another post. What can be done to hold an open house that benefits the seller?

Inviting the right people

In many cases if the agent markets the open house in the traditional ways they could be leaving it to chance that a qualified buyer will follow the directional signs to the home, or might have seen the open house posting in the local newspaper or on the company website.

My suggestion to anyone interested in having an open house that might result in the home selling is to invite the right people. Who are these right people? The right people to attend your open house would be the area real estate professionals. These are the men and women who are in contact with the majority of homebuyers in a market area. These are the people who will remember the home and in the days or weeks to follow will be able to mentally match up the home to one of their buyers.

So how do you get these professionals to your open house? Well first it is about the timing. If you do not have success with getting agents to attend your open house on the weekend, try holding the open house during the week. Try Tuesdays immediately after sales meetings or during lunch. Tuesdays are traditionally when a majority of agents are in the office conducting business.

In order to get them to visit it might take more than just sending over an invitation via a fax to everyone in the office. If you really want to increase your chances of agents coming, personally invite them with a phone call a day or two in advance. If there are hundreds of agents in your market area, center your invites to those agents who have sold property in the area of your open house.

You can take this a step further and also personally invite lenders in your area, local title insurance companies, home inspectors in your area and other affiliates involved in your day-to-day business.

By getting the right people to your open house you will increase the likelihood of successfully selling the home as a result of your efforts.