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The open house is an effective way to generate multiple offers for your home. But it can also be difficult for sellers to find the right time and place for their homes without a lot of work. Here are 14 smart ways you can sell your home quicker (plus tips from real estate agents)
Open houses are a great way to find new clients and sell your home. Here are 14 proven open house ideas that can help you get multiple offers. Expert tips on how to run an effective open house. Read more in detail here: open house checklist for agents.
For decades, open houses have been critical to real estate agent success, but they’ve evolved over time. If you want to attract qualified buyers, interest possible sellers, and expand your real estate firm in today’s market, your open house ideas must stand out. Make your open houses into intriguing and exciting experiences that buyers and leads will remember for years to come by using these open house ideas and professional recommendations.
The top 14 memorable open house ideas and expert suggestions are as follows:
1. Make use of a digital sign-in sheet for open houses.
One of the reasons open houses are so effective for real estate professionals is that they bring agents in direct contact with active homebuyers and other potential customers. In order to not only sell the property but also produce fresh real estate leads, it’s vital that you collect and monitor each lead.
At open homes, the usual method is to print out an open house sign-in sheet template and post it at the entry for guests to jot down their name, phone number, and email address. A digital sign-in sheet, on the other hand, is a more effective approach to collect the contact information of open house guests.
Dashboard for Zoho deals (Source: Zoho)
Have a brief form available on your smartphone or tablet when guests arrive at your open house that asks for the visitor’s name, phone number, email, how they heard about the open house, and any pertinent facts they wish to offer about their home search. The information obtained in your form may then be saved, exported, uploaded, or even synchronized in real time with your lead management software.
With Zoho CRM, for example, you can create a form that automatically imports, qualifies, and adds new contacts to your visual pipeline. Furthermore, Zoho keeps track of your engagement with each lead across numerous platforms, making it simpler to create connections and expand your customer base.
Visit Zoho
2. Interact with each and every person that comes to your open house.
You won’t receive a gold star simply for throwing an open house; you’ll have to do more than just sit around and wait for leads. Instead, put your phone and other electronic gadgets aside and engage with each individual that comes to the open house.
Prepare for people to arrive and offer them your whole attention. Inquire, engage in real conversation, and establish rapport. You’ll notice a dramatic difference in reaction when you utilize open houses to create connections and expand your area of influence when you send follow-up communications.
Leads from your open houses will know your name from having actual interactions with you, and will be much more inclined to open and respond to your emails and texts. Using a customer relationship manager (CRM) like Pipedrive may make staying in touch with new leads a breeze.
You may create a visual pipeline in Pipedrive to see where each of your leads is in the sales process. You may also utilize open house follow-up templates and automate the sending of emails and text messages.
Go to Pipedrive.com.
3. Use Food & Drink to Attract More Open House Visitors
Many eligible buyers skip open houses because they believe they will be dull, unpleasant, or even high-pressure. By announcing that you’ll be serving food and drinks during the open house, you can create a more welcome and relaxed environment. This instantly brightens the atmosphere of the open house and makes it more enticing to visitors.
Here’s a food-related open house suggestion that’ll be memorable:
Organize a Food Truck Event
Homelight’s Managing Editor, Matt McGee
We had a lot of success at a recent open house by turning it into an event—the biggest draw (apart from the lovely property) was that we hired a popular local food truck, which parked right in front of the house. We handed guests a voucher for a free lunch at the food truck when they walked in and checked up. It was unusual and received a lot of positive responses.
It’s crucial to remember that alcoholic drinks should be avoided. While this may appeal to a larger number of individuals, it may not appeal to all prospective purchasers. Plus (and maybe more crucially), it might become a liability if someone drinks too much and is injured at your event. If you do decide to offer alcohol, make sure you follow all local laws and consider hiring professional, licensed caterers or bartenders to serve beverages.
4. Allow the Sun to Shine
Photo with natural light vs. no natural light (Source: SuperCityRealty)
Natural light is typically quite crucial to homebuyers, so emphasize it as much as possible during open houses. Walk around the house before the event and make a list of the rooms with the best natural lighting and any areas that need extra light.
Make sure you’re ready for a foggy day by stocking up on fake candles and other warm light sources to make your house seem bright and inviting. Walking around the home to open all the blinds and drapes, put on all the lights, and remove any superfluous things from surfaces should all be on your open house checklist to make the room seem larger.
5. Combine open houses in the same neighborhood.
You may combine promotion and marketing efforts for your open houses if your brokerage or real estate links have many properties in or around the same area. This results in a bigger, more enticing event for potential homebuyers, since they will be able to see a few, if not many, properties in a short amount of time. You’re also likely to attract a lot more visits if you use numerous agencies to promote the event.
