First Open House Part II

Well the first open house came and went and we're still siting comfortably in our first home.  I wouldn't call our first attempt a complete bust, but I would say things could have been much better and we've definitely learned some things for next time.

On Saturday I sat around from 12-5 without as much as a single soul stopping by.  On the bright side I had plenty of time to to start and finish my taxes.  And even better, we're getting a refund this year!  I always try to look at the bright side.  And for those of you who didn't stop by you missed out as we had some excellent cookies, banana chocolate chip muffins, crackers, humus, and a small vegetable tray.  By about 3 o'clock when I realized there wasn't going to be some mad rush I started munching and it was all very good.

My Spot for Most of the Weekend

Sunday wasn't a whole lot better; however, we did get two families to walk through.  Of course, while I happened to be sitting in the office with a perfect view of the driveway for most of the weekend the first family decided to pull up while I was back in the bedroom.  This resulted in me rushing through the house like a mad man to turn on lights before they got to the front door.  Fortunately I was successful and as they were leaving I noticed the second family stopping right in front of the house.  So during the 10 hours of open house time both families were in and out within a 30 minute window.  I'm not complaining though as both families were very complimentary of the house and the second family said that it was the nicest house they had been through so far. So here's hoping for a phone call soon.

A few lessons learned:  1)  We won't be doing another open house on Saturday.  10 hours is way too long and really just a waste of time.  For what ever reason people like open house shopping on Sunday, so who am I to argue with the customer.  2)  Use balloons on your open house signs.  Saturday we didn't, Sunday we did and regardless of whether it made the difference or not with the two families it made the signs much more visible.  3)  Place your signs carefully.  Halfway through on Sunday Becca got home to inform me that there was another sign  for an open house in the neighborhood across from ours which was redirecting people before they could even get into our neighborhood.  Once again, I don't know if it really made a difference, but there's the potential that people who started out following our signs finished off following the others.  I'll be making some different placements next time.  Oh well, live and learn.  I'm sure there are some more lessons in there but that's all I have for now.  If anyone has any suggestions we'd love to hear them.  I know if we can get people to our home we'll sell it in no time, it's just getting them there.

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