Sunday morning came with the realization that we were going to hold our first open house ever. We had no idea what to expect. I chatted with the neighbours who are selling their house and they said they had a few people drop by to look at the place. They were excited at the thought of the open house as well and hoped they had a lot of traffic. I also talked with a few other neighbours and they said that they have seen great success with open houses. This news invigorated my weary soul and I went out to buy some cookies so the house could smell delicious and also offer a treat to those visiting.
The open house was schedule for 2-4PM (a common time for open houses) and someone came knocking at 1:40PM. Vero bounded towards the baking sheet for the cookies and hid it under the counter.
First up was a real estate agent who was checking out the house next door and wanted to see ours. We’re not sure if the person with him was actually interested in a place or not, or if they were also a real estate agent. The agent gave us a great tip seeing that this was our first open house. He basically said it’s great to let people peruse the house on their own and let them know that you’ll be around if they have any questions. This was the best advice we could have received as we were following them through the house at first.
We ended up with five showings during the entire day. I personally don’t feel that this was a large amount, but Vero seemed quite confident about the whole thing. I didn’t get a good vibe from anyone but at the same time, I’m sure I was the same thing when looking at open houses. For all I know, our house is in the back of someone’s mind and they will call again to take a second look at the house.
We did find it interesting to note that we saw two groups of people visiting the other open house and not our own. We can only deduce that a) They didn’t like their townhouse so they automatically assumed ours looked the same b) They didn’t go for private sales. Either way, it was a little disheartening to see someone not even bother to look at our house.
Two hours later the open house was over and we went to pick up the directional signs we had set up in the neighbourhood. All in all, an open house isn’t hard work (well, let me point out that the hardest work is getting the place looking great!) as long as you are fine with people roaming around your house! It’s a strange feeling to just stand in the kitchen while you hear people roam about and open closets around the house.
We will definitely have another open house this coming weekend and we are thinking of extending the hours from 12-4PM. It doesn’t make sense that 2-4PM is the common time to look at a billion open houses. I think there would be an advantage to have it longer so people can come visit our own before others.
I will admit that this is the first time in my life that I’m not entirely positive about a life matter. I believe I’m just impatient…heck, it hasn’t even been a week yet! I’m sure that when this is all over, you will hear me say that “it wasn’t all that bad” but while we’re in the middle of selling our house, there is always the thought of “why hasn’t it sold yet?”
2 replies on “First Open House”
did you have a copy of your untility bills/ sans name numbers etc to show people how economical your property might be, selling a house on the quick, privately I think is not a regular success ( sorry to say ) as your exposure to MLS is poor and not available and you are riding on the coat seats of neighbours lisitngs, one thing you might do is make a retail listing like the agents do for their properties photos of the indoors, size, details of rooms etc. then have them available for people visiting, and run them around to agents offices in the area giving them to the agents if they accept them. posting it on grocery store bulletin boards also a himt too…. get out and get your exposure….signs near other agents open house signs help as well. One of you do a drop in to other agents open houses to hand out flyer as well in case an agent has a client and maybe you can work out a deal at a reduced commission. Time it appears might not be on your side….Good luck
Gary
Just remember it CAN be sold privately but you must be aggressive as people are sometimes leary of private sale. One thing I forogot on your comparison/detail sheet if you prepare one include trecent identical sales details to highlight your pricing reasoning….