In Your Face About Open Houses - Part 1

It’s another weekend. You’ve put your directional signs out. You’ve set your business cards and flyers on the counter. You’ve made sure the home is warm and inviting. There. You’re ready to go. Now the waiting game begins. And the question is: Will anybody visit your open house? The truth is (and in many cases) no one’s come in a long time. Somebody defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. Whether or not this has anything to do with the way open houses are done, you be the judge. But the fact remains that more and more people are looking at homes on the world wide web. It’s common knowledge that four out of five potential buyers (or more) start their home search online. And then when you add to that gas prices approaching four dollars a gallon in California, it goes without saying people are thinking twice about getting in their cars to drive anywhere let alone to see an open house. And so what’s a real estate professional to do? Well, for one thing we shouldn’t stick our heads in the sand and deny the present reality due to advanced technology and fuel costs. And then the second thing - there’s the saying, “If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em.” Not that you shouldn’t hold any more open houses at all (that’s for you to decide), but how can you supplement them on the internet where the bulk of the people are going? I’ll try to offer you some answers in Part 2 of this blog post series. Watch for it soon.