Using a real estate website builder to construct real estate landing pages or single-property websites, and then running online advertisements to drive visitors back to these pages, is a terrific approach to publicize open house events. Placester is a website builder designed exclusively for real estate agents and brokers. You can make attractive landing pages in minutes or hire a Placester marketing expert to do it for you.
Pay a visit to Placester.
6. Host online open houses
Virtual open houses are a great method to make a home more accessible to individuals who are unable or unable to attend an in-person event, or who just prefer a virtual tour before seeing a property in person. You may utilize a variety of virtual open house ideas to make an online event just as engaging and effective as a real one.
(Image courtesy of Nextdoor)
You may, for example, build a virtual tour of your house to present during a live broadcast or to record. Host a Facebook Live open house tour and engage with visitors just as you would at a real-life event. Send a link to a virtual tour recording to anyone who said they were going to the open house but couldn’t make it or had to cancel at the last minute.
If you don’t want to conduct a livestream, you may hire a freelancer to edit or make a video of your property on Fiverr. You may post a task on Fiverr and interview numerous individuals to find the best fit—you could even discover a local real estate video editor. Alternatively, research local real estate video marketing agencies to assist you in hosting a successful virtual open house.
7. Increase the curb appeal of your open house to attract more offers.
Offers range from 5.5 percent to 12.7 percent higher for homes with strong curb appeal and landscaping. Trimming shrubs, planting flowers, cleaning up, and furnishing the front porch may result in a big return on investment (ROI).
You may also urge customers to make dramatic decisions to help the property stand out, such as a newly painted bright and colorful front door or a seasonal display, as this expert open house suggestion shows:
Make a Great First Impression by Beautifying the Front Door
Marni Epstein-Mervis, Founder & Principal, STRUKTR Studios
Simple changes to your front entrance may have a significant impact. The first thing purchasers notice is the front entrance, which welcomes them in and sets the tone for the remainder of the house. Good first impressions may go a long way and provide a significant return on investment.
You can increase any home’s curb appeal with the correct décor, even if your customers don’t want to perform any do-it-yourself (DIY) curb appeal or landscaping work. Change the furnishings or get huge, colorful pots to set about the property. Simple modifications, like as a new mailbox or a contemporary door handle, may make a big difference in a buyer’s initial impression.
8. Use Guerrilla Marketing Techniques to Express Yourself
Guerrilla marketing is when you promote your event to your target audience in an unusual and unexpected manner. Consider where, when, and how leads are seeing your open house advertisements, as well as how they engage with your listing. Listing brochures, for example, are vital but also anticipated. As a result, purchasers may not pay as much attention to them as they would to huge, bright signage pointing out particular characteristics placed around the property.
Here are a couple more guerrilla marketing ideas for open houses:
- Leave open house information on stickers, flyers, or postcards at local businesses with permission.
- In your house, make a hilarious or parody video and promote it on social media and through email marketing.
- Drones may be used to place banners in the sky, as seen in the entertaining expert open house advice below:
Hover an Open House Banner with a Drone
The Close’s Managing Editor, Emile L’Eplattenier
Drone advertising is a fashionable and noticeable approach to draw attention to your next open house. Hire a drone firm to attach professional banners to drones and fly them over your listing or in a conspicuous region of your market to take advantage of this fascinating open house concept. To enhance traffic to your properties and set yourself apart from other selling agents in your agricultural region, try aerial advertising.
If real estate drone photography isn’t your thing, you may still get great results by sticking to tried-and-true advertising strategies. Zillow is a good illustration of this. It’s the world’s most popular real estate marketplace, and it’s a fantastic method to produce qualified, active buyer leads. As a Zillow Premier Agent, you might be the only agent listed on listings, potentially resulting in hundreds of fresh, quality leads each month.
Visit Zillow for more information.
9. Host an Open House with a Theme
One open house with a musical theme is an example (Source: NowPlayingNashville)
Adding a theme to the age-old open house is another way to spice things up. Themed open houses provide a unique and memorable experience that may help you attract more buyers and generate new leads.
You might choose a theme based on the design of the property, the ideal buyer, the location, or any other distinguishing feature. If your property is a Spanish hacienda-style house, for example, you may serve delectable tapas and play light music (e.g., bossa nova) to keep the vibe going.
