Not only do open houses create opportunities for sellers to find buyers, but they also create future business opportunities for real estate agents — when they’re done right.
Despite the fact that open houses can be excellent for both sellers and their agents, many real estate rookies don’t take them seriously. After a few half-hearted attempts with open houses, rookies often claim that they’re a waste of time.
Well, they are a waste of time, if you blow the opportunity.
Honestly, though, there’s no excuse for wasting everyone’s time with uninspired, ineffective open houses.
After all, holding an effective open house isn’t rocket science; it’s simple as long as you avoid the following rookie mistakes:
1. Not selecting the right house
Not every home is a good candidate for an open house. Some homes simply aren’t suited for this type of marketing.
A run-down home, for instance, is definitely not an ideal candidate for an open house. Buyers likely won’t be impressed with the home or with the agent.
Don’t forget that open houses are representative of your real estate business.
2. Performing poor marketing
Why put time and money into an open house if you’re not willing to market it? It just doesn’t make sense.
Regardless, it’s not uncommon for rookie agents to advertise their open houses with nothing more than a single sign. That’s not enough!
For an open house to draw enough attention to make it worth doing, substantial marketing is required. Multiple signs, social media posts and advertisements must be used to generate interest.
3. Not setting up for lead generation
Setting up on the day of an open house isn’t just a quick, easy cleanup — at least it shouldn’t be. Getting the home looking as good as possible is just the first part of preparing for an open house.
The second part is setting up systems to ensure optimal lead generation. These systems include sign-in sheets, the placement of marketing materials and giveaways.
You can get creative with the ways you generate leads at an open house, just remember to make an active effort to get the contact information of people who show up.
4. Forgetting to follow up
Forgetting to follow up with attendees is one of the biggest open house mistakes an agent can make; it’s even worse than performing poor marketing.
If you’re not going to stay on top of follow-up, you shouldn’t bother with open houses. Potential buyers will only remain interested in a home for so long; something else is always just around the corner.
Potential clients are even less forgiving, and you can’t blame them. Why would they hire you as their agent when you’re not even willing to call them back?
Open houses are worth doing
Don’t believe what some agents say about open houses; they aren’t a waste of time.
If you’re willing to put in the work and able to avoid the aforementioned rookie mistakes, they’ll pay off for you and for your sellers.
Pat Hiban is the author of the NYT bestselling book “6 steps to 7 figures: A Real Estate Professional’s Guide to Building Wealth and Creating Your Destiny,” the founder of online real estate sales training site Rebus University, and the host of Pat Hiban Interviews Real Estate Rockstars, an agent-to-agent real estate podcast with Hiban Digital in Baltimore, Maryland. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter.
