Secrets to success

Key factors to a successful open house: Don’t skimp on the signage, de-clutter and — for Realtors — don’t insult the sellers.

Of course, there are a lot of other things to know about an open house, but these are the starting points — the notes, as they say in singing competitions — you’ve got to get right or you won’t even have a song.

Dan Kingdom, broker/owner of Wright Kingdom Real Estate, points to signage is the No. 1 thing you can do to make an open house work. “You need to place directional signs from a busy street to the house you are holding open,” he said. Post-card promotions are great too, he added.

In response to the Great Recession, Wright Kingdom has changed the way it does open houses in the last year. One Sunday every month, Wright Kingdom does a companywide open house event featuring about 30 houses. They’ve seen increases in traffic with this method, he said.

Conducting an open house in a typical manner brings in one or two visitors, but, “We’ve seen at least 10 people on average,” Kingdom said. “At some Boulder properties, it’s like a turnstyle. Maybe it’s because they can see it all at once and in the same area.”

The increased traffic is the mark of its success, Kingdom said. The main objective isn’t to come out of it with a handful of contracts, but “to create interest in a property.”

Also important to a successful open house is how the property looks. But how property owners have kept the house they now want to sell can be a sensitive area. Sandy Taylor, broker associate at Keller Williams 1st in Longmont, gives owners gentle advice on how to make the home look good. She said she likes to have the conversation well before the open house, at the listing if possible, and frame cleanup suggestions as a joke.

“I think we’ve all had to do this,” she said. “There is a fine line between insulting the taste of a seller and giving advice. I tell them things like ‘you don’t need 40 things on the counter,’ and, ‘are we selling your stuff or your house?’

She said that as the market has changed, more people ask her to walk though the house and tell them what she sees. For clients with real difficulty de-cluttering, employing the practice of buying a new house to live in while they clean up the old one to get it ready for the open house works quite well.

“Put everything away not necessary to everyday living,” she said. “If daddy has Playboy in the living room, put it in the garage. Some people couldn’t care less, but some women are really offended by that.”

Keller Williams does a similar event to that of Wright Kingdom’s to increase foot traffic for their open houses. These events are successful because it gives the buyers a chance to compare prices. “Price comparisons and school location are all major right now,” Taylor said.

Standbys to lure in buyers such as coffee and cookies lead to a successful event, said Jim Bodin, owner of Bodin Realty International in Boulder. Before the clients begin to tour the house, a cookie and some coffee will hold the clients there a little bit longer and give the agent a chance to ask one or two questions. Timing of the open house is important, he said.

“Pick a weekend without a holiday or a Bronco game,” he suggested.

Other tips? The event should only last two hours, and it’s nice to have a flyer to hand to people.

Something not to do? “Sit on the couch and watch the football game. Or tag along with the people.” Bodin also said he thought having almond water in the oven to scent the house wasn’t necessary.

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