Counting Open House Traffic

"Party of Five" -- Or Twelve

If a dozen people came through your Realtor's Sunday open house, would that qualify as good traffic?

It all depends.

If the 12 people were the couple contemplating buying, 4 of their friends, 2 siblings, and both sets of parents . . . I'd say, "no," not really (and yes, I actually had such a group come through one of my open houses once).

On the other hand, if twelve individual Buyers came through, that would qualify as good traffic.

Which is why Realtors will typically quantify open house traffic in terms of number of discrete parties through -- not number of bodies.

Open House Trends -- Summer Installment

Thursday Night Open House!

Where: 6085 Rowland (unit #301) in high-demand Brenwood; Minnetonka

What: Impeccable 2 BR, 2 Bath Condo with great nature views from 3-Season porch

When: 4:30 p.m. - 6 p.m. tonight! (Th, July 8).

How much: $160k

What do listing agents do when the buying public heads to the beach (or cabin) on Summer weekends?

Switch open houses to weekday evenings, after-work.

I'll be at 6085 Rowland in Minnetonka tonight between 4:30 p.m. and 6 p.m.

Hope to see you there!

Open Houses at Odd Hours

"Open Thursday From 5 p.m to 7 p.m"

Most Realtors hold open houses on weekend afternoons.

In fact, I'd guess that more than half of all open houses are from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. on Sundays (Vikings games in Fall excepted).

There's certainly logic to that: that's when most people are off work, and free to go house shopping.

And once there's a default time, it becomes self-reinforcing, because everyone wants to "piggyback" off the traffic being generated by the other open houses.

However, there's a case to be made for changing that up, at least occasionally.

I heard a story just this week about a Realtor who held an open house on a Thursday evening -- and got a Buyer!

The back story is, the Buyer has a lake cabin they go to every weekend -- no Sunday open houses -- and just happened to see the open house sign.

Biggest Sunday of the Year? Today!

Open Houses Galore

Clients often ask if a particular Sunday is a good time to hold an open.

I don't forecast home prices or interest rates, but I'm going to go on record with this prediction: today, April 11, will be the busiest day of the year for open houses (the "retail" kind; broker opens -- the "wholesale" version -- are held each Tuesday).

I can think of at least five reasons for that:

One. Last weekend, Easter, was an off-day. Today will benefit from pent-up demand.

Two. The tax credit for Buyers expires April 30.

Three. Realtors like to hold opens on days when they know there will be lots of other opens; that way, they can piggyback on all the other marketing out there (see Edina Realty's ad at upper right).

Four. At least in Minnesota, the Spring market doesn't start in Spring, it starts in February, right after the Super Bowl. So, we're now well past the mid-point.

"Crunch Time"

Buyers of family homes in particular like to make their purchases by Memorial Day, so they have time to close by mid-Summer and be unpacked and in place for the school year.

Sellers of family homes know that, too, which is why now is crunch time for doing a deal.

Five. Nice weather!

Personally, I'll be doing an open house double-header.

Please stop by my open at 4121 W. 28th St. (28h and Inglewood) in St. Louis Park's Fern Hill neighborhood from 12:30-2:30 p.m.

Or, come by my open at 1340 Fairlawn Way in Golden Valley from 3-4:30 p.m.