Hi Bruna.

At first, I thought you were really over-reacting.  Your first duty should be to sell the "open" house.  And would potential clients want to list with you if they knew you were requiring ID at the door of all open houses?

But upon reflection, it's a really interesting point....

I mean, you, as the listing agent, are allowing these people to come into your client's home, and if anything goes awry or comes up missing, your clients are going to be looking at YOU.  

Would it be safer for your clients and their possessions (prescriptions, jewelry, etc.) if you knew exactly who was in their house?  I'd say "YES".

If you decide to go that route, please let us know how it works out!

Hi Bruna

I wish you the best with your idea for I.D but that will  that really  stop as you stated,,

I find it's very rude of them to disparage my time, not only as they are so fake sometimes, but also as they refuse to acknowledge that this is a legitimate profession with time that deserves payment from somebody, and the famous much maligned percentage is what covers it.

Good luck keep us posted

Vance

Just one of the million reasons I would rather not do open houses. They are largely ineffective in our area so I'm able to dodge the bullet for the most part.

Having said that, I see no reason whatsoever not to implement safeguards and I'm sure other agents who do lots of OHs already do this.

I would think the true principals would not have a problem with it . . .

Bruna, it's a safety issue for us, too, especially as women.  If someone doesn't want to prove his/her identity why do I want to be alone in house with him/her!

If I do an open house, everyone must sign and provide ID.  I've never had anyone refuse after I've explained that, in today's world we can't be too safe.  I assure them that if they do not want future contact, no problem, they won't hear from me. "But here's my card with phone #'s and web address.  Please feel free to contact me if there's anything I can do for you!"

I agree.  I HATE doing open houses.  People tend to suck at being friendly when they attend open houses.

If I am going to waiste my time on a Sunday, you better at least be cordial to me.

I like the idea of having to show ID.  I think I will bring my camera and take photos of their ID!!  :)  Unfortunatly I think I would be even more board if I asked for ID because NOONE would provide it and leave.  If we can just all ban together to keep thouse damn nosy neighbors (and other time wasters/threats) out of our open houses we might actually sell a house or two at an open house.

[Bruna sez: Be good yu'all!]

Surely you jest. Just getting started!  LOL

I hear agents say that although they seldom (if ever) sell the open house, they pick us a lot of great buyer prospects.  But not one that I have spoken to could tell me the name of one of these prospects who actually bought a house through them.  

If open houses really worked the way some people claim (or seem to think they work) I would hold an open house every day... I'd be a fool not to.

My 'reality' has been that they just aren't time or cost-effective for us in terms of selling homes or gaining prospects.  We are completely up front with our sellers during our listing presentation and explain 'why' we don't do open houses.  

I have only had one seller come back later and ask if 'maybe we should try an open house'.  I said, I'll tell you what, if you pay me up front for my time and all expenses and the home sells as a result of the open house I will quadruple your money back.  I charge $75 per hour.  Deal?  They laughed and asked if it would be okay for them to hold their own open house since they would be home all weekend anyway.  I said, sure thing. Have fun.

They held it open all day Saturday and called that night to say we were right and that not one person had shown up and they weren't going to bother with it on Sunday.

'Nuff said.

How about this?  Take your camera and ask them to stand by the fireplace or whatever and take their picture.  You can send it to them via their email address.  I have had luck with pictures. If they strongly resist the picture and run out the door, you know this was not a valid person.

That is a good idea Gloria!

Are we having a bad day. So many negative comments. As with anything you have to find a positive side. Mom always said if you can't say something nice don't say anything at all. There should be a discussion between seller and agent as to valuables and open houses. Don't leave them out. The home is no longer yours pack them up get ready to move to your new home. This is a product and it must be treated as such.

The idea of having every client provide ID is very Orwellian. I for one would turn around and leave. Cathy did have a point about security though and if approached in that manner I may oblige. The fact of getting a name from someone who does not want to give their does not mean they were a lead or ever will be a lead. Floyd Wickman always said if you are going to lose them, then lose them on Sunday so you don't waste any time on them.

The nosey neighbors are just that (no not nosey) but yes neighbors. They bought into that neighborhood, they like that neighborhood and they will tell prospective clients to buy into their neighborhood.

Load all of your guns with as much ammo as you can. And Bruna if Mickey Mouse shows up at your next open house then you can blast that vermin clear into tomorrow.

Must be why my mother in law never said anything around me.