10. Enlist the help of a local business to cater your event.
(Image courtesy of Canva)
When it comes to open house events, real estate brokers often form referral connections with other firms in their field, but they occasionally overlook the possibility to collaborate with local businesses. You may form mutually advantageous referral agreements with restaurants, food trucks, coffee shops, caterers, and other local small companies.
An open house with catered or gourmet food or beverages from a local company will attract more visitors, and you and your business partners will get even more mileage out of your marketing efforts. You can simply design images and printable materials to advertise your open houses using predefined templates from Canva, such as coupons that open house attendees may exchange for food and drinks during your event.
Here’s how to utilize discounts in promotional relationships with other companies that are related to your open house, such as local handy services, plumbers, electricians, insurance agents, mortgage brokers, and more:
Coupon Pages That Are Unique
Mike Scott, Independent Bank’s Senior Mortgage Loan Originator
In our region, a real estate agent collaborates with individuals who manage small companies, such as lawn care, air conditioning (A/C) and heating service, plumbing, and other services, to create a tiny page of coupons that are relevant to the property being exhibited. They may include things like a free first mowing, edge, or trim, a free A/C tuneup, and other such services. This not only provides an incentive to the purchasers, but it also puts them in contact with other small companies in the region, which may help them grow their company. That realtor, of course, has the lawn care staff take care of the home’s yard just before the open house.
11. Create a separate event for your open house.
The more original, exciting, and distinctive open house ideas you utilize, the more likely your events will be attended by a bigger number of people. With a range of activities, you can make your open houses memorable and exciting. Furthermore, you offer visitors a cause to stay longer, giving you more opportunity to speak, show the home to potential buyers, and collect the contact information of open house participants for future lead nurturing.
Here are a few instances of successful real estate brokers hosting open houses in conjunction with:
- Signings of books
- Live music
- Food from restaurants or food trucks in the area
- Shopping in a pop-up boutique
- Furniture from antique and estate sales
- Parties in the garden
- Inside the listing, there are pop-up art exhibits.
Keep everything local if at all feasible to showcase your region and your skills to the community and attract more customers in your desired location. This may also serve as a springboard for referral agreements with other companies including auction houses, galleries, restaurants, and retail outlets.
12. Give a Raffle Prize away
(Image courtesy of RocketLister)
Offer raffle prizes and gifts to encourage people to come to your open house. Because not all open house attendees will be interested in buying the property, this is a great approach to establish a connection with prospective leads and keep them involved.
It allows you to interact with everyone who comes in and helps you develop the know, like, and trust factor with new customers. Keep the spotlight on real estate by giving away prizes for locally sourced things that homeowners desire or need, as well as promotional items with your real estate branding emblazoned on them.
13. Hand out swag bags during open houses
Giving away actual objects is a fantastic method to attract and keep open house attendees remembering your name. With a little creative thought, goodie bags, like pop-by presents, may be simple, straightforward, and economical. Kits are available on Etsy, or you can use Canva to make your own printable labels for presents.
(Image courtesy of Etsy)
You’ll want to automate the process after you experience the effect of giving out promotional products and snacks during your open houses. Evabot selects and sends presents to your prospects, new customers, and past clients using artificial intelligence (AI). You specify the particular parameters for each sort of present, and your connection gets a tailored gift from you, enabling you to witness the effects of your gift-giving without having to sacrifice your time.
Evabot may be found on the internet.
14. Use Open House Ideas & Feedback Forms to Gain Insights
After they’ve arrived, don’t forget about the open house guests. Before they depart, inquire about their impressions of the house to demonstrate that you regard their thoughts, expectations, and requirements. Give them a brief, basic form to fill out to make it easy for them to provide honest feedback (or use a digital form to make it even easier). Rather than responding, “It was amazing,” as they walk out the door, this form asks specific questions to elicit information that people may feel more comfortable sharing anonymously.
You can collaborate with a professional graphic designer on 99designs to develop attractive feedback forms like these. Also, if you need assistance with logos, website design, graphics, and other design projects, 99designs can match you with a personal designer or hold a contest to see who can come up with the best design that matches your style.
Visit 99designs.com for more information.
Conclusion
Open houses should raise interest in your properties, but they may also be utilized to generate leads and establish your authority as an agent, resulting in increased demand for your services. Plan open house events that amaze clients, attract serious buyers, help you create referral connections, and add to your overall real estate lead generation strategy by using our list of innovative and memorable open house ideas.
Open houses are a great way to find a new home, but they can also be expensive and time-consuming. This article has 14 proven open house ideas that will help you get multiple offers on your home. Expert tips for hosting an open house are also included in the article. Reference: open house advertising examples.
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