Open Houses: An Agents Take
/Boy have I railed against open houses for a while. You know what the funny thing is? I still occasionally do them.
What I said to the camera is 100% what I think and feel, but remember that old adage the customer is always right?… They aren’t but their perception is.
Let me explain.
If you, sign a listing agreement to sell your house with me, my hope is you have heard my data driven belief in all things digital to market your home, but…… like everyone you may be prone to emotional decision making if the house does not absolutely fly off the shelf. Doubt creeps in and you see the house around the corner do an open house. Why the hell isn’t my agent doing one?! Is she/he lazy? Did I make the wrong call? We need to do an open house!!!
Right, because it’s 1993, Clinton is President, Jordans Bulls are ripping off NBA titles, and strangers off the street are going to see some signage, walk in and buy your home. Kind of sounds ridiculous when I put it that way right? It is.
However, these are the circumstances I find myself doing open houses. Not because I believe its going to help… at all. Trust me, if you want me to spend another few hundred bucks on getting your house sold, I would 1000x rather put my marketing $$ into an IG ad targeted at your neighborhood, a Facebook ad targeted at key buyer demos we selected ahead of list. Instead we’ll boot you out of the house so I can put out a spread of cookies, sandwiches, mimosas and yard signs to lure in 6 of your nosy neighbors, my friends, your friends or total strangers.
99.5% of them won’t make an offer on your home. The sign worked and got them to come in, but in the off chance they are in the market to purchase, they’re still exploring neighborhoods (and likely thought, ‘free cookies, hell yea… oh and maybe this place is in our price range’) and have no idea what’s about to happen. They’re going to meet me, who realizes quickly this isn’t the house for them, but boy do i know of a handful that are. See I’m in business and damn good at what I do, so if they’re legitimate buyers you can bet I’ll be thrilled to sell them something else.
This is the problem with open houses from this agent’s perspective. It’s not that I’m lazy, it’s just I’m in the eyeball business. So when I think of where I’m going to spend my time and energy, it’s where I’m getting best bang for buck. Here’s my thought process:
$100 Advertising on Real Estate Marketing
Facebook Ad: 9,700 (targeted) Views
Instagram Ad: 9,700 (targeted) Views
YouTube Pre-Roll Ad: 3400 (targeted) Views
Google AdWords: 5300 (semi-targeted) Views
Open House Spread: 7-10 (random) Views
K so i probably could have just posted those stats to drive home the point, but you understand the thought process now. Those are just paid activities too. Does not take into account the 1000s of email database we use to market, Live Walk Throughs via social (typically get 300 Live and 3000+ views within a day) and the additional 1000s of eyes we put on your home through social platform that does not cost me a dime.
Thanks for listening to the rant. BTW this is off a user generated question. I would love to answer yours. Email, text, DM or send me smoke signals and I’ll answer yours too.
Cheers,
Gentry