Good luck with the i.d. - I certainly would not be offering anything up if I walked into an open house and felt this kind of hostility from a Realtor.

Possibly we may want to expect honest and serious buyers and that is what we will get. Opens are not generally my favorite way to spend a Sunday but my three first sales in the business were from sign-in sheets I followed up on.  One listing came out of it because they wanted a Realtor that would call ppl and find out what they really thought of the house.  

This is not always the case but if you are writing a blog on how much you hate something - and I am assuming this is not posted on your site - maybe you should ask another Realtor to do your opens for you.  A newbie?  Take a few weeks off, enjoy the end of the summer and get back at it in the fall.

Personally, I hate cleaning the bathroom.  Maybe I'll make my daughter do it for the next few weeks.  Might not be done as well but I'll  be happier!!

Bruna may be on to something!

Brian Buffini is advocating taking ID at the door as well.

Some of the agents in our office started doing this after taking the Buffini Class, 100 Days to Greatness.  They liked the results.

I would not know.  I quit doing open houses about a year ago - After doing one almost every sunday for almost 3 years.  I sold more houses since I quit.  But I can name buyers who I met at opens.  

Why did I quit?  Because all the buyes I could name from opens were from over a year ago.  We used to get 4 - 8 couples at an open, with one real buyer couple out of 10, you at least had a chance....  You could meet two real buyers if you did 3 or 4 open houses a month.  

These days, lucky to get 2 or 3 couples to an open, and only about one real buyer out of 20.  (The rest stay home and search the web) That means 7 open houses to meet a real buyer.  

I said... No Thanks....

Bruna:  I have a question, why are you holding the open house?  The following was copied from NAR article Opening Doors with Open Houses - April 2007:

Results from the 2006 Profile of Buyers and Seller, published by the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) showed that 47 percent of all home buyers go to open houses. However, when asked where they learned about the home they purchased, `open house' did not even show up.

Ok so if you are holding it as a result of your seller's request, then agree to holding the home open during the first xx (1-2) weeks of the listing.  That way you are only tied to it for a couple of weeks.  If you are doing it to pick up buyers then I don't know.  I've never sold a home based upon a buyer walking in.  I've sold a home based upon the buyer's perception of me and my service and they happened to meet me at an open house.  Therefore I stopped holding them because the ratio of people I was able to capture just didn't fit the time, effort, and money expended to hold the open.

Rethink your purpose before you hold the next one because most of the people who sign the register could care less about the follow up call later.

WOW Sounds like you need a break! Take one and have a think about the purpose of why you are holding an open to begin with. Remember you get what you focus on so if thats no listings, no legitimate buyers, its a waste of my time then you will be right. I however and my clients have found opens to be a wonderful way to build your profile and stand out in the marketplace as a real estate professional  consumers would love to do business with! Advertising, marketing  and working leads individually etc just doesn't replace the opportunity for face to face exposure with your marketplace  that open homes provide. I personally remember my first start in realestate and i did open everything i could get my hands on, yes i focused on selling that home but also on building personal relationships and seeing how i could really help eone who came into the property and  had taken time out of their busy lives to inspect the property. Was i very successful, very quickly yes, in my third month i sold 17 properties as a direct result of the people i did connect with at the opens. Referrals flourished as a result of my attitude that they were fun and showtime for me, i was well organised, dressed to my best, had soft music playing, brochures, vanilla scented candles burning and more. This works today but many agents are doing a very ordinary job at opens and not having fun and making it a pleasure for their clients. Do they get much out of it, no!  Re asking for id, like everything it has advantages and disadvantages and depends on how it is portrayed as to what reaction you will get. You may be able to use it positively as a point of difference by saying and having signage about for the safety and security of the owners property we require a form of id from all people wiishing to inspect today. I used to have one that said something similar and asked for all visitors to remove their shoes, and register. That way we rarely had a problem with it. Opens can be fun and rewarding, just have a break and rethink. If i can help email me karin@ilovemyagent.org

Karin...paragraphs, please?   You are hurting my eyes....aaaaauuugggg!!!!!!

