How To Get The Most Out Of Your Open House

Posted by JD Esajian

The new real estate landscape will require sellers to adjust to the needs of buyers. That said, is it time for real estate agents and investors to up their open house game with more exciting experiences? Or are open houses dead?

Long Live the Real Estate Open House!

Open houses have been declining in popularity for years. Some statistics claim that few real deals resulted from hosting real estate open houses. Many brokers have used this information to get out of holding open houses for clients. Now there is so much out of area buying, international real estate investing, and online home searches. Agents have more excuses not to host them.

2014 numbers from the National Association of Realtors suggest that many home sales come from open houses. Some millennials might argue that gimmicky open houses won’t do any more to get them to make an offer than Facebook posts do. But many investors, agents, and sellers are fooling themselves by only focusing on online home searches. Almost 100% of home searches begin online, and more than half via mobile devices. But are those browsing houses on the web any closer to actually buying a home than those visiting open houses?

It may be completely accurate that few of the visitors to your open house will buy the home. But you only need one buyer. And the conversion rates on open houses and showings may be higher than visits to real estate websites. Most suffer from shortsightedness, or failing to realize that every open house visitor is a real lead. They are already taking action and are investing themselves in the home search. They might not buy this home. They might not qualify for a mortgage today. They might not even buy for six or nine months. Yet, if treated well, and maximized, this is pure real estate lead gold. The vast majority of open house visitors will become buyers, sellers, and even real estate investors. Most will also have a trusted circle of at least 250 others who are potential clients too. With the right care, these visitors will market to hundreds of others for you, for free. They’ll even reach those you cannot.

4 Reasons Real Estate Pros Should Be Hosting Open Houses 260 Days a Year

Real estate investors and agents should be hosting open houses at least 5 days a week if they are in the game full-time. Here’s why:

1. Open houses are a great way to get started in real estate, even if you don’t have your own inventory and listings.
2. Sellers still want them, and happy seller clients mean more referrals.
3. Being able to operate from anywhere. Open houses are a much better place to work than in the office or at home.
4. Success relies on making new contacts each day, and open houses provide that opportunity.

So how do sellers and agents pack open houses, and maximize effectiveness?

7 Traditional Open House Tips:

1. De-clutter homes
2. Depersonalize houses
3. Make them smell better with fresheners and fresh baked cookies
4. Make sure all visitors sign in and leave their contact details
5. Make sure the seller isn’t present to turn off prospective buyers
6. Anchor open house signs so that the competition doesn’t steal them
7. Use broker only opens as well as consumer open houses

4 Newer Open House Staples:

1. Hosting themed open houses on special occasions like Easter and Valentine’s Day
2. Live one day auctions
3. Doubling open houses as charity fundraising functions
4. Hosting virtual open houses online

10 Creative Open Houses Ideas for Entertaining Millennials:

Inman News suggests it may be time to up the game to attract and entertain the millennial buyers expected to move into the market. Those seeking more interesting and creative options might consider the following:

1. Celebrity appearances and photo ops
2. Airbnb style sleepovers to test drive the property and neighborhood
3. Hiring a DJ
4. Hosting a poetry night
5. Art auctions
6. Interactive open houses using augmented reality to allow visitors to engage different features
7. Live screenings of films or sports events
8. Networking events
9. Startup competitions
10. Investor pitch events

3 Keys to Higher Conversion Rates

For those in the real estate business to make money, open houses need to be more than just fun nights out. Three ways to get more real visitors in, and more real deals out of open houses are:

1. Matching your activities to your ideal prospects’ tastes
2. Get more people in with mobile marketing, push notifications, high quality personalized invitations
3. Convert visitors into leads and ambassadors with follow up drip email and social campaigns

High Response Real Estate Marketing Tactics

What are the best real estate marketing tactics for high response rates?

Everyone from regular home sellers to real estate investors want more leads. So what are the best ways to generate more real estate leads?

How Real Estate Pros are Generating High Volume Leads

While technology has become more integrated with every aspect of real estate, including marketing, many of the methods being used are those that have withstood the test of time. Some of these marketing tactics and channels include:

• Direct mail
• Email
• Social media
• Bandit signs
• Yard signs
• The MLS
• Billboards
• Radio
• Print advertising
• Classified ads (on and offline)
• Cold calling
• Press 1 campaigns
• Bulk SMS
• PPC
• SEO

Generating high response rates is really about what you say and the presentation of individual strategies. However, it is also important to time each campaign accordingly. The time in which you release a campaign is just as important as what you do.

Even a terrible late night infomercial can have wild success if it is timed right. A very well placed billboard can be effective if in the perfect place. A Facebook competition can generate a lot of likes. Well packaged direct mail and even print classifieds with big promises can yield far more leads and inbound calls than most individual real estate investors and agents can handle. It’s all about the copy and pitch. But – as the wisest marketers know – the most important factor is making sure you are asking the right questions.

Is Higher Response Rates Really Want You Need?

Those real estate marketers that most frequently ask how to increase response rates are often really asking another question entirely: how do I increase my ROI? Others could very well be asking another question: how do I get more leads? When it comes down to it, people really want to know how to generate more money.

In reality, higher response rates alone don’t necessarily translate into more real leads, or even more money. In fact, they can detract from what you are trying to do if you don’t manage them correctly. Expert marketers can boost response rates with ease. Even 50% response rates on direct mail, and 100% click-through rates on email have been possible.

However, getting 800 inbound calls in a couple of days from a mailer instead of 400 isn’t of much value if they aren’t closable leads. If they can’t be converted, they are just extra work, and a drain on labor, time, energy and budget. That can be seriously counterproductive. So what’s better than higher response rates?

Achieving Higher Real Estate Marketing Conversion Rates

Many would argue that increased conversions are more valuable. If you are already generating leads, wouldn’t it just be great if more of them became contracts, and actual dollars?

Higher marketing conversion rates can improve ROI, increase dollars generated per hour, and mean higher revenues. Or put simply; work less and make more.

In contrast to the above, some higher converting options might mean door knocking, purchasing real estate leads, and in-person networking. Of course, conversion rates can be improved on many of the above. Targeting is one of the best ways to accomplish this. Better targeting with SEO and Pay-Per-Click can easily, effectively, and quite predictably boost conversions.

Getting More Leads for Less

A lot of investors want to get more leads for less money, and with less effort. Generating more referrals and repeat business can be a great way to do so. Of course you have to start somewhere, and you’ll always wanting to be adding new connections and referral sources to ensure consistency and growth, but these leads and contacts can offer the highest response rates, conversions, ROI, and profit margins.

Still, in addition to providing great service and an excellent experience, there is a constant need for branding, follow up, and relationship building. Be sure to use real estate marketing tactics that have proven response rates and your business will thank you.