Do Open Houses work?

My goal with an open house is to see in a buyer, couple or families eyes the look of ‘I’ve just fallen in love with this house.’ You may not know but in an unpredictable market homes fall out of contract once, twice maybe three times. That is incredibly hard on the seller as well as the agent. How I try to avoid that is to find the seller a buyer that has FALLEN IN LOVE. I do that by hosting my own open houses.

My current listing that is under contract in North Phoenix I was holding an open house one Saturday in 115 degree weather. It was a smoker, you could say. (I learned a long time ago from Jan Kabbani that only serious buyers will come to an open house in horrible weather.) I had been at the home since 10 a.m. in the morning. It was now 1:30 with very little traffic until THEN walked in a couple with a clipboard full of listings and information. My listing was on top and the wife was speedily taking notes about my listing. They were there until I closed at 2 p.m. By that time I found out their entire home search story, how qualified they were for a loan, about their wonderful realtor, etc. etc. And guess what I saw in their eyes? You are correct! – they FELL IN LOVE.

They are under contract on my listing, getting thru successfully with their buyer contingency, turned out the appraisal was waived and are successfully thru all inspections. You know why all of this worked, because they FELL IN LOVE and I personally saw it with my own eyes.

I can tell you story after story how this has worked for me but I will spare you the time. (If you want to hear another wonderful open house story, ask Sarah Lathrop Miller about the open house I did for her when I had her home listed. That one God inspired me to do

I’m ready at a drop of a hat to hold my listings open. See my car trunk picture below:

Happy Wednesday! Make it a great day!