Are Open Days REALLY A Good Idea?

When selling a property, open days seem to be the ‘in thing’ at the moment, but are they really a good idea?

Well, Yes... IF, and it’s a big if, they are done properly!

Why are they a GOOD idea (if done correctly):

• Lots of viewings on one day (morning or afternoon) makes it very convenient for you. You only have to make your property a show house for one day
• Having lots of buyers see your house at the same time creates a real sense of urgency and competition amongst buyers
• Because of the above point, offers tend to come in nearer, or over, the asking price (assuming the asking price is right in the first place)

Remember, everyone wants, what someone else wants!

What open days are not:

• A chance for every Tom, Dick and Harry to look at your house
• A guaranteed way to sell your house
• A way to sell your house for more than it’s worth

A few other things to bear in mind:

• An unsuccessful open day can actually damage the future marketing of your property, so be careful
• You need a decent amount of marketing time ‘before’ the open day - we aim for 10 days
• If done properly, it isn’t really an open day, more of a block viewing
• They won’t work on every property

Now we have a very high success rate with ‘open days’ because we do them properly. Here is a recent example:

I took a house onto the market in Pentwyn, Cardiff. A 3 bedroom family home needing a touch of updating. The ideal property for an open day. I valued the house at £230,000 BUT because I knew an open day was a good idea for this particular property, we marketed at Offers in Excess of £240,000 (the carrot). We had 11 viewings, 3 offers and agreed the sale for over my original valuation. Our vendor ended up getting an additional £9,000. That’s how an open day should be!

All the best

Benjamin Churchill