Why I Love Open Houses
Good morning, Marilyn, and happy holidays! There are a couple of true harbingers of spring: the robins in my backyard, the tulips pushing up in my garden, and the sudden abundance of real estate open house signs in my neighbourhood. Ahhh, nothing says, “Spring in Toronto” like the plethora of Realtor™ signs on all the street corners.
But can I share that as a downsizing specialist, I love hosting open houses for my clients. I know some listeners think, “They’re just for the nosey neighbours.” Even some Realtors™ will try to tell you that they’re a waste of time. I could not disagree more! Open houses are a very important part of our marketing strategy, and we host them for every home we sell. Why do I love open houses?
- Open houses increase exposure:
Remember the neighbours? We welcome them at our open houses, and you know why? Because the average person knows 611 other people, and we never know if they are looking for themselves, someone in their family, or for friends. More and more I find extended families wanting to live closer to each other, and they often send out the “forward scout” to report back to potential buyers.
In real estate, it’s a numbers game: we want as many eyes on your property as possible, and by creating easy accessibility for house shoppers, we’re helping stack the odds in your favour.
- Open houses are convenient for buyers:
Today’s buyers are tech savvy and informed. When they show up at the open house they have seen it online first, compared it to the competition, and are sufficiently motivated to leave their comfy home to come see yours. Buyers can access every listing for sale thanks to apps like HouseSigma or Realtor.ca. They do their own searches and only contact their real estate agent once they have selected a home they’re ready to offer on. An open house is an easy, convenient, and low-pressure way to see homes during a set schedule.
As a case in point, at our last property open house, we had 40 parties come through over the weekend! Over 70% had seen the property online, and more than 80% reported not working with a real estate agent yet.
- Open Houses provide instant feedback:
I’ve been to plenty of open houses as a buyer myself, and most often the agent greets me, hands me an MLS sheet and then basically leaves me to wander around. That is not how we do open houses at SMART Realty Solutions. Every single person who comes to one of our properties is registered on an Ipad, and given a personal tour of the home. Whether selling a condo or mansion, I am an expert on the property and uniquely qualified to highlight its features, answer immediate questions, and engage with potential buyers to gauge their interest and motivation. A passive “let me know if you have any questions” approach isn’t good enough when you have a prospective buyer right there in front of you.
- Open houses allow for continued follow up:
This leads to another key reason for loving open houses. Because I have personally met and interacted with each buyer, I know the ones who are seriously considering this property, and the ones that are merely window shopping. Because they gave their contact information when they registered, I can follow up with additional information about the home, neighbourhood or other details and help them along in their decision making.
At SMART Realty Solutions, we do open houses bigger and better. We have amazing attendance at our open houses because we advertise them with direct mail to the neighbourhood, online in community chat groups, on social media platforms, and to our database of more than 800 other Realtors™. Plus, we always run our open houses an hour longer than the competition to make sure we accommodate latecomers. We go above and beyond to create buying opportunities at every stage of sale: from our expert pricing, preparation services, and multi-media promotion we keep working to find your buyer.
If this sounds like a SMART way of doing things to you, please call me, Sharon, at 416-460-5636 to know how our concierge real estate services for seniors can help you with your move. We take the work and worry out of your transition, so that your sterling years are everything you’d hope they’d be.
And if you’re not quite ready to make that call, visit our website, smartrealtysolution.com to find a ton of free downloadable resources to help seniors with their most common downsizing challenges. There are more free resources there than open house signs on a Toronto street corner in Spring.
That’s it for me. My name is Sharon Parenteau, and these have been your SMART Realty Solutions for today.
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