Tim, in five years I did actually have TWO successful open houses. One of them was in just the perfect location for an open house and I was actually the one convincing the sellers to let me do an OH ... they didn't think it was worth it. One of the visitors liked it so much that they called their agent right that afternoon, brought us an offer and the deal closed in 4 weeks. The only other successful (if you can call it that) Open House I had was my very first one ... I held it for another agent at the company ... I was in the business just a few months back then ... had no clients ... and a very nice couple with a son came in ... I still remember their names, but won't post them here :-) ... they didn't like this house but didn't have an agent and we somehow clicked and 4 months and 50 houses later, we found one that they liked enough to buy ... at that point I think they were just tired and ready to buy "whatever" as long as it was big enough. They were the only prospects I ever got from an open house that turned into a closed deal ... I even that probably wouln't had happened if I wasn't so desperate to find at least that one client who would buy something from me and I would finally get paid!

I have only held three open houses this year ... all on the same property ... had a total of 2 visits ... Yay! ... NOT!!!!!!!!

Open houses are a waste of time.

Bruna, I don't think you are negative ... I think you are being careful and we all need to be! I've lately started registering people for a drawing when they come to my open house ... hoping to get more valid info from them. Honestly, if someone came in and my gut feeling told me something isn't right, I would ask for their ID and record the info. Plus I sometime get my husband on the phone to "check" on something while I'm walking throught the house with someone I don't have a good feeling about ... it may be rude to do that but it also means I'm not going through the house "alone" with a total stranger.

As to what your broker told you, I respect that ... my broker told me the same thing 5 years ago when I started and had no prospects and anything that gave me the slightest chance to find them, I was willing to do. But in todays market, OH just don't work in our area ... at least in majority of cases they don't ... so as a broker, I rather tell my agents to work on their websites or do their farming ... while farming is for many a thing of the past, I believe it's coming back in some form and shape ... there are areas where we want to have our presence and don't have other ways of reaching that target without doing traditional farming. But I am not going to tell my agents they should do open houses if I pesonally don't believe in them.

I think that open houses are just one more tool in the tool box. I've probably done over 200 of them and for all but about 50, they were 3 hours I could never get back. Those other 50 provided me with some great fodder for stories and experience. A number of sales too.

Some agents tend to think that everyone who walks through the door is a potential client. With the right salesmanship, maybe they are. Sometimes people are just curious and out killing time. Other times they may be checking out agents for future hire. In any case they aren't going away any time soon, and just as every car shopper doesn't buy when visiting the lot, I'm glad they're open for browsing.

Just last Sunday, I held an open house and decided to hire a flautist to perform in the background. Provided some water and treats and I had the most fun ever for those two hours. Should have stayed longer.

One guest mentioned that it was the classiest open house she'd ever been to. Very nice to hear, and I hope she talks about it to everyone she knows.

I think most people aren't in the mood to go through homeland security when touring open houses. They might give you info if you offer a prize or a drawing of some sort. Also, I don't think agents are going to unite over an issue like this. Heck, I'd love to be paid for every house I show, but there are thousands of agents who'll do it for free!

If you're going to include open houses in your marketing, just see it for what it is and do something different. Good luck to you all.

Bruna,

For what it's worth, I don't think you're being negative at all.  It seems to me that you are merely trying to make the best use of your time and energy and to provide the best (and safest) service possible for your clients.

And re: getting 'paid' for an open house... I mentioned it as an option 'for me'.  I don't think that you mentioned it at all.  (I don't like wasting time and/or money and that's how I view open houses - a waste of both!)

Well I still like my idea.  Take their pictures and send them to their emails.  I like having a flautist, great idea.  Make everything you do as fun as possible.

I like the idea of having fun at an open. You know, we get way too serious for our own good. Lighten up, have fun, the prospect(nosy neighbor) will too, and like Bob wished for, maybe they will tell others.

Let's hear some more fun ideas, I have my pencil out~

I am doing an open house tomorrow.  I have not done one in a while and usually have bad results.  

This is a fun house with a indoor pool and family room with bar and pool table.  All for  $129,900!!  Isn't Indiana great....

www.5706Riviera.com

So to be a little different I am going to go to my open house in my bathing suit, Jimmy Buffett Teeshirt and flip flops.  I think it will be different and fitting to the home.  Besides I am going to go directly to the lake after the open.  I will let you know how it goes.

I love the ID idea, but see one potential problem . . . a lot of people have their social security numbers on their licenses (at least, here in Ohio). With ID theft running rampant, I would hesitate to hand ANYONE my ID+SSN, and especially if they made copies or photos of it!

That's why I personally don't have my SSN on my ID, but for those that do, you might find more people refusing to show ID because they don't trust YOU either!

"Why can't we all just get along . . ."  :o)

A huge thank you to everyone who contributed to REliberation in the month of August! There were a lot